On February 13, the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine erroneously emailed 364 letters of acceptance to students seeking admission to the medical school. Soon after the emails were sent, the school said a technical error was discovered and the letters of acceptance were withdrawn by email. All affected applicants have been contacted by phone. "We deeply regret having caused disappointment and stress to these applicants and we are continuing to investigate the issue," the Mayo Clinic said in an apology statement posted on its website. The school mistakenly sent out acceptance letters to everyone who was interviewed, according to a report by CNN. Admissions Dean J. Michael Bostwick, MD, told CNN that the school typically makes offers to just 46 students and initial offers are always made by phone. "It's awful. We're still not clear how this happened and we're so upset for these folks," Bostwick told CNN. Students took to The Student Doctor Network, a nonprofit service for medical professionals, to voice their opinion on the glitch. One user was unhappy with the limited information being provided to students. "I would say we deserve to know everything that happened, including the nitty-gritty and details," the user wrote. "But knowing how this process works, we don't. And this isn't an issue at Mayo specifically, it is this whole power-imbalanced process. The most we get will be a generic apology to save face or deter legal action and a vague statement regarding what happened. I think it's even questionable whether we're going to get that." Another user was more sympathetic, writing, "Unpopular opinion time: I don't think it's fair to drastically change your opinion of the school based on this incident. Suggesting that this mistake means you would be treated poorly as a student does not make sense. Sure, that email could have been more apologetic, but we live in an incredibly litigious society (people are already jumping on the idea of suing Mayo over this), so of course they're going to spend time consulting with attorneys before releasing any statements and before doing anything that could admit culpability. "I'm sure that the people in the Admissions Office feel terrible about the mistake. At least for me, this incident does not change the fact that every interaction I had at Mayo was very positive. Yes, this day has been an emotional roller coaster, and I feel for everyone that is in this situation, but I think it's best to give this some time before jumping to emotional conclusions." Source
