BYU nursing school error sends both acceptance and rejection letters to all applicants

PROVO, Utah — Hundreds of BYU students were confused and distressed after the College of Nursing experienced a glitch that sent acceptance and rejection letters to every student who applied. 

The school quickly caught the mistake, sending apology letters and correct admission emails later that day.

“The College of Nursing is truly sorry that an error in a new system used to deliver admissions decisions caused a stressful situation for applicants to its program last month,” the college said in a statement. “Despite successful tests earlier in the day that decisions were sent out, the new system malfunctioned and sent both acceptance and rejection letters to all applicants.”

The dean also sent a letter to all applicants, apologizing and listing supportive resources available for students on campus.

But despite the quick response from administrators, several BYU students were already feeling a turmoil of emotions.

A rollercoaster of emotions for students

BYU junior Emma Hansen said she initially received a rejection letter. She told KSL it did not surprise her, considering the school has only a 48% acceptance rate. The surprise came a few minutes later when Hansen received another letter accepting her to the program.

“We celebrated,” Hansen said. “I was very excited [and] kind of in shock because I hadn’t expected to get in. Then [I] come to find out, my friend texted me and said he had also gotten an acceptance letter with his rejection letter.”

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After checking with several friends in the program, Hansen realized there must have been a mistake in the process.

“I was like, this is kind of too good to be true, it doesn’t seem real,” she said.

In the end, Hansen received a letter with the correct outcome: she did not make the cut.

“I mean, I wasn’t expecting to get in,” Hansen explained. “It was just the emotional turmoil of the back and forth of getting rejected and then accepted and then rejected again all in one day was a lot to handle.”

Hansen said the experience made her question if she even wanted to join the program.

“It was frustrating for sure in the beginning,” she said. “After going through that, I was like, I don’t even want to be a part of the nursing program, I don’t even want to reapply because this is very unfair to put the applicants through.”

After weeks of deliberation, Hansen has decided to reapply for the program next semester.

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