University of California, Irvine, has rescinded 499 acceptances for students from its incoming freshman class just two months before the start of the fall semester, The New York Times reports. According to a spokesman for the university, the rescinding was necessary because “more students than we expected accepted admission to the university.”
The student government organization Associated Students of the University of California, Irvine, released a statement addressing the issue earlier this week. The document encourages anyone who had their admission revoked to appeal the decision. The organization’s statement also reveals that some applicants had their acceptance taken away even though they hadn’t done anything that would normally risk a student’s admission status.
This circumstance differs from other colleges’ revoked acceptances because, unlike other situations, U.C. Irvine purposely took away students’ acceptances. In the past, including a 2009 scenario in which about 28,000 students were accidentally accepted to U.C. San Diego, technical errors have been at fault. When U.C. Irvine realized that over 7,000 freshmen were enrolled, the enrollment board found itself dealing with about 850 more students than expected.
When deciding who to cut from the accepted group of students, U.C. Irvine consulted factors such as people’s grades throughout twelfth grade and whether or not they sent in academic transcripts on time. However, spokesman Tom Vasich said that a student may not be at fault if a required documents didn’t arrive at the school on time.
“We didn’t communicate well with the students who had their offer withdrawn, and we apologize to them,” he said. “We want to let them know that if their application was withdrawn because of an error they had nothing to do with, we want them to appeal.”
According to Vasich, 64 acceptances have already been restored after students appealed their rescinded acceptance. The Associated Students of U.C. Irvine statement even claims that some students “sent their transcripts way before the July 1st deadline...yet the admissions office system does not have it on file.”
U.C. Irvine’s Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, Thomas Parham, released a statement apologizing for the situation. “We heard from some students that this year’s process was too stringent and our customer-service approach needs improvement,” he wrote. “I acknowledge that we took a harder line on the terms and conditions this year and we could have managed that process with greater care, sensitivity and clarity about available options...For those who felt ignored or mistreated, I sincerely apologize.”
Parham closed his letter with a clarification reading, “All accepted students who meet the terms and conditions of the admissions offer will be welcomed into the Anteater Family. No acceptance will be withdrawn due to over-enrollment, despite external reports to the contrary.”
It seems that, while this news isn’t as dire as it initially seems, U.C. Irvine definitely needs to reconsider their acceptance methods for future years.