Law School 'Deeply Regrets' Sending 4,000 Applicants Acceptance Letters by Mistake

Jason Duaine Hahn
·2 min read
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Students walk on the Northeastern University campus in Boston on Jan. 31, 2019. A police bomb squad sealed off part of the campus of Northeastern University late, to examine a pair of suspicious packages, and there were unconfirmed reports of an explosion and minor injuries to at least one person Campus Explosion, Boston, United States - 05 Feb 2020

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Hundreds of people who had applied to Northeastern University law school received the exciting news that they had been accepted last week. But, their happiness didn't last long.

According to CNN, the university mistakenly sent out 205 acceptance letters to current applicants because of a "technical error." Another 3,930 people who applied over the last year also received the "erroneous email" that told them they had been accepted.

"Admissions decisions will not be finalized until later in the academic year," a statement from Northeastern University said, per the outlet.

"The School of Law deeply regrets this unintended mistake and is taking steps to ensure that it will not happen in the future," the school added.

Northeastern University said they sent out a follow-up email that explained the error and would respond to concerns from the applicants.

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PEOPLE reached out to the university for comment on Monday.

In an interview with Boston.com, LaKisha Papoutsakis said she was one of the applicants who received the acceptance letter. The mother of four was especially delighted since she had already applied to the school once before.

"I was over the moon," Papoutsakis said.

"It was very detailed and much more than a 'congratulations,'" she explained, adding that the acceptance letter had included a student ID number and merit scholarship.

More than five hours after receiving the email, and after multiple attempts to pay a deposit to the university, Papoutsakis said she received a message that rescinded the offer.

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"It was really disheartening," she told Boston.com. "For such an accredited, high-ranked university to have such a major glitch and take five hours to realize is ridiculous. After such a detailed acceptance, 'sorry' isn't going to cut it."

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Papoutsakis told NBC affiliate WBTS that going to law school has been a dream of hers since she was a child. She hopes the school reconsiders her application.

"I'm a woman of color who wound up in a shelter," she told the station, "who lost almost everything, and still has her four kids, but aspires to be more."