Columbia University says it's strengthening its procedures after it accidentally sent acceptance notices to 277 prospective students and then recalled them.
The erroneous emails were sent Wednesday to prospective students applying to the School of Public Health's master's program, according to The New York Times. About an hour later, a retraction and apology were sent out.
The second email attributed the incident to human error and said the school was working to ensure it wouldn't happen again.
"We deeply apologize for this miscommunication. We value the energy and enthusiasm that our applicants bring to the admissions process, and regret the stress and confusion caused by this mistake," Julie Kornfeld, vice dean for education, said in a statement Friday. "We are working assiduously to strengthen our internal procedures in order to ensure that this mistake does not happen in the future."
