Thursday, 4:30 PM
Westfield State College mistakenly welcomes rejected students
If you received a welcoming letter from Westfield State College's education department recently, check again. College officials admit that the department mistakenly sent welcoming letters to some 300 to 400 students who had previously been rejected by the college.
“Last week our education department sent out welcome letters to people interested in the education major, and these were mistakenly sent to some students who had previously received rejection letters,” said spokesman Craig Phelon.
College officials noticed the mistake last Friday when confused parents began calling the school. Letters addressing the problem were sent out immediately, Phelon said. College officials also followed up with phone calls.
“We live in an electronic age and computer errors happen," Phelon said.
"We regret that this mix-up could have resulted in some confusion and
frustration for students and families," said Robert Bristow, associate vice president for enrollment management. "However, to our knowledge,
this is the first time such an error has occurred, and we are taking
measures to ensure that it is not repeated."
Westfield State, located outside Springfield, had 5,500 students apply to the college this year for only 1,000 openings. The college has 4,261 undergraduate students and 743 graduate students.
“We know the students are disappointed,” Phelon said. “They were disappointed in the first place not to be accepted and I’m sure it was not pleasant to receive this additional letter.”
