On April 1, 2009, NYU sent an email to 489 students, congratulating them on their admission to the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service. An hour later, the school sent another email, explaining that they had all actually been rejected, with regrets for “any misunderstanding, false expectations, or additional disappointment this error may have caused.” Just a few days earlier, the University of California at San Diego had sent a few too many “welcome” emails to an even larger group of applicants. Called an “administrative error,” the email was sent to the entire pool of 46,000 applicants instead of the 18,000 who were admitted.
April Fool’s? Not.