William & Mary mistakenly sent ‘congratulations’ to 350 student applicants

William & Mary has mistakenly sent out a message of congratulations to about 350 high school students who had applied to the prestigious school in Virginia.

The school in Williamsburg said Thursday that the emails were not official letters of acceptance. Rather, they were messages signed by the school’s Public Policy Program and sent by the Office of Undergraduate Admission to applicants who had showed interest in majoring in public policy.

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The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Thursday that the applicants had already been rejected or waitlisted.

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The university notified the students and corrected the mistake the next day. A school spokeswoman called it a "process error."

The mistake added another headache to an already difficult application season. Many prestigious schools have become more competitive because many universities did not require SAT scores in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Some students have applied to schools they wouldn’t have before.