For the first time in University history, applicants for Tufts' class of 2005 who supplied e-mail addresses received electronic notification of their acceptance, deferral, or denial. While every student was also mailed a letter - and some applicants preferred e-mail notification - the Admissions Office received criticism last week that e-mail was a callous method of informing rejected applicants.
Nearly a dozen students who received electronic notification of their denial promptly sent Tufts irate e-mails venting their frustration. "The general feeling that came through the e-mails was, 'What? You couldn't even spend 34 cents on me?' and it was like, 'Well, actually, we did - the letter's in the mail," said Douglas Burns, coordinator of admissions information.
Hard-copy letters of acceptance and denial were sent to applicants on March 28, and e-mails went out the following day. E-mail has been used for the past two years to notify international students, and the practice was expanded to West Coast applicants last year. Candidates for both rounds of early decision this year also received e-mails bearing their admissions decisions.
"We are trying to find the best and most efficient way of dealing with students," Dean of Admissions David Cuttino said. "We know that students are comfortable with dealing with technology so we try to reach out to them in that way."
The substantial increase in e-mail usage over the past few years led the Admissions Office to implement electronic notification to more quickly inform anxious high school seniors. The percentage of applicants with e-mail access rose by 443 percent over the last four years, and 94 percent of this year's applicants supplied an e-mail address.
E-mail notification allows students to immediately learn their admission status, which enables families to make appropriate travel arrangements for April Open House. It also benefits early decision applicants who are deferred or denied, and must prepare applications to other schools.
But some students see e-mail as impersonal and, in light of recent criticism, the Admissions Office is rethinking its policy.
"This is still a pilot project, we are in the constant process of evaluating" Cuttino said, speaking of electronic methods of notification.
