Prospective Mayo medical students receive erroneous acceptance letters

The Mayo Clinic's Gonda Building
Pedestrians cross the street as they leave Mayo Clinic's Gonda Building in Rochester, Minn., in January 2016.
Alex Kolyer for MPR News 2016

Officials at Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine say acceptance letters were erroneously sent to several hundred prospective students.

The Rochester, Minn.-based medical school said about 360 acceptance letters were emailed Thursday to students who had applied for admission. According to the school, the size of a class is 50 students.

"Soon after the emails were sent, a technical error was discovered and the letters of acceptance were withdrawn," the school said in a statement Friday. "Shortly afterward, applicants were notified by email and phone call and those calls are still continuing. We deeply regret having caused disappointment to these applicants, and we are continuing to investigate the issue."

U.S. News and World Report ranks Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine among the top medical schools in the country, with one of the lowest acceptance rates.

Prospective students who said they had received the erroneous acceptance letters posted dozens of comments Thursday and Friday to a forum on the Student Doctor Network, a nonprofit website that offers guidance and peer support for medical students.

In one comment, a student said they "literally ran down the halls of [a] prestigious academic institution yelling to everyone that I got into Mayo. I burst into my mentor's office and [told] him the news and he hugged me. I called other mentors and they immediately spread the news, resulting in me getting several texts congratulating me. Also told all of my friends."

After getting the follow-up email rescinding the acceptance, the prospective student wrote, "the worst part about it was telling my mentor in person. He looked at me like how I'd imagine you'd look at a puppy who just got hit by a car."

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