On August 31, an e-mail was accidentally sent out to a couple hundred prospective students, both high school juniors and seniors, stating that each had won the Rensselaer Medal and was to be awarded the $60,000 scholarship that accompanies the medal if the recipient chooses to enroll at RPI.
Immediately after realizing the mistake, the Office of Admissions sent out a brief follow-up e-mail to the students, stating that the students had not actually received the medalist scholarship; Vice President for Enrollment Jim Nondorf also sent out a second follow-up e-mail apologizing again to the students who had been involved in the confusion.
“There weren’t many people really upset by the mix-up,” said Director of Outreach Ray Lutzky ’02. “A few weren’t happy, but for the most part we didn’t get a lot of people saying it was going to affect their interest in RPI one way or the other.”
Many of the high school seniors who had received the e-mails had been contenders for the Rensselaer Medal during their junior year, but were not chosen as the recipient. “A lot of students thought that we were offering a second medal when they received the e-mail, and when they found out it was a mistake, they weren’t too upset,” said Lutzky.
In an attempt to ameliorate the situation and those who had received an e-mail, those students who are are admitted under early decision to RPI for the Class of 2012 will receive a $60,000 Rensselaer Leadership Scholarship, should they meet the academic standards for the scholarship.
Lutzky said, “We didn’t want the students to be angry, and this was admission’s way of offering a solution.”
The high school juniors who received the e-mail will also get extra consideration for the Rensselaer Medal and scholarship, should they choose to apply for it later in the year, according to Lutzky.
A majority of the students who received e-mails will most likely receive some form of financial aid because of the mix-up.
“We’ll be dealing with it on a case-by-case basis,” said Lutzky. “We are recognizing accountability on our part and trying to help these kids in an apologetic way for the confusion.”
