Mail Merge Nightmares

So think back 10 or so years ago. You’re a High School Senior, and you’re applying to colleges. You check the mail diligently every day, waiting to see if the mailman will bring the lovely and exciting big envelope or that puny and depressing skinny envelope. Remember kids, as we all know in the game of college acceptances, size matters.

Imagine then, that you’ve applied to the University of Georgia, and it’s your first choice school. The mailman comes, and he hands you a thick envelope. You’re pumped. You kiss the pet bulldog that you’ve had since you were a Kindergartner. You jump up and down like a little kid. You make like Sherman and triumphantly burn the safety school application you were still working on. You race to the mall and buy up all the black and red gear you can get your hands on. The next morning, you sail to your guidance counselor’s office and write your name and “UGA” on the “acceptance board” in big black and red letters. You’re done, you’re happy; you’re going to your first choice school. Now, it’s time to kick back, slack off, and focus on the all-important task of Prom Night event coordination.

And then…you find out that it was all a mistake.

That’s exactly what happened to the UGA Class (or Not) of 2010. Thanks to the efforts of a (hopefully now fired) secretary, the letters all went out, but they went to the wrong people. Now, the kids who were pumped and ready to go to UGA are sweating it out and wondering if they’re going to get a second letter that confirms the acceptance or the one that tells them, “Sorry, just kidding.”

Ugh.