Talk about screw-ups. About 200 students who had applied for early decision admission to George Washington University received an email last week that welcomed them to the Class of 2014 — except they had all actually been rejected from the school. The story was first reported by the GW Hatchet.

A few hours later, those same applicants got a second email from Executive Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Kathy Napper: ‘This afternoon, you received an email from me titled “Important GW Information.” Unfortunately, this email was sent to you in error. We are truly sorry for this confusion regarding your application to GW.’

The mistake is being blamed on a clerical error that was compounded by regular mail service having been slowed down by the recent snow storms. The admissions staff made a decision to send out emails in lieu of normal acceptance packets, since they couldn’t be sure when they would arrive. But then, someone in the office “touched the wrong button on the list,” according to Senior Vice President for Student and Academic Services Robert Chernak. Perhaps that someone ought to be offered a reasonable severance package, only to be told it was a mistake?