That's what UC San Diego did this week -- except they sent the "you're accepted" email to all 47,000 people who applied -- not just the 17,000 who were accepted! Oops!
“It was one of the greatest moments in my life and then, boom, it was one of the lowest,” said Arya Shamuilian. “UCSD was my first-choice university.”
UCSD apparently recognized the mistake immediately and sent out a correction and apology. Then, the admissions office stayed in late to take angry phone calls.
One of the hallmarks of a crisis is that it becomes public and requires a public response. After all, we all face fire drills every day in our jobs. They only become crises when our problems become big and widely known.
In this case, it would seem that UCSD did a pretty good job. They quickly issued a follow-up email, they made themselves personally available, and they posted everything on the web.
This last part is the learning of the day. Since we all have access to web search, it's crazy to hide behind false walls trying to avoid sharing information under circumstances like these. People will find the stuff anyway, and you'll look extra bad in the process.
So I give UCSD an A for how they handled this crisis.
There are lots of people who are still unhappy with the University and did not accept the "apology." That reminds all of us that even the best PR, or if you do everything right, it won't stop some people from hating you. Good PR people have to learn to ignore that small group and remember the larger group. IF the larger group is also still unforgiving, then either the PR was faulty or, more likely, there was nothing even the best PR can do. A bad decision is just that. Mistakes can usually be overcome but poor policy or procedure is much more difficult to overcome.
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