  Last night, I received an email from the Director of Admissions of another urlLink grad school I applied to, with a letter attached from the Assocate Dean. Here is how it starts: Dear Admitted Student: Congratulations on your acceptance...! The rest of the letter is your standard "welcome and here is stuff you need to know" stuff. Now, this normally would not be confusing (and I would have no reason for writting about it) - if not for the fact that I haven't received a paper copy of my acceptance yet.
As a matter of fact, the last hard mail contact I had from them was a letter - dated March 8, mind you - that said they had received my complete application (never mind the fact that I had sent it in mid-January), and that all acceptances would be sent in writing. I would be absolutely celebrating now - well, still waiting to hear from my first choice, those stinkers - except that I'm still confused. Am I in? It seems like I am, according to this email - but what if they sent it to me by accident? Email is such a tricky medium. Will they have to let me in then? Could I sue for false expectations?
What if it's a clever virus that's going to destroy my computer? What if they sent it by accident to everyone that applied? What do they do in that instance? I emailed the Director of Admissions this morning, and was sent an automated out-of-office reply. Of course he's out of the office when I have a question. But this just leads me to further believe that this might be some kind of computer snafu.
They're just playing games with my mind because they're mean. Harumph. Addendum, 16h21 Another grad school (that I thankfully urlLink got into already ) sent out an email yesterday about registering for the fall semester, only to send another email today that said this: Earlier this week you may have received an e-mail from the Office of the University Registrar regarding general registration information pertaining to fall 2004 registration. This message was intended for returning students, but was inadvertently sent to a number of newly admitted students as well as candidates still under consideration for admission.
Please know that only a letter from the admissions office constitutes admission... We apologize for any confusion this may have caused. If I hadn't already been accepted, I would be in tears right now. You know that's what happened with the other university. There is apparently some sort of sneaky evil demon virus going around NY grad schools, that causes them to falsely raise poor applicants' hopes, only to mercilessly dash them 24 hours later. 
