Hundreds of UOttawa law applicants overlooked

According to the CBC, about 600 applicants to the University of Ottawa’s common law program have been overlooked due to an error in the school’s admission process.

But they’re going to get a second chance.

Out of the 3,500 applications they usually receive for the program each year, the school says some weren’t even considered due to human error. Although the students had their applications in by the November 2008 deadline, 600 were never told if they were accepted or rejected.

"What we’ve decided to do is to look at every one of them and make the determination," says common law dean Bruce Feldthusen."Would that person have been admitted earlier had we seen the file in the normal course of events? In each case, where the person would have been admitted, but for our error, we are going to give them an offer of admission."

That means the university will admit an additional 50 to 70 students into the program this year, says Feldthusen. That will bring the total number of students from the original 210 to between 260 and 280.

Some students are expressing concern at how the school will accommodate the additional enrolment.