The University of Wollongong has apologised to hundreds of year 12 students caught up in an early entry offers bungle on the eve of their HSC exams.
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UOW last week sent incorrect offers to 275 students who had applied for early admission into courses starting next year.
Some of the affected students then received a second email in which the original offer was retracted, and the correct offer - sometimes for a more sought-after course, sometimes for a lesser one - was extended.
In a related bungle, an unknown number of successful applicants have not been sent acceptance letters and now, because the Universities Admissions Centre prohibits universities from initiating contact with students once the HSC has begun, it is up to those students to approach UOW for clarity.
Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor John Patterson yesterday acknowledged the impact of the errors on students.
"The university wishes to sincerely apologise to students and their families who have been affected by a technical error involving the release of information for this year's Early Entry program into UOW," Prof Patterson said.
"We fully appreciate the stress this situation has caused ... the university is urgently trying to rectify these issues which have unfortunately occurred right at the start of the HSC examinations."
The university this year received about 3000 applications for early entry, of which 2210 students were interviewed and 2085 were to be made offers.
Prof Patterson said all 925 unsuccessful applicants had been correctly notified.
UOW conceded a glitch late on Sunday after complaints started piling in on social media from students who hadn't received a reply by the advertised deadline.
Ethan O'Neill, an applicant, wrote: "been waiting now since wednesday , sat interview 1st October, bit stressful so close to the HSC!!!"
Another applicant, Jessica Herbert, said she had experienced the "most stressful 5 days of my life".
According to a university spokesman, "all faculties have been affected to some degree".
Late yesterday, the university was trawling through 5000 emails to see how many successful students had missed out on an offer.
Affected students should make contact with the university via uniadvice@uow.edu.au or 1300 367 869. Staff at UniAdvice worked extended hours last night as part of damage control efforts.
