To receive a letter saying "Welcome to Cornell" and "We are delighted to welcome you to the university", would tend to give the impression you had gained admittance, writes Lucy Hodges.

Elizabeth Mikus, 17, who lives in Norwell, Massachussetts, certainly thought so.

She was thrilled to think she had won a place at one of the United States's eight East Coast Ivy League universities. She thankfully sent off a cheque for $200 and withdrew her applications to other colleges.

But the smile was promptly wiped off her face when she received a telephone call one week later to be told that actually she had not got into Cornell. It had all been a mistake, a clerical error.

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According to Cornell, Ms Mikus was one of 44 candidates applying for an early decision on admission to Cornell who had not been admitted under the early-decision scheme, but who were told their applications would be considered this spring along with all other applications.

This group of candidates was mistakenly sent an acceptance form letter together with a personal letter saying their applications were being held over. However, Ms Mikus says she did not receive the personal letter, only the acceptance form letter.

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The Mikus family is now threatening to sue Cornell. They have hired a lawyer who says they will sue if she is not accepted and might seek "damages" even if she is.

As many as 20,000 pupils apply for 3,000 places at Cornell, and final acceptance and rejection letters go out on April 5.

The university maintains that Ms Mikus should have realised the letter she received was simply a printed flier and not a personal letter. It was not signed by a university official, nor was it addressed to her.

Cornell's vice president for student and academic services, Susan H. Murphy says that a few mistakes have been made in the past but that the university honours personal letters of acceptance sent signed by Cornell officials.

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