Updated at 3:10 p.m.

GW mistakenly sent a single applicant’s letter of acceptance to a number of non-degree applicants Wednesday, revealing both the student’s name and GWID.

Every non-degree student – a student who takes classes at GW but completed his or her undergraduate degrees at other institutions – who has ever applied to GW through an admissions program called “ApplyYourself” was sent the acceptance e-mail. The University has been using the software  program since 2007.

In a follow-up e-mail sent less than an hour later, the Office of Non-Degree Students apologized for the error.

“Please dis-regard the previous acceptance e-mail which was erroneously sent out. We unfortunately had an error that mailed out a single acceptance e-mail to every non-degree student who has ever applied through ApplyYourself here at GW. We apologize for this mistake and the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding in dis-regarding the e-mail,” the message read.

University spokeswoman Candace Smith said the e-mail was sent to 7,647 applicants.

“The error was inadvertent.  We are working with the software vendor to minimize the possibility that this kind of error will occur in the future.  We again apologize for any confusion,” she said.

This is the second time in less than two years that GW sent out a mistaken acceptance letter to students. In 2010, The Office of Admissions sent a number of Early Decision II students acceptance letters after the students had been previously told they were rejected. The University continues to decline to release the number of students affected by that gaffe.

Last week an employee in the Office of Parent Services accidentally forwarded an e-mail from a parent to GW’s official parent listserv. That mistake, like the one Wednesday, Smith said was caused by human error.

“We regret that they occurred. We informed the recipients quickly, however, and are actively looking at measures we can take to minimize the possibility that it will occur in the future,” she said.