The case of the missing Boston University mail! We recently reported on BU’s record application tally for the Class of 2026 — 80,747 between Early Decision I, Early Decision II, and Regular Decision. Today, we thought we’d issue a warning to Regular Decision and deferred Early Decision applicants to BU’s incoming class: check to make sure all of your documents have been received. While most applicants don’t submit admissions documents via snail mail these days, depending on their high schools, some still do. And, apparently, mail is going missing at BU!

As Rich Schapiro reports for Today in a piece entitled “Mail is going missing at Boston University. One mother went searching for answers.,” “Late last summer, Ann Lauritsen suspected something fishy might be going on after both she and her mother sent greeting cards to her daughter at Boston University that never arrived. A high school math teacher, she went looking for answers and soon decided she had to take matters into her own hands…The missing mail had prompted her to log on to a parents’ Facebook group that opened her eyes to a widespread problem. There were dozens of posts from parents complaining that letters they had sent to their children’s dorms had also disappeared. Lauritsen filed a report with the Postal Service and sent a letter to the school about the issue, but she wasn’t convinced either was serious about investigating. So she decided to do it herself. She posted a message on the Facebook group asking parents to send a card to their son or daughter — with no cash or gift cards enclosed — and report back to her in a few weeks on whether it was received…She even came up with a catchy name to promote her effort. “2022 BOSTON UNIVERSITY GREAT GREETING CARD MAIL EXPERIMENT!!!!” she wrote at the top of her Facebook post in early January…Lauritsen carefully logged the responses into a spreadsheet. The results were striking: Out of the 44 cards that were sent over a two week period in January, 18 never arrived (40 percent).”

As a result of the mom’s creative efforts, the United States Postal Service is now aware of the missing mail at BU and Postal Inspectors are currently investigating the potential mail theft. And while we’re not sure if the mail directed to the office of undergraduate admissions has been going missing like the mail sent directly to current students, there is indeed a possibility this mail has been impacted too. So applicants to the BU Class of 2026 should check their files and make sure the admissions office has everything they need.