What's in an e-mail address? A lot, actually, especially when your address is constantly confused with somebody else's.

By Angelina Liang
Online Gargoyle editor-in-chief
Posted Sunday, May 14, 2006, The OG, opinions

Dearest College Dean of Admissions,

I signed my contract with the University of Chicago several weeks ago, about a week before the May 1 deadline. I was seriously excited about this, especially about my hope-to-be-cool roommate, though not too much about the cost.

Now, before this, I was bombarded with many e-mails, which is usual for the college hunting season, hunting done both by students as they search for their schools and schools as they try to hold onto their accepted applicants. I thought that finally it would be over. I would stop receiving e-mail that tried to lure me into applying to their school and furthermore into signing my contract with them.

But no, the messages kept coming. And not only that, I got one just April 27. Now, the vexing thing was not that I had gotten another e-mail. It is very easy to check the box to the left and “delete.” The thing that made me slightly peeved was that it was not addressed to me. It is rather frustrating to check your mail and find that something with high prospects of being exciting is actually not for you.

As may be known, there is another person in our school with the same first initial and last name as me. Actually, there are two. First off, my brother, a freshman. Second, fellow Gargoyle staff member Annie Liang, a junior.

Now, the one that I often get confused with is Annie. My name “Angelina” is often truncated to be “Annie.” This wouldn't be too bad, but now there are two Annie Liangs in this school. Now, this also wouldn't be too bad since we're in different classes and look pretty different, but now our e-mail addresses are a mess.

E-mail addresses at Uni are constructed primarily of the first letter of a person's name and the beginning portion or all of their last name. When there are repeats, a number is added to the end of this, all before the “@uni.uiuc.edu.” Because of my rather small stature, which sadly does not lend to me the aura of being the senior of the hypothetical two Annie Liangs, many people guess the wrong e-mail address and I end up with all of it. Hers and mine.

Now, back to this e-mail I received on April 27. It looked possibly interesting when I realized it was from a college. Maybe a scholarship? Maybe an invitation to something? So I opened it and it began, “Hi Annie.”

I quickly took a retake and first thought, Maybe they shortened my name. After browsing the e-mail, I noticed that it was a mass e-mail — pretending to be personalized, but not truly. So I looked up at what they had recorded my name as and read: “To: Annie H. Liang aliang@uni.uiuc.edu.”

This isn't my first e-mail from colleges that wasn't really mine. I have gotten several. I've also gotten e-mails from teachers inviting me to join sports teams and congratulating me on contests I didn't know existed, her dad about meeting him somewhere, and once, to my great amusement, from Annie herself.

I understand a little more when I receive Annie's e-mail from people in this school. We figure that someone's e-mail address is just their first initial and last name, forgetting the off-chance that it will be somebody else's. However, dearest college administrator and dean of admissions, please read more carefully the e-mail address that is submitted. Please do not drop the numbers.

And please, please, try to refrain from reminding seniors in their last month of high school of the grueling, painful, agonizing months of waiting to hear from colleges.

Sincerely,
Angelina Liang