Nearly 300 students had their dreams shattered after a bungling university in Germany revoked their acceptance letters after sending out too many.

Now students are left in a sticky situation, with some having reportedly booked flights, declined other places, or put deposits down on flats.

Frankfurt’s Goethe University, in the German state of Hesse, reportedly sent out 282 acceptance letters but the recipients were crushed when the following day, the University of an sent out an email revoking their places, according to German media.

One student, who has been named as Nina Peters, 19, from Solingen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, told German daily Bild: “When I was accepted, it was the best week of my life.”

But she added: “I had to learn from the press that there were too many approvals. I didn’t get the message until the evening, around 8pm.”

Nina said that she was crushed, adding: “A lot of people don’t even know what to do anymore. Lives are destroyed, dreams shattered. Everyone cancelled their plan B because they thought plan A worked!

“There are cases from abroad where the flight tickets have already been bought, others would have received a confirmation from 13 universities, but prioritised Frankfurt. Apartments have already been set up.”

The University has reportedly blamed the scandal on an IT glitch.

Nina has started a petition to have the University take on the extra students. At the time of writing, it had reportedly received over 1,400 signatures.

She added: “We are totally in the dark and want to file a lawsuit. Especially because there is a shortage of doctors and it is said every year that new study places should be created, we hope for a solution.”