By Kristina Goetz
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Web lied.

Teen stars Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen have not applied for admission to the University of Cincinnati, as fake CNN Web pages claimed. Nor did they apply to University of Dayton, Miami University, Ohio University or Ohio State.

But the Hollywood-hoax-gone-Ohio has been the talk among college kids statewide. Current and prospective students called admissions officers in droves after seeing the fake links online.

The sites have since been removed from the Web.

The Olsens debuted as infants on ABC's sitcom Full House in the late 1980s.

Today, the high-school juniors have their own movies, fashion line at Wal-Mart and dolls in their likeness.

The college choice hoax is "all over the country," said Michael Pagnotta, a spokesman for the Olsens.

Miami and UC aren't giving up on the Olsens. "We have 13,000 applications and we'd love to get 13,002," said Miami spokeswoman Holly Wissing. "We'd be happy to give them a tour if they want to stop by, and we might even buy them lunch," said UC's Greg Hand.

University of Dayton spokeswoman Teri Rizvi was a bit more realistic: "There's no truth to it. They didn't apply. And Britney Spears isn't coming either."

E-mail kgoetz@enquirer.com