Applicant Numbers Plummet After Woman Posts Negative Review on Penn Facebook Page

Looking to surpass last year's record high number of applicants, Penn Admissions pulled out all the stops in marketing Penn to wealthy accomplished students this year. But preliminary Early Decision numbers indicate that their efforts were thwarted by an unexpected opponent: Kathy Lee, 68, from Park Rock, Georgia, who left a negative Facebook review on the University’s page.

“A terrible place filled with dumb liberals and snowflakes,” Lee wrote. “My five smart grandsons will never attend!" A few lines down she followed with, "how [sic] to make facebook review, how to post review on facebook, where is post button facebook?”

The review was accompanied by a rating of one star—the lowest possible score. In a comment to her own post, Lee wrote, “I would’ve give ZERO stars if possible! how [sic] to make comment on facebook replying on facebook help?”

While some may shrug off the review as inconsequential, high school senior Donald Paul said it was a major factor in his choice. "She had a lot to say," he said. "And I'm sure it took a lot of effort to figure out how to successfully publish the review. I think I'm leaning toward Cornell. Their Facebook page is flawless."

Another potential applicant was struck particularly hard by the addendum to the negative review, in which Lee assured that, if given the chance, she would not impart even a single star to the University. "Zero stars? I can't be going to a zero-star university," said Kate George. "Goldman will throw my application in the trash."

An admissions spokesperson said they are loading the Facebook page with positive reviews in order to prevent this from happening with Regular Decision. The silver lining, however, is that application numbers are up 50% in the "dumb liberal" and "snowflake" demographics.