The University of Virginia wasn鈥檛 a small or unknown school before its run through this year’s NCAA Tournament, which culminated with a national title Monday night. It draws applicants from around the country and around the world, and only who applied for admission last year were offered admission.
So the admissions department isn鈥檛 exactly bracing for an even more difficult job of screening potential students next year. But maybe it should be.
鈥淚t鈥檚 great when you can see happy students who get excited about a school,鈥� said Jeannine Lalonde, the associate dean of admissions at U.Va. 鈥淚 think that our students use so many factors when it comes to making their final decision.鈥�
But it turns out athletic success can tend to be one of those factors.
鈥淭he exposure, especially national exposure鈥� generated by national TV and other attention, 鈥渆specially when they win the championship, there鈥檚 a noticeable increase in the number of applications that that university ends up receiving, particularly from out of state students,鈥� said Kyle Judah, who published a study on the impact college sports can have on university admissions in the .
鈥淚t allows the university to actually step the bar up in terms of their selectivity of students too,” he added. “I was able to see that there was an increase in the incoming GPA and SAT scores of the students that were admitted the year following an NCAA championship by a Division 1 school.鈥�
A from a Harvard Business School professor found that athletic success might be more of a lure for students with a lower academic profile, it still matters to those who have better qualifications.
鈥淪urprisingly, athletic success impacts applications even among academically stronger students,鈥� wrote , an associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School.
Still, Lalonde expressed doubt, saying 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard for me to say at this point. … It鈥檚 hard for me to say 鈥極h yeah, now we鈥檒l really be known!鈥欌��
But she admitted that students visiting during some college fairs this week have shown enthusiasm for what happened Monday night, and Judah said it鈥檒l start to become apparent later this fall.
鈥淲e saw those bumps at the University of North Carolina, the University of Florida,鈥� said Judah. 鈥淓ven those schools that are big state flagships that have national brand recognition, we鈥檙e still able to see about a 7 percent bump that could be easily attributable to that increased exposure.鈥�
In dollar figures, he said, that translates into 鈥渟omewhere in the range of $3 million to $5 million of additional revenue, between application fees and student tuition to large state universities, that ended up winning NCAA championships.鈥�
