StickerShock

I don't think people will use the NCAA results as a way to decide where to go. But certainly the attention given to the tournament gets a school's name out in the open & will make plenty of people check the school out when they otherwise may not have given it a thought. It's simply awareness. If you research schools looking for a particular academic program and get a list of 20 schools, they will all blend together in a big blur. The name recognition of a sweet 16 participant will jump out at you, regardless of whether you follow the tournament or not. It's just ubiquitous media coverage seeping into your brain.

It's very easy to go through life unaware of many colleges, given that we have thousands of them in the US. A sweet 16 run will get more attention than the zillions of mailings cluttering everyone's mailboxes.

I had never heard of Williams until two years ago when a senior on D's team was applying. It came up in a group conversation and coincidentally two adults in the room were alums. It may seem odd that a woman nearing age 50 had never heard of this top LAC, but frankly I had not. Or if I had, the school just never aroused my full attention. I live near Seton Hall, my parents attended, and it is a popular commuter nursing school. But without basketball, how many west coasters would know the name? (Not this year, though.) The school ranks nowhere near Williams, but in a national survey it would be known by far more people. Villanova is a very popular school for kids coming out of our local Catholics. But it is basketball that makes the school nationally known.

The subject of "where did you attend undergrad" never really comes up in conversation. It is primarily because of sports that I even know where some neighbors & contacts attended. Duke, Notre Dame, Michigan, Lehigh, Rutgers, Northwestern, Penn State, Clemson -- these are just a few of the schools that I know had never been mentioned in any previous interactions, yet the big game day brought out the school pride.