srunni

Wow, this is just about the worst way to decide which college you're going to.

kcarls

I don't think you could come up with a better example of the impact the NCAA tournament can have on a school than George Mason. Before they made the Final Four a few years ago, GMU was pretty much a large, regional safety school for northern Virginia students. There was little school spirit to speak of, and it was essentially a commuter school.

Although many students do still commute, since the tournament run, applications have increased, admissions standards have increased, more students from outside the region are attending. The university has even expanded at the most basic level: facilities; over the last few years, new dorms and buildings have been erected, with more to come. More students are also living on campus. Even though I never considered attending Mason myself (I will almost surely apply to their law school eventually, however), I have seen all of these dramatic changes just by living nearby.

Most importantly, this looks like sustainable development, especially as evidenced by the new dorms and planned faculty housing. The tournament seems to have changed Mason permanently.

Yellow_Jackets!!

Potential.....the students go to college for free, is that not enough?
Also from a fan's perspective I would hate to see these players get paid, some of the players would no longer be playing to win but instead, for the money.

Potential

I understand your argument about how money can wrongly become the motive to play college sports, but I personally don't believe that receiving full tuition is enough, especially considering the socioeconomic background of many of the athletes.

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.

madlaxer

i think sports are a huge reason for applications.
For me, it was either Notre Dame, or a Nescac. I ended up applying to Notre Dame and i got in. I was overjoyed not only because of Notre Dames stellar academics and Business program, but also because of its athletic reputation (ok, ok, i kno...Football was a joke). I think they can go far in the tourney.

For huge sports fans like myself, college sports have a big influence on where we apply. I LOVED Bowdoin when i visited...everything about it was PERFECT in my eyes, but i realized that i was WAY to big of a sports fan to go to a school in the middle of nowhere with D3 athletics. Its fun to go to a school with a big time program, its fun to be on ESPN. College sports have alot to do with applications.

George Mason. Perfect exaple.

madlaxer

Another aspect of the big time program is this...alumni networking.
Not to wax poetic about ND or anything, but from what i hear, once you go to Notre Dame, you become a golden domer for life. That means that whenever you walk into a bar and a ND game is on, you can make immediate friends, because chances are other people in the bar are also alums. its also real easy to meet powerful wealthy alums at games as well. This is an incredible networking tool, and its easy to make friends/business partners this way.

Alumni networking is important in the business world, and sports/sporting events, especially at schools like ND, USC, UCLA, Michigan, Gtown, Texas, BC, et cetera are a very very good way to connect with other alumni and make friends and connections.

tom1944

Doug Flutie is the god of increasing applications

wolfpack12

Davidson is the best LAC south of the mason dixon, imo.

And good athletics are a great thing for a university. An outstanding football team has increased applications for Appalachian state, and with the Michigan Victory this past fall, applications went way up and it has never been this hard to get in.

Calcruzer

Well, according to this article:

http://www.zimbio.com/March+Madness+...es+Pay+Predict

the average alumni's salary helps in predicting the winners of the tournament.

Although it is not foolproof, since two of their final four (Duke and Notre Dame) were eliminated this first weekend.

According to this, based upon the remaining teams, the Final Four will consist of Stanford (from the South Regional--and predicted as the tournament winner), Georgetown (from the Midwest Regional), UCLA (from the West Regional), and North Carolina (from the East Regional). Not a bad Final Four prediction in my view.

You can check the average salaries of alumni by checking the remaining teams on their brackets here:

http://www.zimbio.com/pilot?ZURL=%2F...redictions.htm

Now if we can just get those graduation rates of the basketball players up a bit:

http://passtheword.wordpress.com/200...lly-a-scandal/

Rachacha

As much as we are cheering for Davidson today, if they win this one D will have to consider early decision...remember the class size is only 425 or so, and half of that is taken ED...those increased applicants will have to bring the GPA and the SAT scores, bring it on!

PAHreen

The George Mason effect.

citybirds27

i liked the Stanford-Cornell matchup first round haha

kevinre

According to this, based upon the remaining teams, the Final Four will consist of Stanford (from the South Regional--and predicted as the tournament winner), Georgetown (from the Midwest Regional), UCLA (from the West Regional), and North Carolina (from the East Regional). Not a bad Final Four prediction in my view.


hahahahahaha how about that's my final 4. no joke, those were the 4 I picked before the tournament. but now that my bracket has gone to hell and is dead, Go Stanford!

stanford vs. UT/Miami on friday! .....yeah we might lose...damn

VectorWega

Sports are heavily ingrained in the culture of major universities, and I don't believe it is totally bad to allow sports to sway your decision.

As for the tourney, I'm sure that a good tourney performance has a much more significant impact on mid majors that people would have never heard of it weren't for the tourney (ie Gonzaga).