Fraternal researchers Jaren and Devin Pope recently completed their study of the impact of college sports success on admissions, finding that the number of applications increases between 2 percent and 8 percent for the top 20 football schools and top 16 basketball schools each year.</p>
<p>The variation in the percentages can be attributed to the schools’ rankings in their respective sports. For example, the team finishing first in either sport will likely experience the 8 percent applicant pool increase, whereas the schools finishing 16th or 20th will see the 2 percent rise.</p>
<p>Dubbed the “Flutie Effect,” the research is based on the 30 percent application increase in the two years after Doug Flutie’s Hail Mary pass gave Boston College a win over defending national champion Miami in 1984.</p>
<p>Jaren Pope, an assistant professor in the agriculture department at Tech, has been working on the research project since the idea was originally pitched in 2004.</p>
<p>The brothers gathered information from approximately 330 colleges and universities nationwide between 1983 and 2002. This included every American institution that has an NCAA Division I football or basketball team with the ability to play for a national championship. Among those studied was Virginia Tech.</p>
<p>Their findings, forthcoming in the Southern Economic Journal, also shows contrast between private and public universities. Private schools showed a 5 percent increase in applicants, compared to 3 percent among public schools.</p>
<p>David Warren, the president of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, has spoken out against the premise behind the Flutie Effect, labeling it a myth.</p>
<p>Warren’s reasoning is that a successful season on the playing field only translates to a one-year bump in applications, often not increasing the applicant pool.</p>
<p>Pope, however, said that his research shows an increased pool with students possessing both low and high SAT scores.</p>
<p>“A school can exploit that by enrolling more, or being more selective to improve their incoming freshman class,” Jaren Pope said.