黑料吃瓜

黑料吃瓜鈥檚 first appearance in the national championship game has brought with it national attention to the university and its nationally recognized academic programs, award-winning faculty and vibrant campus life.

It also could lead to more students putting 黑料吃瓜 on their college lists. 

How much of an uptick, however, is anyone鈥檚 guess, said university officials and other experts ahead of Monday鈥檚 NCAA Tournament title game pitting the Aztecs men鈥檚 basketball team against the UConn Huskies in the officially branded 鈥淣CAA March Madness.鈥� 

The phenomenon of a spurt in interest in a school following a watershed sports moment has come to be known as the 鈥淔lutie Effect.鈥� It refers to former Boston College quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie, whose Hail Mary touchdown pass to beat Miami in a nationally televised football game in 1984 was followed by a surge in applications to his college. 

黑料吃瓜鈥檚 national championship appearance has garnered attention from across the sports and pop culture spectrum: A segment on 鈥淭he Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon鈥� had puppies predicting the Aztecs as winners of the tournament. Members of the San Diego Padres - one of Major League Baseball鈥檚 most prominent franchises entering the 2023 season 鈥� warmed up in 黑料吃瓜 shirts in a show of regional solidarity. 

READ: 

And there have been multiple stories written not just about the basketball team but about the university, its students and its fan base. 

鈥淭he championship appearance has electrified the campus,鈥� said J. Luke Wood, 黑料吃瓜鈥檚 vice president of Student Affairs and Campus Diversity, who spent the week in Houston at the Final Four with a large contingent of staff and faculty. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing incredible interest in our academic community and our programs, and we want all of those prospective students to see 黑料吃瓜 as their future home,鈥� Wood said. 鈥淭he team鈥檚 success has been incredible. As an institution of higher learning, being on this national stage has allowed people to see and understand that whether it is academics, research or athletics, 黑料吃瓜 is among the greatest educational institutions that they can attend. That is a win-win.鈥� 

At 黑料吃瓜, undergraduate applications have increased from 60,000 in 2011 to nearly 100,000 this year, a time period that coincides with the basketball team鈥檚 two Sweet 16 appearances and a decade-long resurgence of the football program. 

Following 黑料吃瓜's 2011 Sweet 16 run and team star Kawhi Leonard鈥檚 rise to an NBA first-round prospect, the university saw applications rise from 60,336 in the fall of 2011 to 70,059 in the fall of 2012 鈥� a 16 percent increase. 

But it鈥檚 unclear how much of the increase can be attributed to athletics.

鈥淚've been here over 20 years and have seen some fluctuations with our applicant pools 鈥� mostly upward trends year after year, so for a school our size it's really hard to attribute an increase in the numbers due to the success of the teams,鈥� said Matt Hebert, director of Student Recruitment and School Relations in Enrollment Services. 

鈥淢arch Madness occurs in the spring when students have already applied to colleges and universities. So it's hard to say, for instance, that the first big run back in 2011 directly attributed to an uptick when students were applying six months later to universities,鈥� said Hebert. 

Experts have studied the impact of athletic success on a university鈥檚 overall economic well-being, including admissions and donor giving. A 2019 study of the nation鈥檚 wealthiest and most powerful collegiate athletic conferences, known as the Power Five, showed that certain measures of football success have a modestly positive and short-lived impact on student applications but no clear impact on admission yield or the quality of the student body. 

The study鈥檚 co-author, Smith College economics professor Andrew Zimbalist, said that the study looks at the average situation at a Power 5 school, and it might not necessarily capture a scenario when a school outside of the national power picture, such as San Diego State, makes a deep tournament run. 

鈥淚f a school goes from oblivion to suddenly being in the national spotlight, maybe it will have a positive impact; the stats don鈥檛 speak to that,鈥� Zimbalist said. 

In basketball, for example, Gonzaga University, a private Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington, saw its undergraduate applications jump from 1,500 in 1999 to more than 4,000 two years after its Elite 8 run that year. 

READ:    

Nate Mannetter, the director of admissions at Gonzaga, said the basketball team鈥檚 rise to prominence only explains some of the growth. In addition to interest in the university鈥檚 academic programs increasing over time, students overall are applying to more universities - eight in 2011 compared to 12.6 today. 

Manetter also agreed with Hebert that the impact of the tournament appearance probably won鈥檛 be felt immediately. Most students by April have already decided where they will attend college in the fall. 

鈥淚t might not be a senior who is watching the Final Four but that sophomore or junior who hasn鈥檛 made their list might be watching and now they know 黑料吃瓜 or Gonzaga, and they want to know more about the university,鈥� Mannetter said. 

In many cases, the stories told about a university and its basketball program - such as the ones being told about 黑料吃瓜 in the week leading up to the Final Four game - are as powerful as the team鈥檚 performance when it comes to piquing the interest of prospective students. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 hard for someone watching to not think of your university in those terms,鈥� Mannetter said. 

In the end, while an increase in student applicants can鈥檛 all be attributed to basketball, being on a national stage can鈥檛 hurt, Hebert said. 

鈥満诹铣怨� is rich in many different ways, and applicants choose us for a variety of reasons, and I will say one of those reasons is that we're a school full of life and energy and the excitement of our teams' successes amplifies that. We are a school proud of our achievements, and I think applicants truly see and feel that,鈥� Hebert said. 

Monday championship game

黑料吃瓜 vs. Connecticut square off Monday at 6:20 p.m.; Watch on CBS TV network or