[Mick]

I agree that the Flutie Effect does increase desire by HS students to attend schools with winning football (and basketball) programs.  I'm sure Stanford is no exception.  However, the Stanford administration doesn't need more applicants.  As Mick pointed out, Stanford only accepts about 3.9% of applicants.  Maybe there would be an increase in the quality of the accepted applicants, but I think it would be minuscule.

I would bet that an appearance of College Game Day on a campus would also have a positive effect on demand to attend that school.  Those broadcasts display the host schools as fun and brimming with school spirit.

My point wasn't that there would be an increase in quality of accepted applicants. My point was that the sports program in general and the football program in particular boosts the number of overall applicants, therefore reducing the acceptance percentage, a metric that the University considers to be particularly important. It's the same reason that MIT and CalTech reach out to students with really, really good math test scores along with students who have legitimately great scores. The really, really good students are unlikely to be accepted to MIT, but MIT needs their applications to reduce their acceptance percentages. To wit, I had a 710 on the math SAT in 1979, and MIT sent me a mailer. I was utterly mystified by the mailer...I was good at math, not great. I was headed for accounting, not engineering and would never have considered MIT -- nor would they have considered me.

Separately, the unique blend of Stanford athletics and academics may have a positive effect on yield, the percentage of admitted applicants who actually attend the university. Stanford's yield rate for the class of 2027 was 80.94%. Harvard's was 83.72%, Princeton's was 76.66% and Yale's was 70.37%. Another point of pride. Did the top-level athletics program have anything to do with it? Maybe. BTW, Cal's and USC's yield rates were almost identical at 44.97% and 44.89%, respectively. Santa Clara, the prototypical "out" school had a yield of 18.79%.

Yield Rates for the Class of 2028 | IvyWise

[Mick]

I agree that the Flutie Effect does increase desire by HS students to attend schools with winning football (and basketball) programs.  I'm sure Stanford is no exception.  However, the Stanford administration doesn't need more applicants.  As Mick pointed out, Stanford only accepts about 3.9% of applicants.  Maybe there would be an increase in the quality of the accepted applicants, but I think it would be minuscule.

I would bet that an appearance of College Game Day on a campus would also have a positive effect on demand to attend that school.  Those broadcasts display the host schools as fun and brimming with school spirit.

My point wasn't that there would be an increase in quality of accepted applicants. My point was that the sports program in general and the football program in particular boosts the number of overall applicants, therefore reducing the acceptance percentage, a metric that the University considers to be particularly important. It's the same reason that MIT and CalTech reach out to students with really, really good math test scores along with students who have legitimately great scores. The really, really good students are unlikely to be accepted to MIT, but MIT needs their applications to reduce their acceptance percentages. To wit, I had a 710 on the math SAT in 1979, and MIT sent me a mailer. I was utterly mystified by the mailer...I was good at math, not great. I was headed for accounting, not engineering and would never have considered MIT -- nor would they have considered me.

Separately, the unique blend of Stanford athletics and academics may have a positive effect on yield, the percentage of admitted applicants who actually attend the university. Stanford's yield rate for the class of 2027 was 80.94%. Harvard's was 83.72%, Princeton's was 76.66% and Yale's was 70.37%. Another point of pride. Did the top-level athletics program have anything to do with it? Maybe. BTW, Cal's and USC's yield rates were almost identical at 44.97% and 44.89%, respectively. Santa Clara, the prototypical "out" school had a yield of 18.79%.

Yield Rates for the Class of 2028 | IvyWise