Will poor football season affect number of applicants? Is there any precedent for this?
(Most likely not but I think the potential implications are interesting…)
I predict that it’ll affect yield more than anything. If someone gets into Umich and ND, that might be the deciding factor for them
I think everyone is used to it! Shouldn’t affect anything.
@pdizzla It’s funny you say that because if I’m lucky enough to get accepted to UM and ND, I might prefer Ann Arbor over South Bend. I already like Michigan better, but that may be the deciding factor. I even joked with my dad, who’s a Notre Dame football fan, that I should cancel my application because of the dismal performance.
I feel like ND is way more than just football. But that’s me.
I’ve thought about this too. I’ve thought “probably” but again football is only part of who ND is.
I would certainly hope that football would not be the deciding factor in someone’s final college decision.
Actually you’d be surprised. I know of a student that would only apply to colleges that had a huge football team! That was his only criteria too! I was floored. Ha ha.
Honestly, for a school that is as difficult to get into as ND is–the effect would be very, very, small among the students that stand a good chance of acceptance. The year my son applied to college, St. Louis experienced a lot of negative press due to the news in Ferguson, MO. There were many questions on message boards about the safety of WashU–but to my knowledge, it didn’t hurt their applications at all (or at least didn’t appear to be a significant factor).
Lots of my kids friends (and 1 of my own kids) did pick schools based in part on athletics, but those were a) less selective schools, and/or b) whether or not the school had a tradition/strong program w/regards to attendance and student/alumni involvement vs. whether or not they were winning that particular year.
This is a really fascinating question, because I think it speaks to deeper layers of institutional complexity. But on a surface level, no - I don’t think our bad season will influence our applicant stats. The majority of students here aren’t on the football team, obviously. It’s usually just a happy bonus. But we’ll see!
Best wishes
Given their resources and recruiting this past season of football was unacceptable, but schools that pursue a freshman class with an avg ACT of 34 aren’t likely to compete for the national football championship too often. I know Michigan has had a good year. USC ended up pretty good and I think Stanford ended up in top 20 or 25. Off hand, those are the only schools with ACT over 30 and I’m not sure Michigan even averages that with it’s in state admits. I just don’t see ND being a perennial football power anymore; however, they should be way more competitive than they were this year.
There are a lot of good schools with better football teams in more desirable locations than ND.