Tebow Effect spikes applications at University of Florida

College Search & Selection
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<p>Tebow Effect means more UF applications, but there's precious little room</p>

<p>BY SCOTT HIAASEN
<a href="mailto:shiaasen@MiamiHerald.com">shiaasen@MiamiHerald.com</a></p>

<p>After four national titles in three years -- two in football and two in basketball -- expect a lot more people to join the Gator Nation.</p>

<p>Just don't expect that many to be able to attend the University of Florida.</p>

<p>As Gainesville celebrates the return of the Gators football team -- following its 24-14 victory over the Oklahoma Sooners for college football's national title -- university officials say the extra attention likely will attract more applications from prospective students -- at a time when admission standards continue to rise. </p>

<p>Among colleges, this increase in applicants is known as the ''Flutie Effect,'' named for quarterback Doug Flutie, whose Hail Mary pass to beat the Miami Hurricanes in 1984 was credited with a spike in applications at Boston College.</p>

<p>A pair of economics professors say they confirmed the correlation between championships and applications in a recent study of 330 colleges.</p>

<p>Forgive UF officials if they prefer to call it the Tebow Effect.</p>

<p>''I think there will be more [students] wanting to come to UF as a result of the win,'' said Patricia Telles-Irvin, UF's vice president for student affairs. ``When you become the champions, the university has an advantage. It brings notoriety.''</p>

<p>Telles-Irvin suspects that the excitement from UF's football and basketball titles in 2006 led to a jump in applications to 28,000 last year, up from 23,000 in 2006.</p>

<p>Getting in, however, will just keep getting tougher.</p>

<p>Click link for rest of the article:</p>

<p>Tebow</a> Effect means more UF applications, but there's precious little room - South Florida - MiamiHerald.com</p>

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<p>Let's look at the statistics for the last incoming class: 27,865 applicants, 10,289 admits, an acceptance rate of around 36.92%.</p>

<p>UF is cutting the incoming class by 1,000. So that means we will probably only admit at the most 8,000 students total.</p>

<p>We have already had over 21,000 applicants by the Nov 1st deadline, and I have to imagine we should get atleast another 8,000 more applicants who were too lazy to meet the Priority deadline.</p>

<p>Do the math that is an admit rate of around 28%.</p>

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<p>"A pair of economics professors say they confirmed the correlation between championships and applications in a recent study of 330 colleges."</p>

<p>Never underestimate the power of weird circumstances to motivate college applicants.</p>

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<p>Patricia Telles-Irvin, UF's vice president for student affairs. ``When you become the champions, the university has an advantage. It brings notoriety.''</p>

<p>notoriety? noun -the state of being generally or publicly known; -- commonly used in an unfavorable sense; as, the notoriety of a crime.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
"A pair of economics professors say they confirmed the correlation between championships and applications in a recent study of 330 colleges."</p>

<p>Never underestimate the power of weird circumstances to motivate college applicants.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>that study also found a statistically significant but temporary and small impact from athletic success on enrolled students with 600+ sat scores. the impact of success on those with lower scores was higher. the impact of success and applications was higher yet. and the impact on success and 'interest' (gauged by where students sent their sat score reports) was the highest of all. and if i remember correctly, basketball success actually showed stronger impacts than football.</p>

<p>to my point, while the study does seem to confirm a small, positive (but, as the study notes, temporary) impact of athletic success on student quality, the impact is often overstated when data such as 'prospective student contacts' and even applications are used as evidence. further, this seems to be more true the more selective the school.</p>

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<p>Look at how USC has done over the last few years. Nothing short of amazing if you ask me. This has alot to do with success on the football field.</p>

<p>UF on the other hand is doing amazing in their latest Capital Campaign. Have raised almost $800 million in just over 2 years. Granted it's nothing compared to Harvard, but is very strong for a Public University.</p>

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<p>My son, who is now a grad student at UF, has been on-campus for 4 national championships....2 in basketball and now 2 in football. Say what you will about college sports, there is no denying the effect on campus as been positively electric.</p>

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<p>
[Quote]
UF is cutting the incoming class by 1,000.

[/Quote]
</p>

<p>SSobick: Where did you read that they were cutting the incoming (2009) freshman class by 1,000?</p>

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<p>Tim Tebow is overrated and undeserving of his own "effect." Won't amount to anything in the NFL.</p>

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<p>mephist0: Very few words of greater stupidity than what you stated have ever been typed.</p>

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<p>"SSobick: Where did you read that they were cutting the incoming (2009) freshman class by 1,000?"</p>

<p>They are cutting 1,000 every year, for the next 4 years. This is because of the economy</p>

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<p>
[quote]
SSobick: Where did you read that they were cutting the incoming (2009) freshman class by 1,000?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Since SSobick didn't mention it,</p>

<p>Keep</a> enrollment limits</p>

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<p><a href="http://www.president.ufl.edu/budget-reduction/budget-reduction-proposal.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.president.ufl.edu/budget-reduction/budget-reduction-proposal.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>From UF's website, it just says undergraduate. That will include transfers, too.</p>

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<p>We have too many undergraduates at UF. Glad we will reduce FTIC & Transfers by 4,000 but the Graduate/Professional Students will continue to grow. Guess they pay more in tuition.</p>

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<p>Tim Tebow is gawd</p>

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<p>
[quote]
mephist0: Very few words of greater stupidity than what you stated have ever been typed.

[/quote]

sounds like something a Gators fan would say</p>

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<p>edited for double post</p>

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<p>Just so you all know: Tebow announced that he is coming back for next season.</p>

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<p>Florida has one very good school in a state with the fourth highest population in this country. Why should I be impressed that so many kids want to go there?</p>

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<p>University of Miami is also pretty solid. FSU is also ranked in the Top-100.</p>