The Impact a Final Four Appearance has on the Number of Applications and Average SAT Scores at a University

Many colleges around the nation are identified by their athletic departments, mainly their men’s basketball and football programs. This study looks to see if and by how much a Final Four appearance by a university’s men’s basketball team increases the number of applications and average SAT/ACT scores of admitted students to a school the following year. The data set consisted of all the schools that appeared in a Final Four between 2002 and 2012. The study found data that appeared to show increases in all three categories, especially in specific subgroups of the colleges. However, the difference in the change of the number of applications and average SAT/ACT scores of admitted students could not be statistically proven to be any different than the increases seen in the year prior to the Final Four appearance