The Impact of Athletic Performance on Undergraduate College Choice

The athletic success of men’s basketball, football, baseball and soccer teams of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and Division III schools may impact the quantity, quality and matriculation rate of applicants. This study analyzes the winning percentages and playoff performance of teams from 1993-2002 at 20 Division I colleges and 18 Division III colleges with the corresponding number of applicants, % of SAT scores above 500 (verbal and math separately) and matriculation rate through the construction of a regression model. The model controls for overall school quality and individual school effects through collected national rankings data and individual-level school variables. Results indicate that the effects vary between Division I and Division III schools, with success in baseball and football negatively impacting matriculation rates at Division III schools while an opposite effect is evident for baseball and matriculation rates at Division I schools. Basketball success appears to decrease student quality and the number of applicants at Division III schools, while baseball success improves student quality.