I initially wanted to compare the trending of Loyola Chicago and UMBC, the two Cinderella stories of the 2018 NCAA basketball tournament. To add depth to that comparison, I became interested in whether or not an unexpected performance and the publicity that accompanies it leads to a spike in applications the following fall.
It turns out that in earlier years, this is the case. In 2013, 15th seed Florida Gulf Coast upset 2 seed Georgetown and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. The following fall, applications to the school jumped by 27.5%.
This trend for FGCU is also happening for Loyola Chicago and UMBC.