In case you haven’t heard, the Super Bowl is this coming Sunday. Sometime during the ridiculously overdone coverage, viewers will see the starters from each team announcing their alma maters. And this has got me thinking. Here you have the two best teams in a championship game based on wins and losses with rosters of players from colleges ranked on wins and losses. Maybe, just maybe, the Super Bowl has something to teach us about rankings including US News College Rankings.
Athletics
Moneyball College Admissions Rules: Ignore Peer Pressure
I’m always amazed at the absolute certainty people have of the superiority of one college over another. Spend a little time on College Confidential and you’ll see high school students looking for advice on which school to attend bombarded with definitive statements of the overwhelming excellence of one school compared to another. Sometimes they’ll point to rankings but more often than not, the opinions will be based on their experience with just one of the schools in question.
Moneyball College Admissions Rules: Use Your College Experience to Get What You Want
At first glance, Billy Beane’s fourth Moneyball rule wouldn’t seem a good fit for the college application process: “Know exactly who you want and go after him (Never mind who they say they want to trade).” After all, it doesn’t seem likely that many students will convince colleges to change admission requirements or how much financial aid offered simply based on their determination to attend a specific school.
Moneyball College Admission Rules: Know How Much You’re Paying and Why
I don’t know about you, but I’m always leery when the price of a good or service I’m considering purchasing isn’t readily available. The phrase, “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it” starts echoing in my head. However, although most college websites don’t have their costs readily accessible, it doesn’t seem to be an issue for most people. I have to admit, I didn’t really start noticing it until I start writing this post.
Moneyball College Admissions Rules: Ignore the Status Quo
Last week I talked about taking a Moneyball approach to the college admissions process. The idea being that as in Major League Baseball, the college admissions market is not operating efficiently resulting in some players/schools being significantly undervalued where others are way over-priced.
OU Football Coach Supports Paying College Athletes?
If you have even been in a conversation about the role of college sports, at some point someone will talk about misplaced priorities in terms of spending and complain that the football or basketball coach makes more than the university president, much less the highest paid professor on campus. Another person will inevitably respond with that no one pays to watch a professor teach biology. It’s about the money. Since people are willing to pay for it, then the school is justified in spending it.
The Moneyball Approach to College Rankings and Admissions
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Have you seen the movie “Moneyball” or read the book by Michael Lewis? The story is about how the Oakland A’s baseball club managed to come up with winning seasons despite being one of the poorest teams in professional baseball. “Moneyball” refers to the strategy of identifying players used by the Oakland A’s general manager, Billy Beane.
What does Moneyball have to do with college admissions?
What to Read to Understand the O’Bannon vs. NCAA Trial
Now I’m not saying you should know what the O’Bannon vs. NCAA trial is about or even care. If you have any interest in college basketball or football, it’s highly unlikely that you haven’t heard about the trial. But if this is all new to you and you start to wonder what all the fuss is about during the expected two-week trial, I suggest reading the following resources.