There is a ‘Melissa Click Effect’? Interesting Study on Scandals and How It Affects Enrollment

, Spencer Irvine, Leave a comment

Intriguing study:

A recent study by researchers at Harvard Business School looked at the media effect on university scandals, and concludes that the longer a scandal remains in the news, the greater decline in enrollment a school will suffer.

Examining various ignominies at the top 100 institutions from 2001 to 2013, the study authors found “[s]candals with a high level of media coverage significantly reduce applications. For example, a scandal covered in a long-form news article leads to a ten percent drop in applications the following year.

“This is roughly the same as the impact on applications of dropping ten spots in the U.S. News and World Report college rankings.”