Prince William and Princess Kate on their wedding day.
In the US, sports can bring a lot of publicity to a university if a team does well. For instance, no one really knew about Virginia Commonwealth University until they got into the NCAA men's basketball Final Four... and thus ruined my bracket... earlier this year. When I hear about different universities across the country, I usually associate them with how they've done in sports. Of course, a good team doesn't mean the university has good academics. Still, the exposure can help graduates from that university. Potential employers don't have to look confused and ask where a university is when they've already heard about them on ESPN, even if the team didn't do so well. For instance, no one has ever heard of Mississippi College outside of Mississippi, so no one knows if it is a good school or not. However, some people have heard of the University of Southern Mississippi because of Brett Favre, regardless of how the school has done academically (just today I heard someone who knew little about Mississippi bring up Brett Favre when hearing about USM). Some universities, like Harvard and Yale, have excellent reputations across the nation without good teams, but most universities are known better for their sports than their academics, for better or worse.
When I tell friends and potential employers that I went to the University of St Andrews, many of them know about the school because the Scots invented golf there and because the British Open is there every five years. Even though British universities don't have sports, most Americans still know about my alma mater because of sports. Those who know about the school and my Masters in International Relations often tell me, "Oh, that's a very lucrative degree." However, one of my friends recently told me that in her country no one knew about St Andrews, either for academics or sports or whatever. She had to explain that St Andrews is a Scottish university. The recent royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton changed that. Because several news reports and even a made-for-tv movie told the story about how the couple met at St Andrews while studying there, she didn't have to explain her education anymore. It helped her get traction in conversations with potential employers. While a lot of people complained about how much money the couple spent on the wedding as the British government wants to cut funding for public services, the expensive royal wedding added value to my Masters degree. Now in interviews I can now possibly stand out from other candidates because I can tell potential employers that the future king and queen attended my university. It has nothing to do with academics, but at least I don't have to explain where the university is.
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