Original title: A Royal Effect: The Impact of Princess Leonor of Spain’s University Choice on Admission Outcomes
Manuel T. Valdés · September 2026
Can a famous person change where people want to go to college? In April 2026, Princess Leonor of Spain announced she would study Political Science at Carlos III University of Madrid, known as UC3M. Her choice went public nearly two months before students turned in their applications. The researcher tracked university admission cutoff scoresthe minimum grade needed to enter a university program—the minimum grades students needed to get accepted—over an 11-year period to see what happened next. The choice did not make students apply more to Political Science everywhere, nor did it boost interest in other degrees across UC3M. Instead, it triggered a large, significant jump specifically in the admission cutoff score for Political Science at UC3M. Influential figures can sway major student choices.
Imagine a popular restaurant announces that a celebrity chef will cook there every Friday. On other days, the restaurant stays just as busy, and other chef-run restaurants see no change. But on Fridays it becomes extremely hard to get a reservation. In this paper, the princess's announcement acted like that chef news: it didn't affect other schools or other subjects, but it made that specific degree much harder to get into.
This shows that influential people's decisions can ripple through systems like college admissions, potentially distorting access. Students may be swayed by non-academic factors, and universities face volatility in demand. Policymakers should be aware that public figures' choices can have measurable, localized effects on admission outcomes.
The study only examines cutoff scores, not actual enrollment or student composition. It cannot separate the three proposed channels of influence (shift toward Political Science, enhanced UC3M attractiveness, or combination). Results come from observational data, so causality is inferred but not conclusively proven. The effect may be specific to this context and may not generalize to other influential figures or settings.
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A Royal Effect: The Impact of Princess Leonor of Spain’s University Choice on Admission Outcomes — Manuel T. Valdés — SocArXiv — doi:10.31235/osf.io/7swq4_v1
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper. This is a preprint, so it hasn't necessarily been peer reviewed.