Which jobs are the most popular amongst former college athletes?
The competitive nature inside of a former college athlete never dies. Being competitive on and off the field is part of their genetic makeup. Given that we know not all college athletes won't be making big plays on Sundays or game winning shots during the fall and spring what other employment opportunities are out there?
According to a report that was published on bleacher report by Justin Ferguson in August 2016 college athletes majors changed depending on what school they attended. For example, out of the 433 college football players in the Big 10 conference 79 players majored in communications which was the highest of any major. Mathematically that is roughly 18.2% not a lot. In the ACC conference and University of Notre Dame 120 (21.2%) athletes majored in arts, sciences, and letters out of 565 players. Communications was the 2nd most popular major in the ACC conference with 93 (16.4%) players. In the Big 12 conference 64 (21.6%) players majored in Business out of 296 players in total. General/Liberal/Multidisciplinary Studies was the 2nd most popular major with 45 (15.2%) players who decided to major in this field of study. The Pac 12 conference changed the narrative of communications and arts being the most popular majors amongst college football players. Out of 494 college football players in the Pac 12 conference 140 majored in Sociology/Social Sciences approximately 28.3% of the players. This 140 is almost double the amount of the players who majored in communications 76. In the SEC conference 96 (18.5%) players out of 518 majored in Sports Management.
Justin Brue who played college basketball at the the University of California San Diego from 2009 to 2013 picked a more uncommon major for a college athlete. Brue majored in Structural Engineering his reasoning for majoring in this area of study " I always had an interest in building stuff. I actually pick UC San Diego because their engineering program was so good", Brue said. Coming out of high school in Northern California Brue didn't get a ton of division 1 college scholarship offers so accepting UC San Diego's offer was a no brainer. In addition to not receiving a plethora of college basketball scholarship offers Brue had to play Power Forward and Center at an undersized 6'5''. The average height for a Division 1 College basketball Power Forward 6'8''-6'10''. Despite being undersized Brue went on to have an illustrious career at the University of California San Diego. Brue was offered the chance to tryout for teams to play basketball overseas. However, he ultimately chose to end his basketball playing career after college and focus on finding a permanent full time job in his field Engineering. Brue currently works for Kimley-Horn in Pleasanton, CA as a Project Engineer.
In conclusion, the majority of college athletes majored in communications or arts primarily because they are the easiest. Majors such as Business and Engineering entail a ton of math courses which can be time consuming given athletes have strict schedules. Brue went against the grain so to speak by deciding to major in Structural Engineering. A few math classes didn't deter Brue from finishing his degree requirements. Just because someone is undersized or doesn't receive a ton a scholarship offers mean they can't perform at the division 1 level. All a person needs is an opportunity to showcase their talents and that is exactly Brue did his entire collegiate career at UC San Diego.
