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Best college sports programs to become a professional athlete?

I'm a CareerVillage staff member and I'm posting this because we know that many young people are looking for the answer to this question. This is among the most popular questions searched by youth, and we're hoping you will take a moment to share your response to it. Thank you! #college #sports #athletics #recruiting #athlete #student-athlete #pro-sports #professional-sports

Things you can consider for this specific question...

What colleges have highly ranked athletic programs?
Where did many current pro athletes attend college?
Are there schools that professional teams tend to like to recruit from?

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Patrick’s Answer

This question is definitely too vague but to help clarify what points would be important in your decision, there's a few things to factor in: What sport do you play? What academic level are you? What type of training are you looking for? Where are you from? Are you going to need financial assistance with the costs of higher education?

These are going to be different for every student-athlete and to try and generalize which colleges are best for each individual would be a disservice to their playing careers.

Patrick recommends the following next steps:

Try being more direct with the question. It's one worth answering, however student-athletes will best be served by taking a more individual approach to this.
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Joanna’s Answer

I personally went to the University of Michigan as a student athlete. I knew I would never be a professional athlete but there were several that trained there. The great thing about University of Michigan is not only the athletic facilities but the education comes with it! Michigan also has a dedicated study facility, tutors, counselors, etc. for student athletes. For those that do become a professional athlete they will have a solid degree from an incredible school to fall back on.
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Ken’s Answer

It does not really make a difference where you go to school on your way to becoming a professional athlete. If you excel in your sport, you will be found. Scouts are everywhere.


The most important things for you to do are the following:

  • Learn money management. Too many professional athletes blow through their incomes in a short time and leave themselves destitute. With proper money management skills, one can prevent that from happening.
  • Prepare for an alternate career. Too often an athletes career ends prematurely. One should prepare for a career which could replace that one to provide sufficient income for survival. Many athletes participate in another career area along with their sport.

Here are some important tips relating to the second point:

Ken recommends the following next steps:

Getting to know yourself and how your personality traits relate to people involved in various career opportunities is very important in your decision making process. During my many years in Human Resources and College Recruiting, I ran across too many students who had skipped this very important step and ended up in a job situation which for which they were not well suited. Selecting a career area is like buying a pair of shoes. First you have to be properly fitted for the correct size, and then you need to try on and walk in the various shoe options to determine which is fits the best and is most comfortable for you to wear. Following are some important steps which I developed during my career which have been helpful to many .
The first step is to take an interest and aptitude test and have it interpreted by your school counselor to see if you share the personality traits necessary to enter the field. You might want to do this again upon entry into college, as the interpretation might differ slightly due to the course offering of the school. However, do not wait until entering college, as the information from the test will help to determine the courses that you take in high school. Too many students, due to poor planning, end up paying for courses in college which they could have taken for free in high school.
Next, when you have the results of the testing, talk to the person at your high school and college who tracks and works with graduates to arrange to talk to, visit, and possibly shadow people doing what you think that you might want to do, so that you can get know what they are doing and how they got there. Here are some tips: ## http://www.wikihow.com/Network ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/nonawkward-ways-to-start-and-end-networking-conversations ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-questions-to-ask-your-network-besides-can-you-get-me-a-job?ref=carousel-slide-1 ##
Locate and attend meetings of professional associations to which people who are doing what you think that you want to do belong, so that you can get their advice. These associations may offer or know of intern, coop, shadowing, and scholarship opportunities. These associations are the means whereby the professionals keep abreast of their career area following college and advance in their career. You can locate them by asking your school academic advisor, favorite teachers, and the reference librarian at your local library. Here are some tips: ## https://www.careeronestop.org/BusinessCenter/Toolkit/find-professional-associations.aspx?&frd=true ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/9-tips-for-navigating-your-first-networking-event ##
It is very important to express your appreciation to those who help you along the way to be able to continue to receive helpful information and to create important networking contacts along the way. Here are some good tips: ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-informational-interview-thank-you-note-smart-people-know-to-send?ref=recently-published-2 ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/3-tips-for-writing-a-thank-you-note-thatll-make-you-look-like-the-best-candidate-alive?bsft_eid=7e230cba-a92f-4ec7-8ca3-2f50c8fc9c3c&bsft_pid=d08b95c2-bc8f-4eae-8618-d0826841a284&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_20171020&utm_source=blueshift&utm_content=daily_20171020&bsft_clkid=edfe52ae-9e40-4d90-8e6a-e0bb76116570&bsft_uid=54658fa1-0090-41fd-b88c-20a86c513a6c&bsft_mid=214115cb-cca2-4aec-aa86-92a31d371185&bsft_pp=2 ##
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