2012 college majors of softball players

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Nov 15, 2011
58
8
Feel the need to put my 2 cents in here. I happen to work in the academic area of a large D1 school. While some of what is being said here is true (athletes at some schools tend to gravitate toward certain majors) there are many other factors in play. For example, while chemistry, engineering or physics may be great majors and very challenging, at some schools these are majors with very small numbers in general. Majors like Psychology or Kinesiology/sports studies etc. are very popular in the general student population. It would stand then, that if you take a "random" group of 15-20 students (on a softball roster) you would see the major distribution somewhat mimic the general population. If there aren't many chemistry majors at a university, what is the chance that one of those ends up on that roster- probably not very great.

Additionally, one of the most unfortunate things about being a D1 student athlete is that the NCAA rules hinder your ability to change majors. The rules seem good and logical on paper, but in application they don't always work. They prevent student athletes from taking the 100 level courses in 5 different majors to stay eligible ("the old days"), but they sometimes don't allow a student who legitimately changes their mind on a major to do so. The average college student changes majors 3.2 times- do the math- check some of those rosters over the next several years and see if the freshmen still have the same major.
 
May 7, 2008
8,506
48
Tucson
The only ones that I know, took 5 years. They still did not have to pay for that 5th year, though, but I didn't ask how that was.
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
7smom....

Here are the majors for LSU softball players:

Sports commerce: 3
Sports studies: 2
Kinesiology 2
Human movement science (?) 1
math 1
el ed 1
nutritional sciences 1
psychology 1
pre-med 1
biology 1

So, more than 30% of the students at LSU are majoring in either "sports studies" or "sports commerce"? (And I thought it was "beer drinking"...)

More than 50% of the team is in junk sports majors. Ridiculous--at least with a football player the rationalization is that they are taking a long shot in making a ton of money. Not so with softball...
 
Oct 19, 2009
1,827
0
My daughter wants to be a veterinarian and that is 8 years of college and medical school, if she succeeds or not is yet to be determined. In HS she has a 3.8 GPA and has not missed a school day since second grade, she had chicken pots which she gave to me.

About 2 weeks ago on our farm we had to call a vet to one of the cows and he had a young man doing his vet internship from Ohio State with him, we are in north GA. He was a very nice young man and I questioned him about his experience of vet school and being accepted to vet school which is difficult at best. He played baseball and football in HS and baseball for Ohio State and he advised that having an athletic background help him get into vet school. He advised that his athletic background along with how he presented his application was how he was accepted. He advised that his athletic background was one of the big things they looked at on his application and he was accepted over applicants who had a higher GPA.
 
Nov 15, 2011
58
8
7smom....

Here are the majors for LSU softball players:

Sports commerce: 3
Sports studies: 2
Kinesiology 2
Human movement science (?) 1
math 1
el ed 1
nutritional sciences 1
psychology 1
pre-med 1
biology 1

So, more than 30% of the students at LSU are majoring in either "sports studies" or "sports commerce"? (And I thought it was "beer drinking"...)

More than 50% of the team is in junk sports majors. Ridiculous--at least with a football player the rationalization is that they are taking a long shot in making a ton of money. Not so with softball...

My point was that you shouldn't expect a whole team of Math majors because there just aren't that many Math majors out there. I don't know much about Sports Commerce or Sports Studies and agree those majors may not lead to spectacular jobs, however, at my university Nutritional Science and Kinesiology are considered one of the biological sciences and require the same biology, chemistry and physics coursework as biology major and that students planning medical school take.

I find many student athletes are interested in careers in a sports area- sports have been their whole life. Many think they are going to go on and coach at the DI level or work for a major sports teams etc. A great plan? Probably not- we all know those jobs are few an far between and they'll probably get a job working for the local parks and rec sports program. I also work with students who have a 2.0 GPA and still insist they are going to medical school. I can tell them all I want that it won't happen but that doesn't mean they'll listen. I realize that some schools will funnel athletes into specific majors- I know it is done here (but not in softball and other non-revenue sports)- but just looking at the majors of girls online on a roster doesn't tell the entire story. Do I suspect that the most successful softball programs do this more often than less successful ones- you bet, but I still would want to know the story behind those young women before I pass judgement.
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
What I'm getting at is that parents and players have to understand that softball *ENDS*. And when it is over, it is over. The players have to have a plan for what they do after college or they are going to spend two or three years putting their lives back together.

In some cases, kids and parents seem to use athletic accomplishments as a way to avoid dealing with the simple reality that throwing a ball 70 MPH isn't going to put bread on the table.

I've only had two kids play college sports, so my experience is based on talking to those players. Kinesiology can be a serious major, or it can be done as a lark. The kinesiology teachers know all the coaches and the players, and they let the players skate. When it becomes time for the kids to take the difficult courses, the kids are shuffled out to a different major.

Again, the point is that parents shouldn't trust the coach and the rest of athletic department as far they can throw them when it comes to academics. The coach is not there to help a player get an education. The coach is there to win games.
 

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