What is your sons major?

1. Double major in accounting and Finance

2, No did not change

3. Double major made it more difficult

4. Graduate on time with no summer classes, played summer ball

5. Did an internship Summer after Junior year left the internship early to go play ball in the Cape

Not sure, no I am sure I could not have done what he did......what these athletes do now a days is really remarkable.....I think the more hectic the schedule the more discipline they have to be.....I had too much free time in my college days. I think baseball with the travel and the 56 game plus schedule is one of the more difficult sports to play and graduate on time.

Need for perspective here:  D1, D1 Ivy, D2, D3, D3 top academic...  Completely diff gig with time commitment and academic capability.

Son started out on the Pre Med track. Decided he did not want to pursue that anymore. Contemplated switching to Econ or Stats,and has finally(I think) settled on majoring in Mathematics.

Every class at his school is challenging and tough . Much is expected of each student and the workload is brutal IMHO. Much is expected of the athletes too.The athletic teams at son's school are all very good, and the coaches want to win championships.Practice,games,travel,weight room,community service,and leadership workshops/events take up a good chunk of their time.

Summer internships are encouraged by the coaching staff.Summer baseball is not required here like it is at many schools. My son will do both this summer.Last summer he worked 30 hours a week and played summer ball.

Our son is majoring in biology/chemistry pre-med track.  He is a sophomore at a military institute.  So far he is on track academically.  Last summer he played baseball, this summer he is planning to take classes and possibly work at an internship, or a job in the medical field (phlebotomy).  He has not changed his major. 

playball2011,

As Gov pointed out, it would be great if you could give us a little context of exactly what you are looking for.  

As you may or may not have discovered the college baseball/educational experience can vary dramatically across the various types of schools due to Division type, number of games, travel distances within the conference, non-conference mid-week games, Spring Break schedule, universally tough majors, double majors, the coaches' summer internship policy and the rigor of the University.  These are all HUGE factors.  In my son's case, he had very specific requirements that could only be met by a handful of schools....it took us 18-20 months to figure out who those schools were and get them to recruit him.  Any deviation from those requirements meant that he was compromising in some area, and he didn't want to do that.  

So, let us help you.  Please explain a little more what you are looking for. 

The older two went to D3 liberal arts academic schools, so starting major is irrelevant since they took 2 years of essentially "generic" classes before declaring what they "really wanted".  Both are self motivated to work hard and neither needed summer school. Both had work study jobs. Summer internships were found "on their own" and not part of any school program. First son graduated with PolySci (> 3.0), but doesn't have a job in his major field. His summer job during/after Jr Spring semester opened his eyes w/r/t what he wanted to do, but it was too late (in his mind) to change majors. Plus after Jr. year his girlfriend got a Teach for America assignment in Dallas, so he was blinded by his desire to complete his degree and move to be with her.  Second son knew what he wanted to do when he was in HS, graduated with PoliSci/History (> 3.4), got through the LSAT's in great shape, and is now at a very good law school. Third son is at a small D2 school now in a business program with a Spanish minor. He will need to do some sort of summer school, but that's more because he's a different type of student and less self motivated than his brothers than baseball having an effect.

This thread has a similar posting theme to many others of a different subject (grades, velocity minus the arguments).  There is a posting bias towards high achievers and success with something difficult.  It would be great to hear some of the stories where there was a negative effect.  I think as much or more can be learned from the failures or other paths.

This is not a criticism, just an observation.

Go44dad posted:

This thread has a similar posting theme to many others of a different subject (grades, velocity minus the arguments).  There is a posting bias towards high achievers and success with something difficult.  It would be great to hear some of the stories where there was a negative effect.  I think as much or more can be learned from the failures or other paths.

This is not a criticism, just an observation.

Excellent point.   

Good point Go44, I'll throw in some balance...

Three kids in college.  Of course, my ideal scenario would be that their career paths would have become clear in HS and they graduate in 4 years immediately coming out of HS.  Not gonna happen.  My two stated "wishes/demands" for them has been that they become good people as adults and they complete a 4-yr degree. "Good people as adults" has already happened and 4-yr degree is gonna happen.   

BB playing son's major is business.  It has changed back and forth, I think, a couple times officially and several times in his head.  Baseball has been very instrumental is choosing his major (again, not the way I would draw it up).  Business major is not particularly difficult relative to managing a school schedule while playing college ball.

His first year of JC, his coach required several baseball-related classes that took away from ability to take more major-related classes.  Also, some JC classes didn't transfer so, even with occasional summer classes, he will likely need an extra semester or two or three to complete his degree.  Summer college ball, some work and some "me" time have prevented him from taking a heavier summer class load.  His current career path of choice is college baseball coach.

Oldest son is a Physical Therapy major and is currently in grad school.  He started with nursing and switched majors after some field work.  He and his electrical engineering major wife did things a bit backwards and had a few kids before finishing school.  They, at times, had to disrupt one or the other's school schedule to help each other through.  She has gradated and he is getting there.  It will likely be about nine years post-HS graduation before he is finished. 

My middle child (daughter) is targeting nursing and is probably also on the nine year program.  She has all her GE completed but is very free spirited and wants to see the world.  She wanted to get some big adventures in before becoming land-locked in nursing school.  She has a cycle.  She would take a semester or two of school, then work two or three jobs, then travel for two or three months (on her dime).  Rinse, repeat.   This took some mindset adjusting (understatement) for mom and dad.  Now, we're jealous.  Over the last two years, she has seen several countries in South America as well as Thailand, Viet Nam, currently in Big Sur and headed up to Washington and Vancouver.  She is looking to get into a nursing school and begin this fall.   She already has some ideas about taking a semester abroad at some point. 

None of them took the route I recommended, envisioned or would have preferred.  I couldn't be more pleased or proud of each.    

My daughter just started college. On her first day, she texted to say she was dropping her major of kinesiology and moving to a 6 year program in diet and excercise science. Now into second semester--we'll see how it goes. Used to be first year of college was to take gen Ed and think about your major. Now kids go in with a semester of more AP or other college credit and they're supposed to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives. My husband just turned 64 and he's still trying to decide what he wants to be when he grows up. 

Son started undecided. During freshman year, picked Chemical Engineering which he has stuck with. He's a senior, but will need a fifth year to finish at a PAC-12 school. 

Baseball and Engineering is not an easy mix. 

Son started as pre-dental.  After 2-3 weeks, he quickly changed his classes.  He will be applying to the business school this semester.  If he doesn't get into the business school, Plan B is a major in economics with a minor in business.  His pre-med roommate his freshman year came into the college as a sophomore (very smart boy) and he has since dropped pre-med and decided on another major (math maybe?).

No amount of reasoning (from his biology major mom) would have convinced son before he left for college that he would not be able to tackle organic chemistry while playing baseball.  He had to figure it out for himself.   

His non-baseball player brother is a student manager of another sport at an ACC school.  He puts in more time than the players by being at practices, games, and other post- and pre-game duties.  He also travels with the team.  He will graduate in May with an engineering degree in 4 years. 

My goal for my kids was to come out of college majoring in something/anything  and to stay eligible.   I worried some about my baseball player son being at a high academic school with a history of a high suicide rate among the students.   He didn't come into the school with tip-top grades from high school, so now when he does make a B, he isn't devastated. He realizes that you can graduate from college with less than a 4.0 and still be OK.  I will say being at a high academic school has raised the bar some for him to study hard!

keewart -  You have a PM,  thanks!

Just asked ?  to share experiences as curious to how hard it is to be at D1 school with  a medical related major.  Was hoping son would choose a business major, but after a few classes he wasn't feeling it. Showing interest in PT, or OT, and was wondering how hard it is to finish in 4 yrs w hectic baseball schedule. Did your sons take a lighter load in Spring due to baseball or the same as in Fall? I'm just glad his coach requires mandatory study hall, it's really helped.

Playball2011,

I know some PT folks and it could be a very difficult/challenging major based on a traditional 56 game D1 schedule. A lot of that would hinge on how much mid-week travel there is, and whether your son is a position player or pitcher.  PT is a very competitive major from a GPA standpoint in terms of getting to Grad School which is required in that field.  Not to mention summer internships help, so I'm not sure what your son's coach thinks about summer college baseball.

My oldest son was an engineering major.  He tried to take a lighter load (relatively speaking) in the Spring.  There was no mandatory study hall, but the coaches did monitor (bi-weekly) every players status and progress when needed.

Good luck!

Son is at a very high academic, D1, majoring in business.  He is a freshman so just completed his first fall and has been back a little less than a week for his first spring semester.  Took five classes in the fall and is taking four in the spring, one of which is a once a week night class on their scheduled day off.  He went to a high academic private prep school so the workload is not new to him, but it is significant.  So far so good, grades were decent first semester - not what he's accustomed to, but decent and certainly acceptable.  I think people often underestimate the baseball time commitment, even in the fall season.  Certainly people who don't have boys involved (or attempting to become involved) in college baseball seem to have no clue how much time it dominates.  It's significant.  Son will be playing summer ball in the northeast this summer, not sure what summer work/internship will look like at this point.

Son was a business major at the D1 school where he played baseball for a year.  Did very well academically and I suspect the limited time available, because of baseball, helped him focus.  The student-athlete study halls were probably key too.  He decided that after 1 year his baseball days were done and he transferred to his dream school.  The time management learned in his baseball year helped him manage his time well now that baseball is not there and he has continued to do well academically.

My niece is a D2 swimmer majoring in athletic training at one of the few schools which offer that major as an undergrad. She searched hard to find a school and athletic program which allowed her the time for her major; she has lots of clinic hour/internship requirements.  But, swimmers have no formal summer commitments so she is able to take a few classes over the summer to fill in the few missing classes caused by her swimming commitments. She was an OK HS student who actually is getting far better grades in college due to the study requirements set by her coach. She will finish in four years.

(Her experience is probably more relevant then S's for this major.)

S was accepted thinking Chem. E. Once arriving on campus and meeting the team, it very quickly morphed to Chem and then to undecided. (The same path was followed by most of the other freshmen; so of the few guys who thought about pre-med or engineering, they also moved into the undecided column no later then the end of first semester.)

He floated several ideas over the first year progressivley floating easier and easier majors. While we felt very strongly that the majors should be his choice, once the trajectory of his ideas became clear, we told him he could come home to cheaper schools if he wanted to ease his academic burden. So, he settled on economics which was THE popular athletic major and stayed there.

He played summer ball after freshman and soph year but got an internship using his major after junior year when it became clear to him that playing beyond college was going to be problematic.

At his college, everyone finishes in four years (absent health or similar reasons).

My son's major is mutlimedia art, with an expected emphasis on visual effects or possibly game design.     Originally,  we  looked for schools where he could both do baseball and digital arts.  We targeted both universities with dedicated art schools with separate admissions  and  regular undergraduate liberal arts colleges/universities with strong digital arts majors but no separate art school.  We  stayed away from the stand alone art schools, since few of those have baseball.  It was definitely tough  to find schools that were simultaneously good fits academically, artistically and athletically.  His search was complicated by the fact that his  grades and test scores  were borderline, while his art portfolio was strong.   He's definitely a right brain type.   In the end, he ended  going to a school without an art school, but with a small but strong and thriving multimedia arts major.  That seems to be working out well enough so far.  HIs courses are not  as intensely focused  on the digital art side from day one as they  would have been if he had gone to  a dedicated  art school.  And he's not immersed in a big community of like-minded creative students as he would have been at some of the schools he was considering.   But it might have  been harder  to combine baseball with that sort of intense immersion anyway.  Plus he wouldn't have gotten to know the same wide variety of people that he's getting to know at his current school. 

There are many programs where you just cant take certain majors while playing baseball. Son was  discouraged from engineering, after 3 years of playing D1 ball in the ACC, I could understand why. Also switching majors is tricky, if you lose credits in the switch, it only puts you behind.  That's why it is very important to ask those questions before your son committs.

My son took a major offered to many athletes at the time. PTRM. Parks, travel, recreation management.  It kind of emcompassed a few things, and also took business and finance classes. He recently found out he could take a minor in athletic leadership. PRTM is not as popular as it was 10 years ago.  I will admit he took it as an easy out because of the demands of the program, he also planned on playing baseball as a life career. It doesn't always work like that and keep in mind that the average MLB players career lasts 4 years, that's average among all players.

My son's passion is baseball, looks like at this time he is heading towards coaching. He has expressed interest in getting his masters in fitness and wellness. 

Son was away from school for about 8- 9 years.  It was NOT easy to get back to the grind of the classroom.  

However, like others he did accomplish his goal. No summer classes while playing baseball in college, graduated in 4 years, earning a degree while remaining debt free.

While I understand that many players try to attend the best program they can, for draft consideration later on, the only thing I can stress is that to remember the purpose of going to school first and foremost to get a degree.  As we all know most college players do not end up in a career in baseball.  

I think that most parents here have done a great job of steering their players in the right direction.  Most new folks here really have no idea how demanding playing a sport and attending college can be, especially baseball.   

Always remember to encourage your player to do his best in the classroom, and also remember that being a small fish in a big pond isn't always the best  situation for most. Being the big fish in the small pond, having success in the classroom as well as on the field probably should always be the right direction for most.

Anyway, as far as internships,  it varies. Of course most want to do their internship that makes sense to their major.  

JMO

TPM posted:

 

  Most new folks here really have no idea how demanding playing a sport and attending college can be, especially baseball.   

 

 

so true, so very true. My son is a college freshman and has not even gone through a Spring yet.  I have a new found respect for all college athletes, especially baseball !!!

Go44dad posted:

This thread has a similar posting theme to many others of a different subject (grades, velocity minus the arguments).  There is a posting bias towards high achievers and success with something difficult.  It would be great to hear some of the stories where there was a negative effect.  I think as much or more can be learned from the failures or other paths.

This is not a criticism, just an observation.

Great observation, but not too many people will come forward with that information.

TPM posted:

Go44dad posted:

This thread has a similar posting theme to many others of a different subject (grades, velocity minus the arguments).  There is a posting bias towards high achievers and success with something difficult.  It would be great to hear some of the stories where there was a negative effect.  I think as much or more can be learned from the failures or other paths.

This is not a criticism, just an observation.

Great observation, but not too many people will come forward with that information.

 

Ask me in 2-5 yrs. I will know more then but I may or may not be willing to talk about it. Or I may not even be on this site.

I really like what TPM had to say about always encouraging our son's to work to their fullest potential in the classroom because most likely baseball will end.  I also acknowledge that there are some coaches that will discourage student athletes from taking certain majors, those schools/coaches are not a good fit for our son. 

It is hard to take a tough major and play baseball, but it is possible.  I have really enjoyed reading about all of the different types of student athletes in this thread.  As I stated in another thread, everybody's goals are different.

son is Sports Management major, wants to go to law school.  He hasn't changed majors and fortunately school is pretty easy for him.  Daughter on the other hand struggles with school but does fairly well.

Son is at a d1 school.

2013 business

2014 business

2016 Foreign Politics

2018  who knows

TPM posted:

Always remember to encourage your player to do his best in the classroom, and also remember that being a small fish in a big pond isn't always the best  situation for most. Being the big fish in the small pond, having success in the classroom as well as on the field probably should always be the right direction for most.

JMO

 

Im years away but I wont forget this, good stuff.

My son is a Biology Major and Chemistry minor with plans to attend Optometry school after receiving his degree.  He started at a Mid D1, got redshirted, and has since moved on to a high academic D2.  He is a redshirt soph. this year and the upper level classes in the sciences are very tough.  He is still able to to do both well but his free time is VERY limited.  He will have 30 hours left after this semester to graduate but it will take him two more years because of the way the prerequisites are arranged at the small D2 school.  They offer classes in the spring and fall and you have to stay on track.  Tough to take Ochem 2 and Microbiology with labs at the same time in the spring.  Plus, the labs are all from 2-6 during the week.  Can miss one practice a week but not two.  Tough deal but his overall GPA is still 3.7.  Needless to say we are very proud.  

He had to turn down offers to play in California and Alaska for this summer and stay in the Texas League.  He has to get some more Optometry observation hours in during the summer to fulfill the requirements needed to apply for Optometry school.  He will do this in the mornings of home games between road trips.  

The oldest, my daughter played D1 softball. She majored in forensic science with minors in criminology and French. Actually she was majoring in being Inspector Clouseau. She took two summer school courses to avoid missing games and practices. She graduated in four years. Her senior year she interned with the DOJ in DC. She said it was hard to work all day and work out at night on her own. Obviously she missed all of fall practice.

Son plays D1 baseball. He majored in Econ with a concentration in Quantitative Analytics. What may sound like a difficult major is easy for him. It's math. With AP credits and summer school he graduated in three years. He's now getting his MBA in Business Analytics. The new coach his red shirt junior year didn't appreciate he stayed for summer school and played in a local summer collegiate below his level of ability.

Daughter graduated PBK. She eventually went on to law school. Son got a 2.5 his first semester. I told him if he screwed up his academic ride (50%) he's coming home. He was having too much fun with his freedom. Joining a frat on top of acclimation first semester was not a bright idea. Of course, he didn't tell me until after the fact.

The harsh reality is that most college baseball players make their living at something other than baseball. Some will make millions, a lot will make thousands, but a small percentage will make it big.

So, why do you go to college? I went to get a job that paid well when I graduated. It worked for me. I'm doing OK in my old age.

Son could've gone pro out of HS by signing for <$100K, but my wife and I pushed him towards college. It turns out it was the right choice as he hasn't "blossomed" as a prospect. He'll graduate and get a real job entering the workforce as a chemical engineer with lots of great memories. This eventuality became obvious to him in his sophomore year, when we started to hear more stories about school than baseball. He made the mental shift from an athlete student to a student athlete that year. Engineering is hard, especially with a 56 game schedule, travel, labs, practice, study time, etc. I was an engineering major and can't imagine keeping my head above water in school while playing a sport. It is very hard and results in fatigue, sickness and occasional injury problems. It ain't easy.  

My daughter could've played softball on scholarship, but shunned all recruiting attempts once she saw what son was going through. She was two years behind and decided it simply wasn't worth it. She's now a 4.0 in biomedical engineering with designs on medical school. 

Last year, several of my son's teammates graduated with general studies degrees. Toward the end of the season, it became obvious to them they weren't going to be drafted and they started to look for that 'real job'. They couldn't find one. He has a buddy who literally signed for a bus ticket to Florida to play in the rookie league as an undrafted 22 year old. Another started painting houses. A noble job and I'm not knocking it, but probably not what he envisioned four years earlier when he was a freshman all american.

The problem with baseball players is that they all think they'll make millions playing baseball. The reality is, most don't. Much easier for a softball player to understand there is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I remember my daughter researching to find out that most of the pro softball players were making $5K or less for the whole summer. 

Why do you go to college? That's really the question... If it's to improve draft status, you're making a pretty big gamble that in three years you'll do better. If it's to play college baseball, have great experience. Most likely however, its what you do in the classroom that will pay the bills for the next 40 years. Baseball will make you tougher, more able to succeed in teams, better at time management and probably more likely to deal with difficult bosses than the average student. It will help break ties but ultimately it's the GPA and major which will determine your station in life.

I would suggest selecting a major where a high percentage of the graduates enter the work force with high paying jobs. At least start out that way. If the kid ends up being all everything and moves up the draft boards and has advisers knocking down his door, let up on school. If not, graduate with the degree and a great experience. 

Just one guy's thoughts.

Liked some of your comments, thanks for sharing.

have to disagree w two- not all college baseball players think they r going to play pro. Most love the sport and want to continue playing a few more yrs while they work on degree. 

Second- select a major with high paying jobs. Guess that would leave out education majors. Now I have a family member who taught for 10 yrs, then went on to be a principal  so I guess that's a good paying job. I'm grateful for the teachers who have been positive influences in my kids life, and they do it because they love their jobs, it's sure not for the money.

Of course making money is important, and being able to pay bills, but many jobs out of college are not high paying right away. Even dr/lawyers  come out with a lot of debt. Personally I'm hoping my son gets a job that he likes going to, and one where he can pay his bills, have savings,etc. not sure what station that will put him in, but there are many ways to define success .

Business Management - major D1

Graduating on time with only three classes to go.

Played summer ball, no summer school.

Had two internships during his Jr. and Sr. years.

Did start college with 12 hrs. due to AP and Duel Credit classes.

Anybody hiring??????????????

playball2011 posted:

Liked some of your comments, thanks for sharing.

have to disagree w two- not all college baseball players think they r going to play pro.

If you polled an entire college baseball team, you would be really surprised to hear the answer.

If you polled freshmen from Power Five conference teams plus the top teams from other conferences you would probably find 90% of the players believe they will be turning pro. After freshman year reality may have bitten them in the rear. My son said from the beginning he didn't want to be single A roster filler for two years. But if his prospects were better he's in.

TPM posted:

playball2011 posted:

Liked some of your comments, thanks for sharing.

have to disagree w two- not all college baseball players think they r going to play pro.

If you polled an entire college baseball team, you would be really surprised to hear the answer.

...especially polling the incoming freshman class at a PAC-12 school...

RJM beat me to the punch, but same basic comment.

RJM posted:

If you polled freshmen from Power Five conference teams plus the top teams from other conferences you would probably find 90% of the players believe they will be turning pro. After freshman year reality may have bitten them in the rear. My son said from the beginning he didn't want to be single A roster filler for two years. But if his prospects were better he's in.

Not gonna pull as many chicks saying you are going to focus on accounting.  This is coming from a guy with an accounting degree.

Go44dad posted:

RJM posted:

If you polled freshmen from Power Five conference teams plus the top teams from other conferences you would probably find 90% of the players believe they will be turning pro. After freshman year reality may have bitten them in the rear. My son said from the beginning he didn't want to be single A roster filler for two years. But if his prospects were better he's in.

Not gonna pull as many chicks saying you are going to focus on accounting.  This is coming from a guy with an accounting degree.

A athlete doesn't have to tell girls anything about their future to attract girls. I'm excluding Ivies and high academic D3s where there may be anti jock snobbery.