I’m a Junior and IU is not my top choice but I will probably go there if I don’t get into UMich, UNC, or UT Austin. I want a career in sports, maybe as an agent, scout, not sure yet though, but I want to major in sport management. I qualify for Kelley DA and with my 33 and 3.8UW will get a good amount of money from IU hopefully. Should I just major in something in Kelley and minor in their Sport Management/Marketing program? I want to major in sport management but I feel like a Kelley Degree would help me out a lot more, I’m still interested in business, but for me I’d rather be taking the classes in the Sport Management curriculum. Can anyone give me some advice?
@pschnee I encourage you to really investigate the sports management/marketing field. I would ask each school for specifics as it relates to job placement of the recent graduates with that major. Don’t let them use broad generalities like “we’ve had placements with several professional teams” blah blah blah. The key questions is, where do most people with that major get jobs, and are they even employed in that field. I know you are obviously smart and you probably think that even if only two students out of the sixty that graduated last year got jobs with pro teams, that when you graduate, you will be one of those two. All I can do is encourage you to be realistic.
Mark Cuban has had some brutal words regarding this major and has called it one of the worst possible majors because there are so many people wanting a job in sports and there is so few openings. He goes on to tell stories of getting 20 resumes a week from people begging for a job and willing to work for free, just for the work experience.
Below is a link to another article I found which I think paints a pretty accurate picture. Almost all of the jobs that are potentially available that are connected to sports will be working in sales for a sports team. If you don’t want a job in sales, your opportunities will be EXTREMELY limited. Make sure you read through the comments section below the article and not just the first two. Click on “show more” for all the comments.
https://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/pulse/20140611170520-123704960-why-sports-management-majors-are-doomed-to-fail
Just make sure you do your homework, which you are obviously willing to do as you are starting the process early and asking the right questions. If you were my son/daughter, I would definitely encourage you to go the business route and minor in sports marketing/management
@GraceDad I am realistic, I don’t know why you would assume that I automatically think I would be one of those two, but I understand where you are coming from. If I go to IU I will probably do this, and I would be fine working in sales for a sports team. Thanks for the help!
@pschnee I wasn’t really suggesting that I knew you thought you could beat the odds, I was more or less just using it for effect to make my point. Sorry if it sounded like I was coming down on you.
@pschnee Here’s another article where Forbes lists some of the top Universities in the Sports Management field. One of them is Ohio University. I read in another post of yours that you are from Ohio. I didn’t know if you had checked them out or not.
@GraceDad It’s cool, and yeah I know OU has a good sport management program but I’m not really interested in it, all the schools I’m applying to are basically top 10 business schools (IU, UT, UM and UNC), and sports are OU are popular but nothing like those big schools I mentioned, I also have no desire to stay instate, Cincy is the only instate school I’m applying to and that’s because my parents are making me use it as my safety since my grandfather used to be the dean of the business school there
@pschnee Listen to GraceDad and the professionals out there commenting. Majoring in a sub-sub-specialty like Sports Management is a long shot at best. Should that not work out, you’ll be faced with applying for jobs elsewhere and having people tell you they’ve got no need for a sports person.
Choose IU and Kelley because graduating from a top B-school gives you more choices. Choose Sports Management as a job choice later after you’ve graduated with a Marketing degree from Kelley that will be good for so much else.
I would suggest you examine the resumes on Linkedin for people working front office and agent jobs and see what their undergraduate degrees look like.
What @IUBOOS said. Major in literally anything from Kelley other than Management/Entrepreneurship and get internships/talk to people in the sports industry, and you will be in a MUCH better spot than just boxing yourself in with a sports management degree.
@jpamsel @IUBOOS Thank you guys, I’m gonna apply to major at Kelley. However, UT Austin is my top choice so I will be majoring in sport management if I go there, but they have a much better program then IU. Since I’m OOS I probably wouldn’t be able to get into McCombs anyway with my lack of business ECs.