What major would apply to my interests?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Well I'm a senior at the moment in HS and I'm looking at the colleges that I might want to apply to. I haven't found anything yet because I'm considering what I might to do for a major.</p>

<p>Well I'm convinced what my interest is but just undecided on what major that would apply to.
See I have this dream of one day becoming a GM or a behind the scenes guy who helps to evaluate players for teams. I love looking at numbers. And I've always excelled at math in school. In fact I have taken all the math there is to take in my school. I like reading statistics and evaluating players and coming up with my own conclusions about them. Making graphs and doing things to separate perception of what I see from the reality of what a player's worth truly is on a field as the numbers indicate. Another interest of mine is looking at money issues in baseball. I used to look at alot of the stuff Doug Pappas, who passed away about more than a year ago, would write about baseball and I always found it interesting.
I want to somehow combine the two if I can. If there's some major out there that covers both areas - statistics and money - that would be awesome. The thing is I'm not sure what areas would cover my interests. I'm not sure what path I should take to get where I want. Ultimately I would love to somehow be involved in MLB, whether it be with a team or the comissioner's office and get the chance to run my own club if I could.
So what majors should I consider? What path should I take?</p>

<p>Any advice you can give me helps.</p>

2

<p>Become a major league ballplayer yourself...but not likely. Maybe major in business management or marketing and dual-major in sports medicine at a Div I baseball school and get involved with the team as a manager or assistant of some kind.</p>

3

<p>definitely look into sports management programs. off the top of my head i know that springfield college, nyu, and syracuse have good ones</p>

4

<p>I would advise you to go broader-- maybe major in economics/ statistics with a minor in sports management.... might leave more options open....</p>

5

<p>yes I wholeheartedly agree with SBmom. I've <em>heard</em> that they get literally so many applications for those kinds of jobs that they don't spend more than 10 seconds before deciding if they'll call you back or leave you out in the cold. It's really difficult and you need to know that it's pretty unlikely.</p>

6

<p>There are only 30 MLB GM jobs out there, and it usually takes many years to work your way into one. It's something strong to pursue, but maybe not altogether realistic. I would therefore encourage you, as others have said, to study something broader, such as economics, business, or marketing, maybe with a minor or concentration in something like sports management. That way, if your dream changes, or you realize that it may just not be within reach, you still have a valuable, versatile degree.</p>

7

<p>Maybe accounting or statistics.
You can consider becoming an actuary/statistician/accountant...
or even research analyst?</p>

8

<p>Alot of what you guys are saying makes sense. A guy like Theo Epstein, GM of the Red Sox, went to Harvard and studied something with business I believe. Not sure but it wasn't sports management for sure. So I guess my next question would be what are the differences between the following majors you all mentioned?</p>

<p>Business Management
Business
Marketing
Sports Medicine
Sports Management
Economics
Statistics
Accounting</p>

<p>And I'm not sure what path a Actuary would take but I understand that it deals with statistics. Am I correct? And what would a Research Analyst do?</p>

<p>Thanks for the help so far.</p>

9

<p>First, you may be going about this backwards. Before you worry about a major, have you considered the TYPE of school you want? Do you want large/small/medium? What geographic location? Rural/urban/surburban? Do you need financial aid or are you hoping for merit money? Greeks or no? A party school or a nerd school? Etc., etc.</p>

<p>Most people change majors and career directions during college - so figure out what you are looking for overall first, then go from there.</p>

<p>That said, Here's a good site for information on what an Actuary career is all about: <a href="http://www.beanactuary.org/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.beanactuary.org/&lt;/a> Sports medicine doesn't sound like what you are looking for: the major is focused on the medical aspects of treating athletes.</p>

<p>Now, the best way to check out the differences between the majors on your list is to actually look at some colleges/universities that offer them --- see what attracts you, what turns you off. Here are some suggestions but keep in mind I'm not suggesting these are the best colleges or the right ones for you for these majors - just a variety of schools that offer the various programs. While you're looking at department websites, check out the other information on the schools to see what appeals to you as well.</p>

<p>For business, marketing, accounting, look at: U of Pennsylvania (Wharton School), Babson, Boston U, University of Southern California.</p>

<p>For sports management, check out: Flagler College in Florida, Elon in NC, the U of Connecticutt, Bowling Green U, Arizona State U.</p>

<p>For sports medicine/athletic training, check out Pepperdine, U of Evansville, Indiana U</p>

10

<p>I've actually considered alot of those things. I've done searches on Collegeboard's search engine that allows you to get real specific with the details of the type of college you want. I'm looking more at an urban school. I'm from NYC so I've always been used to the city and alot of people. I haven't really looked into financial aid or merit money because I really don't have a clue on how to approach. Heck I haven't heard of merit money before, is that like a scholarship? I know people change their majors alot during their college years. I'll even admit that up until the last couple of months I didn't know what I wanted to do because I was stuck between this and doing something in computers, not that I've totally ruled it out but I just have more interest in this. I guess the important thing in choosing the school I go to is the major. I wouldn't want to go to some prestigious school only to find out it doesn't have what I want to offer. I guess you can say I have somewhat of an idea of what I want my college environment to be but I'm putting alot of focus on the majors and programs the college has to offer. And yes you are correct I'm really not looking at sports medicine.</p>

11

<p>Merit money is money you get fro academics, some talent, anything that's not based on financial-need. Hope that clears it up</p>

12

<p>Finance has a nice mix of everything you'd need</p>

13

<ol>
<li>Undergrad degree: econ, business, statistics</li>
<li>Get any sort of internship you can get with a professional sports team. Take any real job they offer you.</li>
<li>Get an MBA</li>
<li>Get any sort of job you can get with a professional sports team</li>
</ol>

14

<p>Regardless of if you want to go into athletic training or sports management, you're going to need atleast a masters for one of those higher position.</p>

<p>Your best option is probably Northeastern, excellent athletic training and business administration programs, they also offer sports management, but the biggest bonus is that you will be able to co-op with teams like Boston or Pawtucket Red Soxs, and it really increases your chances to get into the industry especially with a full resume upon graduation.</p>

<p>I really sugget doing undergrad at Northeastern, it will help you in getting into such a narrow industry.</p>

15

<p>Epstein went to Yale, started law at USD where he interned with the Padres. The Red Sox's front office is filled with young guys that went to LACs. Some others that I know of with high ranking positions in baseball that went to top schools include: Paul DePodesta (Harvard where he played baseball, basketball, Economics major and graduated cum laude. He turned down 6 figure jobs and interned at a Canadian football league working 100 hours a week making $900 and then moved his way the Indians organization, Billy Beane's best friend, and LAD GM), Josh Smith (recruited for baseball at Harverford, now assistant GM with the Red Sox), Thad Levine (also recruited for baseball at Harverford, MBA from UCLA Anderson where he met someone who now works with the Red Sox, now with the Rockies and potential GM), and Sandy Alderson (Dartmouth and Harvard Law, mentor to Billy Beane at Oakland, executive at the MLB office and now with the Padres)</p>