I did a lot of googling on the internet and haven’t found anything about how being a student athlete effects your chances of job placement or what a “good” gpa is for a student athlete. I am a division 1 athlete at Boston College, with my GPA being around 3.3-3.4. This is significantly lower than some of my peers, but I have much less time to study because of my athletic commitment. How does this effect my chances of getting a job/applying to graduate school out of college?
There are some articles (studies?) that talk about employers hiring athletes because they know how to work in teams, work hard, organize time, etc.
But it is what it is now. Do your best.
FWIW – We have close friends whose daughter recently graduated an Ivy League school. She was a recruited athlete. She scored a great job in the finance sector. She told us that the on-campus recruiter told her that they love recruiting athletes as employees, mainly because kids who’ve gone to good schools (like BC) and who are athletes have developed excellent time management skills, and don’t panic when they have to meet a deadline on a specific project in the midst of all their other work.
I think it’s very dependent on the career/employer and may even be somewhat dependent on the sport. Engineering and technology probably won’t care much about your athletics if the GPA isn’t where they want it to be. I know of some tech firms have (had) a hard cutoff at 3.5 to even get an interview.
Some employers, on the other hand - especially those who are former athlete themselves, may, as @asleepatthewheel noted, like athletes because of their time management abilities. In addition, a career that involves sales and networking may appreciate the competitive nature and team mentality of a former athlete.
As for grad schools - my impression is that very little slack would be given to an athlete if the GPA is too low.
You may want to ask your coach if your team does anything with its alums in terms of job recruiting. Both of the teams that I played on when I was in school (over 30 years ago!) communicate with me regularly for a number of purposes, including giving to the school and the program, but also creating a professional network for current and recent players.