Sports Management right for me?

MYOS1634
Mon, 22 Jan 2018 20:09:19 +0000

First of all, the best route to working IN sports management is not necessarily the sports management major, unless that major is as rigorous as a regular management major and ADDS extra classes for the concentration. Often however the Sports Management major is a “Management light” major. It depends on the college so be careful. Don’t look for an easy way out. Keep in mind that there are far fewer jobs in Sports Management than Sports Management majors so your major must serve you even if you can’t find a job in that industry and thus must be strong enough on its own, without the Sports Management segment.
A better way to do this is to choose a university with D1 teams OR a university that’s well-connected to a city with pro sports; major in Business or Economics, add a communication minor (sports communication if that exists at the college) or a Leadership minor; and if you wish a concentration in sports management. But the concentration in sports management is the LEAST important part - doing very well in Management AND getting a part-time job with one of the on-campus sports team (you may not get the sport you like best but what you need is a first step on the ladder) then an internship with either a top team or a pro team. THAT experience, backed up with doing well in your management classes, will help.

Note that you’ll likely be tempted to join a fraternity or sorority. It can be useful professionally but your university’s pride should be enough to help you with the networking (alumni network matters) AND most importantly pledging takes a lot of time, so try to find universities where pledging takes place in the Spring Freshman year or Sophomore year, because you don’t want to sink your GPA freshman year - it’s very hard to recover from a bad first semester (or from two bad semesters) … and you won’t get the internships you need if you don’t have a minimum GPA. Often, the GPA is 3.0, but it can be 3.2 or even 3.5 depending on the industry and the college. You won’t even be allowed to apply or have access to these (depending on your university) if your GPA doesn’t meet the cut off. Don’t underestimate your first semester’s demands! Universities such as Cornell, Penn State, Dickinson, Dartmouth, Santa Clara… have Spring or Sophomore recruiting.
Additionally, there are “service fraternities” (like Alpha Phi Omega) and “academic business fraternities” (like Alpha Kappa Psi), which aren’t primarily social, aren’t as onerous time-wise or physically, and can be great if you just want networking&leadership opportunities.