Due to the large number of competitors, College Athletes have a very small chance of becoming professional, but there are other career opportunities in their sport

• For 5 out of 6 NCAA Sports (National Collegiate Athletics Association) the probability of becoming professional is less than 2%.
• Baseball is the only slightly higher probability with 9.4% of athletes becoming professional.
• For those athletes who don't become professional, many are still able to have careers in the industry of the sport they played. 
• There are a number of opportunities from organizations (such as the NCAA) who offer employment to Former-College Athletes.
• Many factors involved in playing NCAA Sport at College mean that athletes may be forced to take certain majors, and this may disadvantage those student athletes when considering career opportunities post-college.

Scoring a goal in the championship game of NCAA Soccer's biggest conference (The Big 10) does not mean that you are likely to become a professional Soccer player. This is a fact that  Christoffer Wallander-Ianev, a Swedish Maryland freshman male soccer player, understands well.

After failing to secure a contract from a professional soccer club in Sweden, Ianev searched for other ways to further his Soccer career, and he chose to come to the American College Soccer system.

Though Ianev capped off his first regular season at Maryland by scoring the first goal in Maryland's 2-1 Big 10 Championship win over Indiana, he understands that the odds of him becoming professional are not in his favor.

Ianev's roommate Jake Areman, also a Maryland Freshman Soccer Player, understands how difficult it is to become a professional soccer out of college...

According to NCAA Research into the Estimated Probability of Competing in Athletics Beyond the High School Interscholastic Level, only 1.9% of NCAA soccer players will be drafted to a Major League Soccer (MLS) team.

This means that about 20 in every 1,000 senior soccer players will be signed professionally. The reason for this is supply and demand. Due to the large number of college soccer players and the low number of draft picks that are given to professional soccer teams each year, the vast majority of college soccer players will never turn professional.

Soccer players from Maryland have a slightly higher possibility of becoming professional, as the players and performances of their team mean they are ranked 4th in the country, but this provides no guarantees.

The statistics (see bar graph below) of college athletes becoming professional (being drafted into an American professional league) are similar across other College sports as well; 1.6% in Football, 1.2% in Men's Basketball, 0.9% in Women's Basketball, 0.8% in Men's Ice Hockey. The only sport attracting significantly more college players, is Baseball at 9.4%. The reason for the higher drafting rate in Baseball is because MLB (Major League Baseball) teams get more than 30 draft picks each year, as opposed to about 7 in Football and 3 in Basketball.

As these statistics indicate, almost all college athletes will not be drafted to an American sports team. Undrafted players are then left with with the following options, a) pursue other ways to play their sport professionally, or b) turn to a career that is in the field of their academic degree, or pursue interests.

Areman knows that even if he can't play Soccer professionally, he would still want to work in the Soccer industry.

Ianev has a similar outlook....

As Areman and Ianev allude to, many college athletes would prefer to work in the industry of their sport (for example as a coach or administrator, or in a related industry) if they are unable to become a professional player. One former Maryland Athlete did just that.

Being a College Athlete allows a very small chance of becoming professional because of the huge amount of competitors

Scoring a goal in the championship game of NCAA Soccer's biggest conference (The Big 10) does not mean you are likely to become professional, a fact that  Christopher Ianev, a Swedish Maryland freshman male soccer player, understands well.

After failing to secure a contract from a professional club in Sweden, Ianev searched for other ways to further his Soccer career, and managed to come across the American College Soccer system.

(INSERT VIDEO #1 - Chris - explains not being able to play in Sweden and deciding to come to the USA to play at college)

Though Ianev capped off his first regular season at Maryland by scoring the first goal in Maryland's 2-1 Big 10 Championship win over Indiana, he understands that the odds of him becoming professional are not in his favour.

Ianev's roommate Jake Areman, also a Maryland Freshman Soccer Player, understands how difficult it is to become a professional soccer out of college...

(INSERT VIDEO #2 - Jake - explains how hard it is to go pro from college)

According to NCAA Research into the Estimated Probability of Competing in Athletics Beyond the High School Interscholastic Level (LINKKKKKKK), only 1.9% of NCAA soccer players will be drafted to a Major League Soccer (MLS) team. This means that about 20 in every 1,000 senior soccer will be signed professionally.

Soccer players from Maryland would have a slightly higher possibility of becoming professional as the players and performances of their team means they are ranked 4th in the country, but this still provides no guarantees.

The statistics of college athletes becoming professional are similar across the other College sports as well; 1.6% in Football, 1.2% in Men's Basketball, 0.9% in Women's Basketball, 0.8% in Men's Ice Hockey. The only sport attracting significantly more college players, is Baseball at 9.4%.

As these statistics indicate that almost all college athletes will not be drafted to an American sports team, they are left with with the options of pursuing other ways to play their sport professionally, or beginning a career that is in the field of their college degree.

Areman, knows that even if he can't play Soccer professionally, he would still want to work in the field...

(INSERT VIDEO #3 - Jake - explains he has a comm degree that he would use to work in Soccer if he doesn't go pro)

Ianev has a similar outlook....

(INSERT VIDEO #4 - Chris - explains might want to be a sports agent)

As Areman and Ianev alluded to, many college athletes would prefer to work in their sport if they were unable to become professional.

But for many of these athletes, a combination of factors in college can often take away from their career opportunities post-college. These factors can include the type to degree the athlete is allowed to study (because of training schedules), the heavy-load of training versus study, and an overall insulated sporting society.

Colleges will often have services designed to help athletes with their future careers, but as Areman discusses, this isn't always the case.

(INSERT VIDEO #5 - Areman - explains what Maryland provides students with for future careers)

Though the chances of Ianev and Areman becoming professional are quite small, they are both adamant that if they work hard and stay focused, they will be able to achieve their dreams of playing professionally.

(INSERT VIDEO #6 + 7 - Areman Ianev explain they want to play professionally)

For the vast majority of college athletes, their career will not involve them playing professionally, but this does not mean they won't work as hard as they can to try and make their dreams come true.

Jacqulyn describes that hardest aspect of the final assignment

ANALYSIS OF TWEET BY Adrienne26

Today I learnt that Lauren Conrad had a few inches cut off her hair. Unfortunately, I do not know who Lauren Conrad is. The reason for this is probably because I don't read the entertainment section of the Huffington Post. This made it hard for me to engage with the article. But though I don't know who Lauren Conrad is and I don't read this particular paper section, this article is still news. The reason for this is that to a group of people it will carries the human interest aspect of newsworthiness. In other words, there are a group of people that would want to hear and engage with this article because of their interest in it.

Through this, the article made a journalistic decision to not include any new audiences through the article, as there is no mention of who Lauren Conrad in. In most journalistic pieces, the person featured in the article would be introduced immediately. Here there is no mention of who she is, beside the fact she is a star.

Besides those aspects, the article is very interactive with a large amount of engaging pictures of Lauren Conrad.

Defining Good Interactivity with Alyssa29

listen to ‘Defining Good Interactivity with Alyssa29’ on audioBoom

More people meet and date through Offline vs Online Methods, but Customization is creating a competitive advantage for online sites

What is Personalization, Customization and Agency

Personalization refers to the extent to which content is tailored by a system to meet the needs of the user. An example of this is Apple creating products to try and meet the needs of their customers. This contrasts customization, which is the ability that the user has to modify or add content to meet their needs. A customization example is Android, allowing users to edit the open source code to create products for themselves. The agency model refers to how the users are the source or sender of all content, the premise of the psychological effects of customization technologies. 

The ability to customize on Online Dating Sites is creating a competitive advantage

One idea of personalization vs customization can be seen in AditiPaul’s article, which researches whether online dating or offline dating is better for meeting partners. This study is relevant to the personalization and customization, because online dating usually involves the user customizing a profile of them, which is then matched with another user. The ability to customize a profile is what gives online dating a competitive edge, as it allows users to a) have a large selection of matches; b) find someone with similar interests (profile customizations); and c) allow users to achieve quick intimacy with matches. Overall, users customizing their profiles (as opposed to a site personalizing a profile for a user) provide an avenue to facilitate online dating.

Results of a study show that many more people date Offline than Online

Aditi Paul’s study of 2923 adults showed that the majority of people are still using offline methods to meet each other. 2643 of the adults in relationships said that they had met through offline methods, while the remaining 280 adults said they met online. These results are visualized through Figure 1 below. This encourages the idea that people are still more trusting of traditional methods to meet new people, though this trend is on the decrease. As people are having more and more ability to customize their dating experience, so the popularity for those selected methods is increasing. 

People meeting online are getting married less than those meeting Offline

Contrasting this initial result, Paul’s study also revealed that more than 60% of couples met online was in non-marital relationships, with only a minority reporting to being married. Paul presented three reasons for this situation. Firstly, people dating online know they have a huge number of potential matches (based on their customizations), so they are reluctant to commit to one person. Secondly, online relationships take longer to develop compared to offline initiated ones. Lastly, because of people’s distrust of online sources, it takes a longer time for a trusting relationship to develop. Paul says this is because 86% of users have reported to be concerned about people falsifying their personal information and being deceptive about themselves. This is where a problem with customization takes place, as people have the power to present themselves however they want. This contrasts with a system that would work on personalization, as the system would make create a correct representation of the user based on information that it could gather about the user.

The trend for Online Customization is on the rise

Thus, Paul’s studies reveals some interesting ideas about using customization in online dating, and the ways that it can be beneficial for certain people, but detrimental for others. What is evident is that the trend for people to use customization through online methods is on the rise, but whether the information is completely correct is another matter. Each user will have to make their own decision as to whether they want to use customization (over personalization methods) when using online systems.

Students using certain technologies to communicate with each other every day

Students using certain technologies to communicate with each other every day