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.

Through finding an opportunity in the Football industry, Under Armour founder, CEO and former Maryland football player, Kevin Plank, is one example of a former-College athlete who has created a very successful career by drawing on his College Football experiences.

The following extract is taken from the Under Armour website:

"It all started in 1995 when Kevin Plank, then the special teams captain on the University of Maryland football team, noticed that the cotton T-shirts he and his teammates wore underneath their pads were always soaked and heavy with sweat.

“There has to be something better,” he thought. He didn’t realize it then, but that one, simple statement would soon launch the performance apparel industry."

Almost two decades later, Kevin Plank is worth over $3bn and Under Armour is worn by top-class athletes in every major sport around the world.

Recently, Plank pledged to contribute $25m to University of Maryland to help pay for a planned $155 million athletics and academic complex which is "for every student on campus." This exemplifies his ongoing relationship with the University of Maryland and it's Football Program.

Even though Plank didn't make it to play in the NFL, he was able to recognize an issue in Football that he was able to solve, and ultimately he made a hugely successful career in the performance apparel industry.

But for many  athletes, a combination of factors in College can  take away from their career opportunities post-college. One of these factors is that the time required for training can constrain the choice of "major" an athlete is able to study.

In one case, due to football scheduling, former Northwestern Quarterback, Kain Colter, was unable to undertake a major that would have been most suited to his planned future medical school studies due to football scheduling. Instead of studying a pre-medical major, he had to take psychology because he simply would not have been able to combine playing football with doing a pre-medical major.

A survey conducted with more than 600 college athletes at schools in the Big Ten Conference and the Mid-American Conference this year found that 29.9 percent did not have majors that matched their aspirations, revealing an inherent problem in the system.

This issue, the ability to choose their desired majors, combined with a the heavy-load of training versus study, and a slightly insulated sporting society, serves to allow College Athletes fewer professional career opportunities after College.

LSU College Athlete (Eric Reid) studying with his tutor

An article by Nick Robinson from Demand Media regarding the Academics of College Athletes vs. Non-Athletes reveals that though College Athletes are likely to have 0.25 less GPA points than non-athletes, they are more likely to graduate from College. According to NCAA, 80% of Division 1 athletes on average graduate from College, while the rate is at 63% for non-athletes. The individual sport in which the Athlete plays will have an impact these statistics.

These stats also show that whilst most College Athletes won't become professional, the majority of them will graduate from College, but that they often graduate with a lower GPA than other graduating non-athletes.

In a bid to manage or some might say suppress this issue, some Colleges  have services designed to help athletes with their studies and future careers. But as Areman discusses below, this isn't the case with all Colleges.

The NCAA (amongst other organizations) is one organization that attempts to help Former-NCAA athletes find careers outside of their professional sport. Listed on the NCAA Website is a Student-Help Career Center that has the goal of connecting former athletes with potential employers. The website recognizes the attributes the College athletes possess, such as; leadership, time management, self-discipline, teamwork, overcoming adversity, etc., are all qualities that employers seek.

Similarly, for Students-Athletes who  have good grades, especially women, Wall Street may be calling. New York-based Drum Associates in February opened what it describes as the first division of an executive search firm that caters entry-level positions exclusively to current and former college athletes. Based on the idea that Student-Athletes will have the drive to "win", this is just one firm that will seek to make the most of former College Athletes.

These services and opportunities provided by multiple organizations show that though College athletes may be disadvantaged in some ways when studying at College, there are systems and paths already set up to help them to find work and a career.

Ianev and Areman are currently focused on becoming professional Soccer players. Even though their chances of becoming professional players are very small, they will take confidence in knowing that they have some options, if they were to fall short of "making it" as a professional athlete.

For now, both Ianev and Areman are both adamant that if they work hard and stay focused, then they will be able to achieve their dreams of playing professionally.

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

If they can't do that, then their degree, combined with a reputation as a former-college athlete, will give them a good opportunity to develop a career in their desired field.

For the Maryland Soccer players, they understand that perhaps one or two of their players in their team will be drafted into the MLS, and the rest may never become professional.

But as Areman discusses, "You can't think too much about what you would do if you didn't become professional."

"For me, I know that thinking like this might take my eye off the ball, and break my concentration on what I am trying to achieve [getting a professional contract]. If I don't make it, then I will have plenty of time to think about what I want to do next."

For now, Jake Areman and Christoffer Wallander-Ianev will do whatever it takes to become professional.

Nothing else matters - until it does.

Full steam ahead... Jake Areman in action for Maryland