From the field to the trading floor, alumni links help athletes find jobs
If you are looking to join the ranks of Wall Street stockbrokers, playing a varsity sport may be just as powerful as a finance certificate.For some men's sports, a combination of on-the-field experience and strong alumni support draws a disproportionate number of athletes to the business world."I'd say 60 to 70 percent of our guys are there," men's lacrosse head coach Bill Tierney said.In comparison, about 10 percent of 2002 graduates began working in the financial services sector after leaving school, according to Career Services' annual exit survey.A comprehensive study of college athletics by the Andrew Mellon Foundation ? the basis for "The Game of Life," by former University President William Bowen GS '58 and James Shulman ? found that for 1989 male graduates of Princeton, Columbia and Yale universities and the University of Pennsylvania, nearly twice as many athletes earned MBAs as students at large at the same group of universities.But those students went on to earn more than twice as many Ph.D.s as athletes.Meanwhile, there is almost no difference between the two groups for attaining law and medical school degrees, the study showed.A higher number of athletes in business careers makes sense because of the teamwork, competitiveness and work ethic inherent in high-level sports, several athletic department officials said."[Some of the guys say] big sales are akin to the big game," Tierney said.