re: 2016 UGA Recruiting Thread (commits, offers, visits, etc.)

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I have a feeling the problem most student-athletes run into is degree selection, not school selection. They opt for a worthless degree because it's easy, or fun, or because they aren't capable of handling the sport & class.

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Yes and no. It hampers them, yes, but not necessarily because the degree is deemed "easy." Rather, the "easy" path typically shuts them off from important networking opportunities with other students, alumni, and faculty that could act as key contacts upon beginning their career after sports. So while people may scoff at Sociology or Housing as "worthless" degrees to athletes, it's not because the classes aren't meaningful. Those degrees exist because there is interest from the general population that they be offered. Instead, the issue is that non-athletes have the time to attend optional networking functions or opportunities outside of those programs that athletes just don't have the hours in the day to participate in. If it's not what you know, it's who you know, athletes tend to not know anyone.

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The opposite can be said about degrees too - don't chase a PhD or Ivy League school thinking you're going to buy yourself a high paying career. I've got a buddy with a law degree from UGA who can't find a job and is doing clerical work right now. I know another guy who got a PhD at Emory and got his first salaried job last year...6 years after I got mine and we're the same age. He's probably swimming in debt too. Meanwhile I graduated pretty much tuition-free from UGA, locked in a job before I graduated, and probably make more than 95% of people my age. I don't make more than 95% of ND grads...but I know I make more than the majority of them, at a fraction of the cost they paid.

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Totally. When I got my graduate degree it was with the intent that it would offer me some more latitude in terms of career options, additional resume experience, and a whole host of new networking opportunities. Students that go into grad programs thinking they're buying a two-to-four year ticket to a nice job shouldn't be going to grad school. It doesn't buy you a winning hand; it just reshuffles the deck.