Need Help/advice with career/college...

[billyhallfan]

I'm currently a senior at Watertown and am planning on going to a state school like Whitewater. But in order to save money, I am going to take the first to years of school at MATC in Watertown, the UW system and the Wisconsin technical colleges made a system where a student can go for two years at tech school and then transfer to a state school. Since I would like to comute, I think Whitewater for my final two years would be a good fit, since it is about 25 minutes away from Lake Mills, where I live. Anyway, my dream job was to play major league baseball, but since I suck, I think I want to try and work in a front office job, probably in the minors some where. Now I know that these jobs are not easy to get into at all, but I would like to try anyway. It is important to me that I go to school close to home because I am not blessed with a lot of money, so I want to work a lot and go to school at the same time. The question I have is, what should my major be if I am planning on doing this? My guidance counselor is a piece and does nothing, he is no help at all, he was brought to Watertown to coach the basketball team, and he does nothing but sit in his office all day. Would sports management be a requirment, or would some major in business, or marketing, or finance be a better option. I know what I want to do but not how to do it. Also I can't seem to find a state school that offers sports management. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

thanks for the help...

-Brian

[mothershipconnection]

Do business, it's the ultimate catch-all major with the most ability to fall back on something else when your dream job doesn't work out.

[billyhallfan]

when your dream job doesn't work out.

thanks for crushing that already...http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[sbrylski]

BillyHallFan, I'm you two years into the future. Like, exactly. (Except for the work thing - I'm a lazy bum.)

 

I'm in my last semester at MATC in Madison, finishing all my GenEds. So I still haven't really settled on a major - but whatever I pick I want it to help me land something in a minor league baseball front office somewhere. I have been leaning towards something in business, likely accounting for me, but because I'm transfering to UW-Madison I'm nervous I won't get into it. I was also wondering if a statistics degree could help me get a foot in somewhere. Unfortunately, I can't find solid guidance anywhere either. I even emailed a minor league ballclub about what qualifications they want in interns, and got a absolutely worthless response.

 

So not much help, but share with me anything you learn and I will do the same.

 

Definately curious to hear anyone else's advice.

[kgbaseball]

If there's a Sports Management degree, go for that. At UWM, there's a Health and Fitness Management degree that has students take a few business courses along the way. I believe you take enough business classes to get a minor in Business Administration. Something like that might interest you.

[monkeyman343434]

I think it all depends on what type of front office job you're actually looking for, seeing as there are many different types, most of them have to deal with some sort of business degree and the new trend is leaning towards MBA grads or law school grads i believe

[Hammer]

I've pimped this school before...but UW-La Crosse is all about sports. I have a degree in Marketing but was really considering something in the Sports Management field. Give them a look-see!

[ajgodson]

More important than what you major in will be getting some internship experience with a minor league ballclub. Work in the ticket office, do on-field promotions, etc.

 

A lot of it depends what you want to do for the ML club. I had some friends start in ticket sales and work there for a few years. It's hard work for not a lot of pay, but if you love baseball it might be fun. There are a lot of jobs with the clubs that are sort of like "regular" jobs, accounting, sales, account management, so if you're looking for that angle, pick something you like and are good at.

 

If you're looking to get into scouting/player development/etc., those are really, really tough to get into if you didn't play the game at the minor league level at the very least. The best shot at those would be to get a MBA/JD degree with a focus in Sports Management (Marquette has a good program) and work into it from the legal/business end. Again, having experience with teams at any level will help you tremendously there, too.

[RyDogg66]

I'll echo the MBA/Law School angle. That opens up a lot of doors, but also requires 7 years of schooling or so.

[bball123h2]

Cardinal Stritch has a Sports Management degree. And although tuition is high, if your ACT scores and GPA are high enough, there are tons of scholarships just for walking through the door. I actually took a Sports Law class as an elective, and the professor used to write up the player contracts for the Bucks. They seem pretty well connected within Wisconsin (the people I knew in the program interned with the Brewers, Bucks, Admirals, Wave, Timber Rattlers, and Snappers).

[2hoophead]

Fan -

If you are interested I can give you some info on another Gosling who is in MLB and the route he took.

Just PM me...

[Dough73]

My first choice would be to go to UW - La Crosse and major in sports management. It's the best in the state and they have ties to professional baseball. I have a friend who interned with the Brevard County Manatees and I think the GM there might be an alum of UW-L. You will probably also need a graduate degree (MBA or masters degree in sports management).

 

My second choice would be to work your tail off and get into UW-Madison. I would probably major in finance or accounting. Get good grades and then go to law school.

 

Make sure you try to get as much practical experience on the way.