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I started receiving letters from colleges my freshman year in high school. There was even one coach that called me early out of excitement, and then out of honesty turned themselves in. Once my junior year came around and it became legal to call me, the calls were pretty steady. I took three “official visit” trips and didn’t want to take anymore. By then, I was tired of it all! Current or past high school athletes reading this, you may know exactly how I felt!! It can be overwhelming, and it’s a process that is very much focused on the athletic side of your college choice, not the academic side.

My mom was by my side through the whole process and gave her opinion, but at the end of the day, I made my college decision 100% on my own. I chose the University of South Carolina. It turned out great (go, Gamecocks!!), but I feel like I was just lucky. You’re still a kid at 18. You really have no idea what you’re looking for, and you’re still at the age where you’re primarily thinking of the short-term and not the long-term picture of your whole life. So you’re more concerned with what city the school is in and what the people are like, and the lifestyle, rather than the things that really matter for your future. For example, if I had done my research, I would have known that the University of South Carolina has one of the (if not the) best international business programs in the country! There I was, at a school that specialized in a major that was a great fit for me, and I went through my whole time there oblivious to that fact. I could have been winning NCAA Championships and making Olympic teams and putting down roots for a great post-athletic career. 

When you’re a young and successful athlete, it doesn’t even come into your head that there will ever be an “end” to your athletic career. I think it’s a common assumption that just GOING to college and getting a degree is enough, for now, while you focus on the athletic side. In reality, you can’t just take care of one side and coast on the other. Especially when the “other” side is your life! It’s your life more so than your athletic career will be. No one wants to talk about that or think that way. It’s as if you’re ignoring your dream or doubting your goals if you admit that you have to prepare for life after your sport. That’s not it at all! It’s just that no matter HOW successful of an athlete you become, it will be a short career relative to your life, and you will need “real world” skills and expertise beyond your sport to make the most of your platform as an athlete and transition that into your post-athletic career and life. I want to go back to school and study international business now, because with all of the traveling I’ve done around the world for track and field, I feel like I have real world experience that can serve me in that type of career. And I can do that, it’s not too late! But wouldn’t it have been great if I had studied that major during undergrad and already had that under my belt?

So, as a parent, I want to research which schools are high-ranking academically, which programs are available at each school and how well they’re rated, what my kids have an aptitude for, and so on. Since I know what it’s like to be a kid and not have much of a big-picture perspective, I want to be sure I’m taking care of that side for them. I admire my mom for allowing me to make my own decision. But now that I’ve learned so much from that experience, I just have a different idea of how I will improve on that process for my kids.

My advice to young athletes beginning the college selection process is to write down your ATHLETIC life goals and your NON-ATHLETIC life goals. Then assess the colleges you’re interested in based on how they set you up to achieve both sets of goals.

Do your research! Avoid “party schools” and seek out schools where your teammates and coaches will motivate you and inspire you to dream big not just for your athletic career but for your LIFE. Your sport is NOT your destination, but it can be your platform, spring-boarding you to a lifetime of success and happiness. Watch for how the schools treat their alumni – the University of South Carolina (particularly Harris Pastides, the president) has always supported me, even after I turned pro, and I know other Gamecocks would agree. How the school treats their student-athletes AFTER they’re done competing for them is a good indicator of their integrity! It also lets you know that you will be able to use them as a resource going forward. You are joining a family.

Here are some great resources to start your process of finding the best environment for you as a student-athlete:

• STACK.com’s Elite 50: Ranking the 50 Best Colleges for Athletes – In addition to ranking the top 50 colleges for student-athletes based on both athletic and academic success, STACK.com also breaks down rankings by sport.
• List of CoSIDA Academic All-America honors per school – Which colleges have had the most athletes named to CoSIDA Academic All-American teams? What is the CoSIDA Academic All-American Award?
• U.S. News & World Report: College Rankings – There are a ton of ways to rank colleges, and this is a good resource to see rankings and lists covering different angles.
• The Princeton Review: Colleges and Majors – Access rankings and lists, search for the best schools by major/location/etc, and more on this great website.

The bottom line is, athletes that have long-term success figure out how their traits that made them winners on the track, field or court can make them winners in life, and they develop those traits with a big-picture strategy in mind.

I love to compete. To me, business is the ultimate sport. It’s always on. There is always someone trying to beat me.

- Mark Cuban

photo: 2002 NCAA Champions – the South Carolina Gamecocks! We were the first NCAA championship team in the school’s history! (photo credit: University of South Carolina Athletics Department) 

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