Communications and Rhetorical Studies

[Bortukal]

Sixty percent of the 2009-2010 team majored in this field, and it's a popular choice for football and lacrosse players as well. The Daily Orange today explores the reasons for this and whether SU's athletes are steered toward this and other programs. It's a pretty interesting article.

To sum it up, various SU sources, i.e. Joe Fields, say that athletes aren't ever told what to major in, but they are advised about the difficulties in balancing the demands of their sport with the rigors of certain academic subjects, such as engineering.

 

[Cuse'91]

Sixty percent of the 2009-2010 team majored in this field, and it's a popular choice for football and lacrosse players as well. The Daily Orange today explores the reasons for this and whether SU's athletes are steered toward this and other programs. It's a pretty interesting article.

To sum it up, various SU sources, i.e. Joe Fields, say that athletes aren't ever told what to major in, but they are advised about the difficulties in balancing the demands of their sport with the rigors of certain academic subjects, such as engineering.

Bor,
I didn't read the entire DO article, because life is too short, but where are you getting this 60% figure? Article seems to state an average of 20% of football players majoring in CRS over a 4yr cross section... This major also involves the "coaching" minor degree, which I would think is a profession athletes may choose to enter later in life...

 

[Bortukal]

Bor,
I didn't read the entire DO article, because life is too short, but where are you getting this 60% figure? Article seems to state an average of 20% of football players majoring in CRS over a 4yr cross section... This major also involves the "coaching" minor degree, which I would think is a profession athletes may choose to enter later in life...

There's a graphic showing the percentages midway down the DO page. 60% majored in CRS in 09-10. No data available for 10-11. 10% in 11-12. 33% in 12-13.

I should have specified that those figures specifically relate to the hoops team.

 

[cuseinchina]

That 60% numbers sounds very high. Regardless one would think this major would be a great choice for college athletes and not because it's presumably not as difficult as engineering. Rhetoric is the mastery of persuasion in oral and written communication. First off if you can write well you WILL get a good job. Second, if you can sell well, you will get an even better job. Athletes tend to have the self-confidence and doggedness required to do very well in sales and marketing positions. Wall street sales and trading desks are loaded up with former athletes who are there not for their deep knowledge of finance, but for their ability to sell financial products to investors. Guys buying the products (usually professional institutional investors working at hedge funds, mutual funds, insurance companies etc) love the 'cache' of dealing with someone who played sports on a high level because they view their work as being the intellectual equivalent of athletic competition. Point being if you need to pick a major that will allow you to do well without putting in 60 hour weeks at the library, one which teaches you to write well and to be convincing seems like a pretty good way to go. Beyond sales it could set you up well for a career in advertising or politics, or work well as a good pre-law degree. Or per the poster above a career as a coach. So I would not view this as some sort of 'joke degree' but rather one that makes a great deal of sense for athletes with specific personality types. The ability to think critically, write clearly, and communicate persuasively are skills sorely lacking in the general college educated population - I like the idea of this major very much.

(disclaimer - my sister is finishing up a phd in Rhetoric at UT so I am positively biased towards this discipline.)

 

[Cuse'91]

There's a graphic showing the percentages midway down the DO page. 60% majored in CRS in 09-10. No data available for 10-11. 10% in 11-12. 33% in 12-13.

I should have specified that those figures specifically relate to the hoops team.

Gotcha, I see that graph now... Wow, that's a pretty high number, but seems more like an anomalous blip overall... BB team is such a small study group, hope that's just the scholarship players from the men's team... Hopefully that doesn't include walk-ons and women's team...

 

[Alcuse01]

I read the majority of the article before falling asleep in my whopper, but I failed to see really anything that backed up the initial title/claim of the article. There was evidence over and over that the CRS program can act as a backup for someone who didnt meet the Newhouse requirements, and that each person can also then transfer out if they choose (assuming their grades are OK). He then actually supported this by listing other athletes who don't remember how they came about the major and realized later they could transfer out. Either way, I still don't see what the issue would be...

I'm one that initially went for Newhouse, didn't get in, and graduated from CRS, with a minor in informational studies... and I can say that the "backup" plan would be in place for everyone, not directed towards athletes.

3 minutes into writing this response I still have no idea what the article accomplished

 

[Cuse'91]

I read the majority of the article before falling asleep in my whopper, but I failed to see really anything that backed up the initial title/claim of the article. There was evidence over and over that the CRS program can act as a backup for someone who didnt meet the Newhouse requirements, and that each person can also then transfer out if they choose (assuming their grades are OK). He then actually supported this by listing other athletes who don't remember how they came about the major and realized later they could transfer out. Either way, I still don't see what the issue would be...

I'm one that initially went for Newhouse, didn't get in, and graduated from CRS, with a minor in informational studies... and I can say that the "backup" plan would be in place for everyone, not directed towards students.

3 minutes into writing this response I still have no idea what the article accomplished

Hey, you got through the majority of the article, pat yourself on the back for me...