Jobs for the Major
How this major affects a job search
You're a person who knows what they want. That's a good thing, too. Many college students don't have a clear idea of what they're after. Not you. You know that you want to get athletes into tip-top shape and keep them that way with a combination of food, exercise, and rehab.
You will have a couple decisions to make. The first is whether you will specialize, and if so, how much. The other level of specialization is what facet of the degree you will concentrate on. Athletic training is a diverse field with a lot of knowledge and skills. Any one of those can become a career in itself. You've got options, is what we're saying.
Common Career Fields
Professional Sports. This is the big show. If there's one place most athletic training majors want to end up, it's in the pros in their favorite sport. This is sadly pretty unlikely as there are only so many jobs to go around, and they are highly sought after. They're also highly paid, which might explain that first thing. There's not much cooler than telling people you're one of the reasons Lebron can do what he does.
College Sports. College sports are big business. Ask anyone. With all that money on the line, it becomes important to keep athletes healthy. This means that schools will often employ entire staffs of trainers. While you might not get a chance to work at the Division-I school of your dreams or your alma mater, there are plenty of options out there for you.
Nutritionist. Professional athletes will often employ someone to tell them what to eat. It's not unheard of for a wealthier school to do the same for a whole athletic program. Basically, you get really good at determining the best things for sports people to shove in their cakehole (despite the name, it's not cake), and you can make a good career of it.
Hospital. Working at a hospital means concentrating more on the rehab part of the major. You will be working most often with patients, helping them regain mobility after injuries or surgery. It's pretty important work, giving hope and ability back to people. Just make sure you show up early on your first day to get your halo fitted properly.
Occupational. This is not an expected place to find athletic trainers, but did you know that offices are really bad for you? As it turns out, humans as a species weren't really meant to sit in chairs and motionlessly stare at screens. A whole host of health problems come along with this common way of life. Athletic trainers can help out with repetitive motion strains, back problems, and so on. Office work isn't a sport, but it can still hurt you.
Military. War is dangerous. Of course, right? Just for a second, take away the bullets whizzing past the heads of our brave men and women in uniform and look at what they're doing. Looks like a lot of running, jumping, and swimming to us. Sounds like sports. While getting shot isn't really an athletic injury, rehabbing gunshot wounds is something an athletic trainer can help with, along with treating and rehabbing all the sprains, strains, and breaks you'll see on the battlefield.
Performing Arts. You don't see a lot of knee injuries at the Philharmonic. You do see repetitive motion injuries, though. You see even more athletic-type injuries from more physical performers. Dancing can be super dangerous, to say nothing of the maniacs who comprise your average Cirque du Soleil troupe. They're subjecting themselves to all kinds of injuries that you'd normally only see in a gymnastics competition, and they could use an athletic trainer to protect them from themselves and rehab them later.
Current unemployment of the major
N/A (figure not available)Percentage of majors who get a higher degree after college
N/A (figure not available)Stats obtained from this source.