The Harsh Reality of Being a College Athlete (by a College Athlete)

Being a College athlete is what many young athletes dream of. But there are many unspoken facts about being a college athlete that no one talks about. In this video, I'll be explaining the harsh reality of playing sports at a collegiate level.

1. Only 2% of high school students make it to college athletics and only 1% get a scholarship of any kind.

2. Being a college athlete is both very time-consuming and extremely taxing. This lack of time and energy throughout the day is the main factor for many athletes' burn-out in their sports and underperforming academically.

3. 98% of College athletes work a regular job after college, however, many of them are underequipped to do so because of their neglect towards academics in school. Furthermore, many athletes experience an identity crisis as what was the main part of their life for so long is suddenly gone.

Sources:
- Statistics on the percentage of high school athletes that make NCAA:
- Percentage of high school athletes that get a scholarship:
- Percentage of college athletes that go pro after college:
- Athletes have to work day jobs even after going pro:
- Post-Olympic Depression:

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About me: I'm a Senior at UC Berkeley studying Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. I am also a member of the number one ranked swimming team in the country and arguably the world! I enjoy making videos about my daily life and try and keep them as entertaining as possible. In my free time, I play the piano, draw, and start too many side projects I never finish.

0:00 Intro
0:52 Pre-life of a College Athlete
1:54 Present Life of a College Athlete
4:59 Post-Life of a College Athlete
8:32 Final Thoughts

[marcosricopeng]

I love seeing your guy's thoughts and takes on this! I just wanted to say a couple of things:

1. I know I just stated the negative parts but there are many great things about being a college athlete that I can make a full video on too if that's something people would want. My college athletic experience is something I wouldn't trade for anything and I'm so happy I got to experience it.

2. IF YOU'RE LOOKING INTO COLLEGE ATHLETICS, I don't want this video to discourage you at all! If you're a high school student then by all means try your best to pursue your athletic goals and if you're already a college athlete, keep up the good work. I just wanted this video to inspire those to not completely neglect your academics and while it may be even more challenging to do well in school as well as your sport, I promise your future self will appreciate it! You can do it! <3

[addybadola]

From an ex Division I athlete, there were many days and nights in my life where I questioned if all this is worth it or not. To be honest, I still don't have the answer but being a college athlete does teach you many things that you can't learn elsewhere. On the other hand, the domestic abuse by the coaches, imposter syndrome, feeling like you are not loved amongst the team can really really really take a toll on you and might scar you for a long time. Therapy helps :)

[dianfarah]

I'm not an athlete, but I've seen athletes in my uni and how much work they put in. Many of them have the same mindset that they won't be pursuing this as a career, but they still put in the work because they really love the sport. I thought that it's a very interesting reason to get behind, given how rigorous their schedule is. I haven't seen any of the post-college symptoms yet mainly because my friends and I are still in uni. I hope that you will be able to move forward from it because many of you are hardworking and disciplined, which are great skills to have. All the best in your future, and I can't wait to see your post college adventures! Tbh, there is a growing trend of videos recording their day and life as a working adult, which could be a potential idea once you graduate. 😀

[commirevo]

I was a D3 swimmer for four years and I went through post career depression hard after my senior year conference meet, so I can only imagine what it's like for a D1 athlete. The silver lining is that you have a unique, unspeakable bond with thousands of other people around the world who were also college swimmers and will understand so much about you within 90 seconds of meeting you. And this includes potential employers.

[ratcheteight]

Not an athlete here but it was nice to see the other side of all the luxury and privileges athletes get in their time in college. I thought athletics is something to die for

[Noticedwebsites]

I worked part time while in college and was tired from working, classes, lack of time for studying, etc & didn't do a lot of social in college to maintain my grades so I wondered D1 athletes how do it when their schedule is even more demanding than mine. I knew one who played hockey, in a hard major & got into medical school. Thanks for your insight video.

[onyourleft]

Pretty accurate I think one point you missed that seems common is a radical loss of community. For 4 years we spend nearly every day partially at least with our team, we live with our teammates or other student athletes, we go to each other’s parties, we go to bars together events together, plan our futures, then first the seniors when you started leave from your team, disappear, and your team changes then the juniors leave and you now feel that the mentors who helped you start this journey are gone, not physically but they don’t exist in the social sphere of ‘the student athlete’ but away from it.

You are one of the mentors helping the freshman both socially, studying, and in their sport, and usually career wise as well. You leave senior year being respected by your team and loving them but knowing that you won’t be as close to most of them. Of all the feuds between teams or cliques, the camaraderie that dominated your entire life while on campus is completely in the past. Many leave the area, some of the friends don’t respond when you text them, people who relied on you and who you relied on. Often people quit their sport, push into careers. The end result is that role based identity that you get by becoming a D1 student athlete after a few years feels like a distant memory of someone else, all your new friends are different etc

[lamcdani]

I was a D1 rower at USC and had an identity crisis after graduating as rowing was my main focus as well as my family. It was a difficult transition as I struggled with partying, working full-time and trying to maintain my training to fill the void. I believe we should have support and education during our college experience about life after college athletics. Thank you for bringing this conversation up as I feel it affects so many student-athletes. I really enjoy your videos. Best wishes for you during your transition and go Pac-12!

[hailz]

I spent my entire childhood swimming and wanted to at least swim in college. I ended up quitting swimming in high school, even though I could have continued if I really wanted to, for a variety of reasons. Eventually I found myself in a great place academically, and opportunities that I’m incredibly excited for. Even though I’m happy with where I ended up part of me always felt guilty for quitting, and this video helped me realize that I probably did make the best choice. It might seem insignificant to some people but it is something I’ve always wondered if I would regret, and now know I most likely won’t. Thank you for making this video.

[joebuden]

I was a d1 track runner, but suffered shin splints which developed into a stress fracture in my shin bone when my injury was neglected and I was forced to continue racing and training at full intensity. Keeping up with the schedule was already difficult enough but coaches taking the time to see their athletes as a project to achieve potential rather than looking for quick results at the athletes expense is a change id like to see for collegiate athletes

[ameekkiran]

Hey! Honestly your video popped up at the right time. I’m from India and a student athlete playing women’s tennis at a D1 university. Honestly I have been going through the same stuff which you spoke about and I definitely agree that not a lot of people talk about mental health for student athletes especially if your an international. I have my own YouTube channel and possibly in the coming days would share my own story about the same! I think we all feel the same way in a lot of situations but just few talk about it. But thanks again for talking about these things and raising awareness. All the best for your journey ahead!

[obi-juantacobi]

I was a division 1 athlete and post undergrad I got my MSc. Honestly, grad school felt so freeing, when I didn't have to juggle workouts, games, practices, and team meetings.
I loved playing ball in college, but looking back, it was rough on mental health and physically exhausting, while the experience was something else, I'm not sure I would repeat it, and now I tell my kids if they get the chance I'm not sure the extra stress is worth it, but it's their choice if and when the time comes.

The worst part, you come from a place where you are THE guy or gal in high school and always being the best to just being another face and like you said when that hapoens the first time it really ahakes you to your soul, abusive coaching tactics and horrible fans really grinds you down when you are that young. While I wasn't a star by any means I got to play in a few games when someone got hurt, and once I completely goofed and blew an assignment, while it didn't lose the game for us, we ultimately lost, the treatment you can get from fans and students after that really messes with your psyche which can rattle you from your class work and be devastating to your social life. But most of the time you are are too young to know where or how to ask for help so you bottle it up, and it eats at you for ages.
To any young athlete going through that, it's ok to ask for help, and therapy truly helps.

The best, you do build some near unbreakable bonds with your teammates, and there are many practical lessons you learn that you won't learn anywhere else.

I just wish kids had all the information going into the NCAA so they could make informed choices based kn whats best for them personally.

[mattholst]

D3 swimmer here(uwosh) and it really does strike home when you realize that it's not just yourself feeling lost after your last season ends. The one thing that might've been nice to hear was that athletics, and especially performance based sports such as wrestling/swimming/diving/track&field/etc, teach very valuable lessons about working hard to achieve your goals. I translated every lesson I picked up in the pool to the academic world and my own personal life. To say that our hard work, hours on hours on hours of grinding through weights, dryland, swims, and meets amounts to nothing...well, it's just not true. It takes a lot of dedication, commitment, perseverance, and a lot of other character traits that we built up along the journey through college athletics. I'm not sure if you'll read this, but from one swammer to another, I'm proud you chose to stick it out even through covid.

[aquila]

Practicing sports helped me a lot after college. I used to swim in high school but stopped during college, I liked my career but I found college life to be not as stimulating as I believed. When I graduated I started to notice I wasn't as fit as I was in high school and started to swim again, since that was the only type of exercise I knew how to do and I always enjoyed swimming as a hobby.

Eventually I joined a masters team and it has been mostly fun since is something I enjoy doing and is something that distracts me from work and helps me relax from other stuff going on in my life. It also has allowed me to expand my social circle and make new friends. So my advice for someone who swam competitively during college would be to keep doing it as long as they can if it's something you enjoy.

[gunaykiran]

Thank you for taking the time to talk about this! I have many swimmer friends two of whom goes to Cornell and Columbia, they all say the same things and no one seems to understand. Sure there are many positive sides of being a student-athlete, but just because you guys do a great job of going through all these with a happy face, the majority doesn't seem to understand the negatives sides.

[gavingeng]

Honestly thank you for making this video! I’ve been off swimming for 2 years and just got back to competitive swimming with a Masters club last year. So far I’ve been training around half of the volume you listed in the video and it was killing me, I spent so much time napping and studying leaving very little time for socializing. I always thought something I didn’t do right or people just sucked it up and got used to it and I had to set easier goals for swimming.
This video is very informing and instead of making everyone think athletes are super humans, it really shows the struggle of college athletes. I’m also a psych student and we were talking about giving up a goal whether it’s expected by others or extremely desired by yourself is very hard both physically and mentally. If it helps you in anyway, the most healthy way is to rethink about one’s value and beliefs to adjust their goals to combat post-athlete depression. I’m no expert of motivation psychology but if you want to know more I could offer you more resources!

[bowhunter]

I was a runner in college. It wasn't fun, it was a job. And you are in as much competition with your teammates as kids from other schools. Everyone basically just does their own thing and there is little camaraderie.

[avocatious]

Great video topic Marcos. I'm glad you have a platform to talk about the "depressing shit", because it does exist, and this is fantastic for raising awareness of the subject. Thank you for sharing your experience :)

[Huntermag]

I think this video added great balance to the "usual" videos you make. And a necessary balance-reality needs to be a part of students future planning. Sure, going pro would be a dream for most athletes, but at 2% of the total number of athletes, people have to be realistic about it. I think the work ethic and effort put forth show after college in whatever a person chooses to do-and the dedication athletes have to put into all of their activities should put them in a better place to do better after graduation. Most excellent video!

[anthonycj]

The video quality is insane, an awesome production once again 🔥👌Thank you for shedding some light on this, I never knew that college athletes had it that rough to that extent. I really think that information like this should be sensitized more to high school athletes so that they can figure out thoroughly their college plans.🔥👊