Here is a look at student-athletes’ majors and a breakdown of the top 25 popular choices

Not only do student-athletes feel pressure to succeed on the field and perform at their highest level at all times, but student-athletes also have to succeed in the classroom.

To help student-athletes manage their academic careers, California State University, Fresno has advising services for each major.

Susan Gutkind, assistant director of student-athlete services, Ph.D, said she helps advise athletes each semester.

“It is my job to make sure that the student-athletes take the proper amount of units and are on schedule to graduate in four or four and one half years,” Gutkind said in a telephone interview.

Gutkind also said she advises student-athletes on which courses to take and which ones not to take and determines how large of a workload each student can handle.

“I check and make sure that they [student-athletes] are not taking ridiculously time consuming classes,” Gutkind said. “I usually tell students to stay away from courses with labs, for example.”

Gutkind also said she advises students about majors.

According to Gutkind, if a student already has a major in mind, she explains to them what the major entails. From there, she works with the student-athlete as well as career services, and lays out the basics of the major and talks to the student-athlete about the major.

Gutkind said the process is different if a student-athlete does not already have a major in mind.

“If a student-athlete doesn’t have a major, then we like to talk to them about their interests,” Gutkind said. “Then we try to point the student-athlete in the right direction.”

Gutkind said that she has noticed that there is clustering amongst the student-athletes major selections.

“A lot of students choose the same majors,” Gutkind said. “This happens, for the most part, because student-athletes, just like regular students, choose the same major as their friends do, or in this case their teammates.”

Among the male and female student-athletes, four majors were overwhelmingly more popular than the others. Kinesiology, criminology, communications and pre-business were the most popular.

For male athletes, criminology was the most popular with 31 student-athletes in the criminology department. Communications was second with 30 males and kinesiology was third with 28.

For female athletes, kinesiology was by far the most popular. Thirty-four female athletes have kinesiology listed as their major. Criminology was second with 17 female-athletes and pre-business was third with 15.

Here’s a breakdown of the 25 most popular majors. In total, 451 student-athletes listed.

1. Kinesiology- 62 student-athletes
2. Undeclared- 50
3. Criminology- 48
4. Communication- 41
5. Pre-business- 38
6. Business administration- 19
7. Animal science- 16
8. Liberal studies- 15
9. Mass comm and journalism- 14
10. History- 12
11. Biology- 11
12. Health Science-9
13. Recreation administration and leisure studies- 8
14. Sociology- 8
15. Child development- 8
16. Political science- 7
17. Pre-psychology- 6
18. Chemistry- 6
19. Art-graphic design- 5
20. Philosophy- 5
21. Pre-physical therapy- 5
22. Economics- 4
23. Agricultural business- 4
24. Civil engineering- 4
25. Three majors are tied with 3 student-athletes apiece