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- College jocks actually become more successful and wealthy than their nerdy peers, a new study finds.
- The National Bureau of Economic Research compared the careers of Ivy League athletes to non-athletes.
- Turns out, sporty students earn 3.4% more in their lifetimes and bring home $220,000 more in wages.
The idea that popular college jocks won't amount to much in life and that the nerdy outcasts will go on to become rich CEOs may just be a myth. At least, that's according to a new study by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
NBER published research in October comparing the careers of Ivy League intercollegiate varsity athletes to their non-athletic classmates and collected data from a sample of over 400,000 graduates – both men and women – from 44 different colleges between 1970 and 2021. The research has not been peer-reviewed.
The study found that college athletes earned 3.4% more over their careers than non-athletic students and are likely to bring home $220,000 more in cumulative wages, the report said.
They're more likely to hold MBAs from elite institutions and enter industries like finance or other business-related fields. They also have an easier time climbing the corporate ladder with 10.4% of athletes having held a top management role compared to 7.9% for non-athletes.
The researchers found that it wasn't just athletes from high socioeconomic backgrounds – who played sports like lacrosse, or squash – that experienced this leg up in their careers. Athletes across the board who played sports like football, basketball, and track were more successful than their non-athletic peers.
Playing sports may have helped these students develop soft skills that are just as valuable in the workplace. College athletes were even more likely to be endorsed for management, leadership, and strategic planning skills on LinkedIn, per the study.
Some high-profile CEOs of major companies were athletes during their college years.
Whole Food's former CEO Walter Robb led Stanford University's soccer team for four years. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan played both football and rugby during his time at Brown University. And, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman competed on the squash and lacrosse teams at Princeton University.
Amazon's CEO Andy Jassy has previously said that his passion for competitive tennis as a youth actually helped shape his career in business.
Jassy said he learned important soft skills like being diligent by playing tennis.
"Tennis taught me what happens when you really work on something, and what happens when you don't," said in a fireside chat. "Tennis is very much a meritocracy. There's no favoritism, there's no politics. You either win or lose based on how you perform in the moment."