The Princeton Network Effect: How Student-Athletes Are Able To Get Hired Despite Performing Worse Academically

Abstract

Why are student-athletes preferentially hired despite performing worse academically than non-athletes? Do student-athletes and non-athletes differ in how they find out about and acquire jobs/internships? A survey was sent to find how Princeton students utilize social ties and formal means in their job search, followed by interviews conducted to measure how participation in collegiate athletics affects the employability of student-athletes. Welch two-sample t-tests were run on survey data, while latent content coding was used for interviews. I find: (1) student-athletes are perceived to develop sought after skills through their participation in athletics; (2) student-athletes utilize social ties in their job search more frequently than non-athletes; (3) respondents who utilized formal means would have used social ties if they had connections that could help. As previous literature shows benefits to using social ties, understanding how to best utilize all available resources is vital to future professional success for Princeton University students.