Many boys and girls grow up dreaming of playing sports in college and beyond. But of the nearly eight million students currently participating in high school athletics in the U.S., only about 530,000 will compete at NCAA schools. Among those, only a fraction will move on to compete at the professional or Olympic level.
 
For the rest, the experiences of college athletics and the life lessons they learn along the way will help them as they pursue careers in other fields. Education is a vital part of the college athletics experience, and student-athletes graduate at higher rates than their peers in the student body.
 
The information below details the estimated probability of competing in athletics beyond high school – both in college and professionally:

By Sport:

• Baseball
  • Out of 8,633 draft eligible NCAA baseball players, 444 were drafted by the MLB. Learn More >
• Men's basketball
  • Out of 4,270 draft eligible NCAA men's basketball players, 46 were drafted into the NBA. Learn More >
• Women's basketball
  • Out of 3,704 draft eligible NCAA women's basketball players, 33 were drafted into the WNBA. Learn More >
• Football
  • Out of 17,156 draft eligible NCAA football players, 259 were drafted in to the NFL. Learn More >
• Men's ice hockey
  • Out of 975 draft eligible NCAA men's ice hockey players, 69 were drafted into the NHL. Learn More >
• Women's soccer
  • Out of 6,658 draft eligible NCAA women's soccer players, 47 were drafted into the NWSL. Learn More >
• Softball
  • Out of 4,810 draft eligible NCAA softball players, 24 were drafted by the WFP. Learn More >