Every year, NCAA basketball tournaments bring up the topic of odds—what are the odds of each upset, the odds of making a perfect bracket? What is the likelihood that these players, who are already competing at the highest levels of collegiate athletics, are able to take their talent to the next level in the NBA or WNBA?
The answers are astounding. Following the final buzzer on Sunday, March 26, only 657 brackets out of approximately 18.8 million on ESPN’s online system had correctly predicted the Final Four teams in the men’s tournament. That works out to 0.0035% of brackets. And as for the fraction of Division 1 basketball players who go on to compete professionally? Only about 1.1% of men and 0.9% of women who play in college are then drafted into the NBA and WNBA, respectively.
Maximize the odds
For the majority of students who don’t plan to play professional sports after college, it’s important to maximize the odds of being hired to a quality job. Recently we talked about the ways many of the schools in the NCAA tournament are also partnering with AMO. These partnerships help give students who don’t have a future in professional sports a competitive edge as they search for jobs. Students gain both the technical acumen for careers in energy and science along with important life skills like leadership, problem solving, and teamwork—many of the same skills that college athletes learn.
The likelihood of being hired into a STEM job are much higher than being drafted into the NBA. In May 2015, there were 8.6 million STEM jobs in the U.S., representing 6.2% of all U.S. employment (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). These are also quality jobs: in 2015 the average wage for all STEM occupations was $87,570, nearly double the national average for non-STEM occupations.
Winning in the workforce
Unlike the NCAA tournament, a single winner does not have to emerge when we educate the future STEM workforce. It is a win-win-win scenario for students, manufacturers, and the American economy. Through the various educational opportunities, internships, and curriculum supported by AMO, students gain the valuable hands-on learning that they need to excel in future careers. This results in manufacturers and other employers having the ability to maximize the talent of their workforce and implement the most cutting-edge technologies because they know they have employees who already have the know-how. The end result is that manufacturers are able to competitively innovate and make products here in the U.S., all while effectively and efficiently using energy and resources.
Although the odds are very different, there are quite a few parallels between college basketball and AMO’s workforce development partnerships. Both rely on figuring out how to be as competitive as possible by maximizing the available talent and optimizing resources.
Watch AMO Director Mark Johnson’s latest update on his bracket and AMO partners in the tournament here.