Advice #1: Connect with your teachers! This one seems obvious at a school like AOC, but engaging with teachers at AOC was personally and intellectually enriching for me; in college, I knew I could always fall back on their support if I needed it. I was also one of the only people I knew who could comfortably interact with professors and administrators, which meant I had more access to resources and opportunities than my peers. The ability to communicate with people in positions of power saved me from graduating a quarter late when the advising department made a huge error with my schedule in my senior year.

Advice #2: Take your time. At AOC, there’s this compulsion to rush towards your dream career as quickly as possible, but it’s really, really difficult to be taken seriously as a mental health professional in your early twenties. If you graduate with your bachelors in two years, don’t dive directly into a licensure program. No one wants a twenty-two year old therapist. Instead, build your life experience and learn to relate to people very different from you.

Advice #3: Practice exercising empathy in places which make you uncomfortable, and start young. The people in your environment likely come from a similar socioeconomic and cultural background, but if you’re considering a career in therapy or social work, that may not be the case. Vulnerable populations make people in power uncomfortable; that includes people with disabilities, addiction, and mental illness. You most likely come from a background of economic and educational power; confront your own biases and fight through that learned discomfort. It’ll make you better prepared for a mental health profession and a better person.