Advice #1: Network! While I’d like to say I’m decent at what I do, I would have never gotten the chance to try something so wildly out of my area of focus if I hadn’t been working my network and asking EVERYONE for informational interviews. Start building your network at COC. Learn how to talk up your skills. Yes, this includes soft skills. There will always be someone better than you in your field, so find your differentiator and A/B test it as you network!

Advice #2: Try new things: I didn’t stick to a path at AOC nor did I have extracurriculars that were tied to STEM - I relied on my grades and test scores to gain admittance into UC Davis. It worked for me and I was able to pull soft skills from my non-academic activities, but I would recommend trying your hand at more technical activities before university as much as possible. It looks like this is woven into the programming at AOC now, so this is likely useless advice from An oldie like me :)

Advice #3: Retake the entry level math/science courses: Fully aware this is controversial, take with a grain of salt - one of the great aspects of COC is getting to transfer classes and avoid having to take the foundational STEM courses once in college. However, depending on you and your style, I would recommend “retaking” (or just not bypassing) some of the courses in areas you might be weaker. Worst case, you nail an easy A in a 5 unit course and buffer yourself for ochem. Purely anecdotal evidence: I chose to “retake” the first in my calc and chem series when I could have jumped right into more advanced courses -- not only did it help make the college transition a little easier, it helped solidify my skills before I got to upper div courses.

Advice #4: Never stop reading: Again, an obvious one for AOC students. But if you end up going a non-traditional route like I did, it’s helpful to keep up-to-date on your original skills as long as you’re still using them as a foundation in your career. My background (surprisingly) comes up quite often, and it would be awful to be caught flat-footed when an exec asks me how PCR works after seeing it in recent COVID coverage.

Advice #5: No one in the corporate world will ask you what your GPA was: This obviously does not apply to you if you are pursuing any kind of grad school. But now that even college degrees are seen as less important than experience in the professional world, it’s important to understand that no senior executive will ask about your GPA. I know none of my direct reports’ GPAs. I think I remember one of their majors. I know their attitudes, skill sets, learning styles, and the work they produce -- that’s what matters.