First of all, congrats to everyone that has gotten their acceptances! You’ve all put in a ton of work, and should be proud of what you’ve accomplished. For those of you still waiting, best of luck and keep your chins up!
For context on me, I’m a former California community college transfer student that is now a few years into my career. Looking back, I got a lot of support from these threads, but was also frustrated by the relative dearth of longer-term advice and insight into not only life after transferring, but also life after graduation. So here’s my chance to pay it forward a little and answer any questions that I can about work-life as a cc transfer/grad.
Who is this helpful for: CC transfers or prospective transfers interested in law, tech, consulting, banking
HS:
-Background: B+ student who took some APs but not the particularly difficult ones. My HS was very middle-class, and my parents are blue-collar workers.
-ECs: Couple of sports, but tended to be fairly mediocre at them.
-Test Scores: My SAT was good but not amazing (~1850/2400).
-Apps: Didn’t apply to privates, but applied to UCB/UCLA/UCSD, with the assumption that I wouldn’t get into any and go to CC like my sibling.
CC:
Year 1/2: Liberal arts major and was on the law school path for a while. Studied for the LSAT for about 10 months; sat for the exam and scored a 170+. Extracurriculars included student government, starting a club, and a (grunt work) local politics internship. Applied to Berkeley in my second year and got in. SIR’d, but then had second thoughts on law school and rescinded my admission.
Year 3: Reapplied for Econ/Business and got into Haas. In the end of my second semester I started scattershot applying for business internships. Got incredibly lucky and got an internship in business development at a venture-backed tech startup in SF and loved my time there. Also got lucky that it perfectly positioned me for an investment banking internship I landed for the summer between CC and Berkeley.
Berkeley & Beyond:
Grades took a hit, in part because classes were harder, but also because I spent so much time recruiting. Did a Big 4 consulting internship in my rising senior summer which was ok but a little boring. Ended up taking an offer at a consulting firm for after graduation. Spent a few years there and then jumped to the strategy & finance org within a big tech company (think FB, AirBnB, etc.). I’m now about to leave to be a product manager in a venture-backed startup.
General Advice:
- Find some people who are a few years ahead of you to mentor you and give advice. Preferably look for a few who are ~2 years ahead, ~4 years ahead, and 6+ ahead. Try to find people who are in careers that you are interested in, and also some people who aren’t. These people probably exist at your current CC, but you need to be proactive in finding them. They might be professors, club advisors, speakers at events, etc. Be watchful for people that you can mentor as well. Sometimes the people coming up behind you can teach you a lot.
- Accumulated advantage: Small things build into big things. Scholarships and leadership positions in clubs go into resumes, which go into low-level internships, which go into scholarships applications, etc. There’s a virtuous cycle between accomplishments that you should consider when thinking “is this worth my time?”
- Get technical skills, though it doesn’t have to be through classes. Basically all business jobs nowadays (except maybe sales/business development) benefits hugely from having technical skills such as math, analytics, and CS. Even marketing is becoming increasingly quantified, and a marketing analyst might be expected to at least understand forecasting based on statistical methods.
- Be flexible. Industries and jobs are changing at a blistering pace. Continuously learning and looking to the future or what skills will be in demand will help to insulate you from the volatility of the market.
- Hope for the best, plan for the worst. The US used to have historical cycles of recession about once every 10 years. Economists have never been able to predict bubbles and collapses, but when you plan for your future, I’d advise assuming there will be a bust some time in your early career. This doesn’t mean you should be overly cautious in career plans, but it does mean having a backup plan.