7 Things to Do in College If You Actually Want to Get Ahead in the Real World
Meta Title: 7 College Strategies That Actually Prepare You for Career Success
Meta Description: career strategist reveals 7 unconventional college tactics that build real skills, networks, and opportunities beyond the classroom.
By Atticus Li, Writing What I Wish I Knew in College
College feels like a four-year holding pattern between high school and "real life." But here's what I wish someone had told me freshman year: the students who treat college as career preparation—not just degree completion—enter the workforce with a 3-5 year head start.
After a decade in growth roles across SaaS, fintech, and energy companies, I've hired dozens of recent grads. The ones who stand out aren't necessarily the 4.0 students. They're the ones who used college strategically to build skills, explore interests, and create opportunities that most of their peers missed entirely.
These seven strategies separate students who graduate job-ready from those who graduate resume-ready. There's a difference.
1. Pursue Your Curiosities Outside Your Major (Seriously)
The conventional wisdom: Stay focused. Pick a major, stick to requirements, graduate efficiently.
The reality: Your most valuable skills often come from unexpected places.
I studied economics but took courses in psychology, statistics, computer science, and even a criminal justice course. That psychology coursework taught me about designing experiments I now use daily in conversion optimization. The statistics foundation made me comfortable with A/B testing and analytics. The computer science course? It helps me communicate with developer teams and lead product management with my tech startups .
What this looks like in practice:
Computer science majors taking marketing or psychology courses
Business students exploring data science or creative writing
Liberal arts majors adding statistics, coding, or digital marketing classes
With my work at NRG optimizing their user experiences and personalizations, I drew on psychology (understanding user motivation), statistics (interpreting test results), and design principles (improving conversion flows). None of this was my "major," but all of it became essential to my career.
Your action step: Each semester, take one class that genuinely interests you but sits outside your major requirements. Pay attention to what keeps you engaged versus what feels like work.
2. Use College as Your Career Laboratory
Most students arrive on campus with fuzzy career ideas shaped by movies, family expectations, or limited exposure. College is your chance to pressure-test these assumptions before committing four decades of your life to them.
I learned this the hard way. I thought I wanted to be an architect because it provided a creative outlet and high earnings. After shadowing one firm for a few months, I discovered the day-to-day reality—competition from engineering firms, narrow scope of available work, and client management—didn't match my interests at all.
Smart ways to explore careers:
Shadow professionals during breaks or summers
Join industry-specific student organizations to meet practitioners
Attend career panels and ask specific questions about daily responsibilities
Take informational interviews seriously—but ask better questions than "What's your job like?"
Better questions to ask:
"What does a typical Tuesday look like for you?"
"What skills do you use most that you didn't expect when you started?"
"What part of your job energizes you? What drains you?"
"If you were hiring someone for an entry-level role, what would impress you?"
3. Prioritize Paid Work Experience in Your Last Two Years
Unpopular opinion: Your GPA matters less than your ability to demonstrate real workplace skills.
I've never asked a candidate about their college grades after their first job. But I always ask about internships, part-time roles, and projects where they delivered measurable results.
Why paid experience matters more than volunteer work:
You learn business terminology and professional communication
You understand workplace dynamics and project management
You gain familiarity with industry-standard tools and processes
You build a network of professional references
When I started my own ecommerece company in college, I learned more about campaign optimization in three months than I did in two years of marketing classes. I discovered tools like Google Analytics, learned how to interpret conversion data, and saw how small changes to landing pages could impact revenue. Those skills became my entry point into growth marketing.
How to maximize internship value:
Ask for stretch projects beyond your assigned tasks
Document your impact with specific metrics and outcomes
Build relationships with full-time employees, not just other interns
Request regular feedback to accelerate your learning curve
If you're a junior or senior without any paid work experience, you're behind. Start applying for part-time roles, freelance projects, or internships immediately.
4. Start Something (Even If It Fails)
The most accelerated learning happens when you have skin in the game.
I started a small eCommerce business during my junior year designing, sourcing, and selling a car accessory made for road trips. It was a lot of work, with me managing multiple freelancers and building our marketing and sales channels while attending school full time. But it taught me more about business operations than any textbook ever could.
I learned about:
Customer acquisition: How hard it is to find paying customers
Project management: Delivering work on time and on budget
Communication: Managing client expectations and feedback
Financial basics: Invoicing, cash flow, and profit margins
You don't need to build the next Facebook. Small projects work just as well:
Freelance writing or graphic design
Tutoring or test prep services
E-commerce store selling products you're interested in
Consulting in areas where you have knowledge or skills
The key insight: When it's your money and reputation on the line, you learn faster and retain more. You also develop problem-solving skills that will help you in any situation.
When I interview candidates, entrepreneurs (even failed ones) consistently demonstrate stronger judgment, resourcefulness, and ownership mentality than students who only have traditional internship experience.
5. Build Professional Relationships (Not Just "Networking")
Networking feels transactional and fake. Building relationships is about genuine curiosity and mutual value creation.
The difference: Networking is about collecting contacts. Relationship building is about finding people whose work genuinely interests you and staying connected over time.
What effective relationship building looks like:
Follow industry leaders on LinkedIn and Twitter; engage thoughtfully with their content
Attend conferences or meetups in your areas of interest (many offer student discounts)
Join professional associations related to your field
Reach out to alumni working in roles or companies that interest you
Important distinction: You're not asking for favors or jobs. You're learning about their industry and building genuine professional relationships. Opportunities emerge naturally from these connections.
At conferences, don't focus on collecting business cards. Have real conversations about challenges, trends, and interesting projects. Follow up within a week with something valuable—an article, a connection, or a thoughtful question about something they mentioned.
6. Establish Systems That Scale Beyond College
College offers unprecedented freedom, which means unlimited opportunities to develop both good and bad habits.
The habits you build now don't disappear after graduation. They compound over decades and become part of your professional identity.
High-leverage habits for career success:
Time management systems that help you balance competing priorities
Learning routines for staying current in rapidly changing fields
Health practices that sustain energy and focus during demanding periods
Financial discipline that provides career flexibility and reduces stress
In my experience, the highest performers I work with have strong personal systems. They're not necessarily more talented, but they're more consistent and reliable.
Practical examples:
Weekly planning sessions to align daily activities with longer-term goals
Reading routines to stay informed about industry trends and best practices
Exercise habits that maintain physical and mental resilience
Budgeting practices that build financial stability and career optionality
The meta-skill: Learning how to build and maintain effective systems. This becomes crucial in professional settings where you'll need to manage complex projects, competing deadlines, and evolving responsibilities.
Students who develop strong personal systems in college adapt faster to workplace demands and advance more quickly in their careers.
7. Invest in Mental Health Infrastructure
Your twenties are when many mental health challenges first emerge. College provides access to counseling services, support groups, and mental health resources that are expensive and harder to access after graduation.
This isn't just about crisis intervention. It's about developing emotional intelligence, stress management skills, and healthy coping mechanisms that will serve you throughout your career.
Why this matters professionally:
Resilience: Ability to recover from setbacks and adapt to change
Emotional regulation: Managing stress during high-pressure situations
Communication skills: Navigating difficult conversations and workplace conflicts
Self-awareness: Understanding your strengths, limitations, and triggers
During my time at Silicon Valley Bank, the most successful professionals weren't necessarily the most technically skilled. They were the ones who could maintain perspective during market volatility, communicate effectively under pressure, and build strong working relationships with colleagues and clients.
Practical steps:
Use campus counseling services even if you don't feel like you "need" them
Learn stress management techniques like meditation, journaling, or exercise
Practice setting boundaries between academic/work responsibilities and personal time
Develop healthy ways to process both success and failure
Important reframe: Mental health isn't just about avoiding problems. It's about optimizing your ability to think clearly, make good decisions, and build meaningful relationships—all essential for career success.
The Compound Effect of Strategic College Years
Here's what separates students who graduate ready from those who graduate feeling lost:
Ready students have explored their interests, built real skills, created professional relationships, and developed systems for continued growth. They enter the workforce with clarity about their strengths and direction.
Students have good grades but limited practical experience. They're starting their career exploration after graduation when the stakes are higher and the learning opportunities are more constrained.
The students I hire who hit the ground running typically did 4-5 of these seven things consistently throughout college. They didn't wait until senior year to start thinking strategically about their preparation.
Your Next Steps
Choose 2-3 of these strategies to implement this semester. Don't try to do everything at once—that's a recipe for doing nothing well.
If you're a freshman or sophomore: Focus on exploration (strategies 1, 2, and 5). You have time to experiment and discover what energizes you.
If you're a junior or senior: Prioritize practical experience and skill building (strategies 3, 4, and 6). You need to demonstrate competence to future employers.
Regardless of your year: Invest in your mental health infrastructure (strategy 7). This foundation supports everything else you're trying to build.
The opportunity cost of ignoring this advice: You'll spend your first 2-3 years after graduation figuring out what you could have learned in college. Your peers who used these strategies will have a significant head start.
Remember: College is expensive. Make sure you're getting more than just a degree.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What if I'm already a junior or senior and haven't done any of these things?
A: Start immediately with strategies 3 and 4 (paid experience and starting something). You can also accelerate relationship building by leveraging career services and alumni networks. It's not too late, but you'll need to be more focused and intentional about catching up.
Q: How do I know if a career path is right for me without committing years to it?
A: Use the "shadow and test" approach: spend time with professionals in that field, take relevant coursework, and pursue internships or part-time work. Pay attention to what activities energize you versus drain you. Career fit is often more about daily activities than industry prestige.
Q: What's the difference between networking and building professional relationships?
A: Networking focuses on collecting contacts for potential future benefit. Relationship building is about genuine curiosity in others' work and creating mutual value over time. The latter feels more natural and produces better long-term results.
Q: Should I prioritize grades or these practical experiences?
A: Maintain decent grades (3.0+) but prioritize practical experience. After your first job, employers care more about demonstrated skills and results than GPA. The exception: if you're planning graduate school, grades matter more for admissions.
Q: How do I start building good habits when college life feels chaotic?
A: Start small with one habit at a time. Focus on systems that create structure in your day (like consistent sleep and study schedules) before adding more complex practices. Use your campus resources—many schools offer workshops on time management and study skills.
About the Author: Atticus Li is a growth strategist and experimentation leader with 10+ years in SaaS, banking, and energy. His work in CRO, analytics, and behavioral economics has helped startups and Fortune 500s drive over $1B in acquisitions and major revenue gains. He writes at experimentationcareer.com, helping students, practitioners, and decision-makers apply experimentation to build smarter products, careers, and teams.