From an early age, Enrique Rangel-Rodriguez was interested in studying history, but the path he wanted to take was still unclear. He toyed with the idea of starting college as a pre-med or law major, but Rangel-Rodriguez ultimately decided that history best matched his skillset. 

He believes that one of the most valuable aspects about obtaining a degree in history is the amount of transferable skills you will acquire. “It was very easy to learn what skills are transferable,” Rangel-Rodriquez commented. “I still use a lot of those skills to this day because using the same skills like presenting, going to meetings, doing research, and being able to take that research and implement it into our strategies is kind of the same thing I was doing in my history classes.”

While at VCU, Rangel-Rodriguez initially had difficulties finding a community that reflected him, both socially and within his degree. Professor Antonio Espinoza was able to build a connection with Rangel-Rodriguez by bonding over their shared Latin American heritage. “Dr. Espinoza would invite me to some of the Latin American lecture series, and so I'd be able to meet other professors and meet other people in the education field, which really made an impact,” Rangel-Rodriguez said.

Rangel-Rodriguez went on to be the president of the Latin American Student Association, working to build connections with VCU’s Latin American community. His role as president of LASA had a “direct correlation” to his career as an undergraduate admissions director. 

As an admissions director at ODU, Rodriguez has many tasks that require his attention. Sometimes he is traveling across the whole East Coast, stating “I'll travel from North Carolina to Jersey, going to different high schools, community centers, community organizations and explaining what college admissions is like. Then I plan events for our prospective high school students, college students, and transfer students.” According to Rodriguez, his favorite part of the job is building connections with prospective students during the admissions process.

Read more about Enrique Rangel-Rodriguez in the Q&A below

You graduated from VCU with a degree in history. Can you tell us why you chose to major in history?

Going back to high school, I was interested in history. Initially, I didn't start off as a history major, I started as a pre-med student. Because I was arriving from high school with an associate's degree, I knew pre-med wasn't the route I wanted to go. I thought, “I've always had an interest in law school, so maybe I’ll major in history with pre-law.” But that was also not a route that I saw in my future. History was always the main option. History was just something I enjoyed studying, but I think that also comes from the skills that came from the history program, such as research and that critical thinking was why I stuck with it.

Looking back on your experience, what advice would you give to students who are thinking about studying history?

History is important to study. I think the most important thing would be to pair it up with internships. A lot of internships are required for history or research processes. The most important thing is to combine the skills, all the soft skills and the research component, but combining it with the internship component of having those hard skills on your resume is gonna be what stands out to employers. I've been on several job hiring committees with a lot of young graduates, but many times you know we can see that they have the degree but there's several times they don't have those transferable skills or there's those internship opportunities so I think that's the most important thing is to not sell yourself short as well but have those real life skills, real life experiences.

While you were at VCU, you were the president of the Latinx Student Association. How did your experience as a Latin American student and the president of the LSA impact your future career goals?

I think it has a direct correlation to what I'm doing now. During my time at VCU, I was still a little confused about my place and having that sense of community. As a history major it was difficult to see myself represented in the classes at the time and not knowing if that's something I truly wanted to do, until I met Dr. Espinoza. I think that's when it was a turning point for me, kind of being secure in my identity and being secure in seeing that representation. He really helped me open up out of my shell and that was also a turning point in my grades. Dr. Espinoza would invite me to some of the Latin American lecture series, and so I'd be able to meet other professors and meet other people in the education field, which really made an impact. Because of that confidence boost, becoming the Latino Student Association president made a major impact. I think I am pretty good at mingling with students especially in the Latino community. I know that being a Latino, Latin American, or Mexican American is really important and I saw that as a mission.

Once it came to my final year of looking for jobs and interviews not going well, I saw that there was a position open at VCU to be the Latino recruiter or admissions counselor. Using those experiences guided me to see that with the president's job, you can create events on campus for students to make connections. With that Latino recruitment, you can also create several different connections within the community on campus and then create events to foster that connection and identity.

You're the assistant undergraduate admissions director at ODU. Can you walk us through your basic duties in that position? 

I'd say my main point, if I can simplify it into one sentence, it's going to be building connections with prospective students so that I can walk them through the admissions process. I can provide them a kind of safety net of being able to get higher education. On the other hand, the day-to-day activities really vary. Sometimes I'm traveling across the whole East Coast – I'll travel from North Carolina to Jersey, going to different high schools, community centers, community organizations and explaining what college admissions is like. Then I plan events for our prospective high school students, college students, and transfer students. I supervise the team, help assist them with the college recruitment process, and some data analysis.

What do you like most about your job? 

Building connections. I think it's awesome to see where students are starting off in their college search process and then going from there. It really reminds me of my parents and where I was not having resources or not knowing the college admissions process and my parents being confused. And I love being able to talk to parents now and just seeing how much they are thankful to have these resources.

Do you have any final thoughts or career advice?

I think my spiel is to not let others influence your choice on the history major. Those skills that you're learning are transferable. There's so many opportunities out there. It's all about being able to sell yourself. Take advantage of career services. Career services are super important. Take that professionalized history class, internships, that's the big thing. I'd say those are the big three.