The Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) provides access, academic support and supplemental financial assistance to make higher education possible for students who demonstrate academic promise, but whose life circumstances have not permitted them to reach their full potential.
FIT’s EOP staff work with students individually to help them achieve academic and personal success and degree completion. EOP develops and coordinates resources, services, experiences, and student opportunities that foster persistence, leadership, intellectual growth, and campus-community engagement.
Here are some practical strategies to help FIT EOP students build a strong foundation for long-term career success.
Identify Educational and Career Goals and Develop a Plan
- Explore Career Possibilities: Choosing a major is an important step, but it doesn’t determine your career. Most majors lead to a wide range of opportunities, and many professionals work in roles they didn’t know existed when they started college. Take time to explore different career paths so you can make informed decisions about internships, electives, and professional experiences.
- Map backward: Identify where you want to be in five years (e.g., Associate Designer, Brand Manager, Creative Director), then work backward to understand the roles that lead there.
- Consider parallel paths: A Fashion Design major doesn’t have to become a designer. You could go into Technical Design, Production, Trend Forecasting, or Buying. Explore adjacent roles that align with your skills.
Build Strong Academic Habits
- Strive to Do well in Class: Focus on your classes as a place to develop good habits for study, organization, and time management. These habits carry directly into your professional life.
Build a Portfolio of Creative Projects and Professional Experiences
Employers want to see evidence of your skills, and professional growth. The way you present that evidence depends on your major and career goals. A fashion design student’s portfolio, a merchandising student’s resume, and an illustration student’s website all require different approaches.
- For Design-Oriented Majors
Your portfolio is your resume: Prioritize print quality, presentation, and a cohesive point of view.
Show process work (sketches, mood boards, fabric swatches) alongside final pieces. Employers want to see how you think, not just what you made.
- For Business-Oriented Majors
Your resume and cover letter carry the most weight: Highlight measurable achievements (e.g., “Increased social engagement by 20% in a class project”).
Build a Network from Zero
If you’re the first in your family to enter the creative or business industries, you likely don’t have existing contacts so you have to build them intentionally.
- Connect with the EOP and FIT alumni network: Reach out to alumni at target companies with a simple, low-stakes ask: “I’m a current EOP student in [Major] and admire your path. Could I have 15 minutes to hear about your experience?” Most professionals are flattered to be asked.
- Meet professionals: Attend career fairs, employer recruitment events, conferences, and other networking events to learn about the industry.
- Use LinkedIn as a tool: Create and optimize your profile with a professional photo, a headline that includes your major and graduation year, and a summary that tells your story. Then actively search for FIT alumni at companies you admire and send connection requests with a brief, personalized note.
Navigate the Realities of the Internship Economy
Internships are essential for gaining real-world experience, building your network, and landing a job after graduation. Credit and non-credit internships in NYC are often unpaid or underpaid. For some EOP students, this can be a real barrier. Address it strategically:
- Budget for the semester: Create a bare-bones budget for an internship semester, including transportation, meals, and professional attire. Your EOP counselor can help you identify additional funding sources to close the gap.
- Prioritize paid opportunities: Some organizations host paid, competitive summer internship programs designed to provide professional training, such as the Ralph Lauren Corporate Summer Internship Program and the LVMH North America Summer Internship Program (spanning brands like Dior and Fendi). These programs run early, either a semester or a year in advance, with fixed deadlines that catch students off guard. Research these organizations, track their deadlines, and apply.
- Explore financial support: Meet with the FIT Financial Aid Office and your EOP counselor before internship recruiting begins to learn about grants, scholarships, emergency funding, and other resources that may support your internship experience.
- Research and apply for scholarships and pipeline programs: For students building a network from zero, programs like the Fashion Scholarship Fund (FSF) are worth prioritizing: it’s specifically built to support first-generation and underrepresented students, often pairs a scholarship with an internship placement at a partner brand, and includes mentorship and career-readiness programming. Cross-industry pipeline programs like INROADS and SEO Career are also strong options if you’re open to roles in marketing, business, or corporate functions beyond fashion specifically. Both are paid and built around long-term mentorship and return-offer rates.
- Discuss available support with employers: If you receive an unpaid internship offer, ask whether the position can be structured as a credit-bearing internship. You can also inquire whether the organization offers transportation assistance, meal stipends, or other forms of financial support.
Navigate Unspoken Professional Norms
The industry assumes you already know certain rules, but if you’re first-gen, you probably don’t. Here are a few things to be conscious of.
- Attire: When in doubt, dress one step above the company’s daily dress code. For creative roles, show personality through accessories; for business roles, lean classic and polished.
- Negotiation: You can always ask, “Is there flexibility in the compensation or stipend?” The worst they can say is no, and saying no doesn’t rescind the offer.
- When you’re the only one: You may often be the only person of color, the only first-gen student, or the only one from a working-class background in the room. Prepare yourself by practicing clear, confident self-introductions, and remember that your perspective is a professional asset, not a liability.
- Attend CIS Career Development Workshops: Each semester, CIS hosts workshops and events on career development topics such as resume writing, career-fair preparation, and interviewing. These workshops offer insight into professional best practices.
Use EOP and Campus Resources Deliberately
CIS and your EOP counselors are not just administrative offices, they are active career resources.
- Use your EOP counselor as an advocate: They can connect you with alumni, flag you for opportunities, and help you navigate personal challenges that affect your professional life.
- Book appointments with a CIS counselor: Meet with a CIS counselor to help you map out a career plan, practice answering behavioral questions, or learn about credit-internship programs.
Build Confidence Through Preparation
Confidence isn’t something you’re born with. It’s something you develop through preparation and experience. Focus on making consistent progress rather than striving for perfection.
- Trust the process: Career development is a series of small steps. Each class project, leadership role, networking event, and professional experience strengthens your qualifications and prepares you for future opportunities.
- Expect setbacks: Rejections are a normal part of applying for internships and jobs. Rather than viewing them as personal failures, treat them as opportunities to refine your materials, improve your interviewing skills, and continue moving forward.
- Recognize your accomplishments: Keep a record of positive feedback, successful projects, awards, and milestones. Reflecting on your progress can help reinforce your growth and remind you of the value you bring.
- Ask for feedback: Seek constructive feedback from faculty, supervisors, EOP counselors, and CIS counselors. Professionals continually improve by learning from others, and feedback is one of the fastest ways to grow.
- Remember what you bring to the table: Your experiences, perspectives, resilience, and ability to overcome challenges are strengths that contribute to your success. Employers value individuals who demonstrate curiosity, adaptability, and a willingness to learn.
Stay Connected and Give Back
Your success doesn’t happen in a vacuum. EOP alumni consistently describe the program as a community that supports them long after graduation. Staying involved with EOP, whether by mentoring incoming students, attending alumni events, or simply staying in touch with your counselor, builds a professional network of people who genuinely want to see you succeed. As one EOP alum put it: “Once you’ve seen rock bottom and come out of it, you want to help others in your position and give them hope for the future.”
