About Us | Student Opportunity Center

Connecting Campuses and Companies via Experiential Learning

A team of educators, technology builders, and recent grads dedicated to producing more career-ready graduates. SOC helps colleges and companies run quality, scalable experiential learning programs.

Why Does SOC Exist?

Students are entering an increasingly competitive career market where Experiential Learning (EL) is required for career-readiness.

A key predictor of success after graduation—in terms of career goals, placement, improvements in critical thinking, and general post-grad life satisfaction—is EL participation.

At SOC, our mission is for every student to participate in EL opportunities, so they are better prepared to enter a rapidly evolving 21st-century life and workforce.

Less than 15% participate each year.

There are decades of research that show the value of Experiential Learning (EL) for campuses, companies, and students alike. However, less than 15% of students participate in EL opportunities each year.

Why is this? Simply put, it is a massive logistical challenge for all parties involved. First: Campuses and companies must negotiate and sign legal agreements to work together to design joint programming. Second: they must implement the programming without the bandwidth, processes, technology, or resources to do so at scale.

Getting to 100%

SOC solves Experiential Learning (EL) scaling and implementation challenges with two services:

For higher ed, SOC provides a research-based program to get schools to a “full-scale” EL operation in 18-36 months. For employers, we help design and run custom EL projects with thousands of students at hundreds of colleges and universities nationwide.

We believe every student can and should participate in quality EL education to help bolster their career-readiness and achieve their life goals.

Our Story

Student Opportunity Center (SOC) began when a group of students at Florida State University noticed that many of their classmates wanted to do more to better themselves and be more career-ready during their time in college but simply didn’t know where to start. Initially, SOC started as a student project at FSU before expanding into Florida, the Southeast, and now nationwide, where it is the country’s leading provider of technologies and services for Experiential Learning (EL) and High-Impact Practices (HIPs).

Our Investors

Leadership Team

Experts

Work with a network of national experts on experiential learning and High-Impact Practices. These leaders help organizations develop their own comprehensive and sustainable strategies to efficiently scale their experiential education initiatives by consulting on quality, equity, assessment, pedagogy, curricular development, and implementation.