As a meteorologist, Dylan Dreyer has reported from many storms, but had college gone differently, she could have applied her science and math skills far away from the glare of television.

“I actually was thinking about going to Rutgers for engineering,” the TODAY weather anchor explained in an interview for NBC News’ College Game Plan series.

As sometimes happens, Dreyer’s interests took her in another direction.

“I realized there was no real field of engineering I was particularly drawn to.”

Enter, weather.

“I ended up switching over to meteorology which made use of all of my physics and science and math classes.”

From there, Dreyer didn’t look back.

“It was taking that class [Meteorology 101] that really helped me decide the major I wanted to study,” she explained. “It was a really important class to me.”

As she progressed through school, Dylan sharpened other skills, many of which she still applies to her work today.

“I realized there were times where I needed to put aside any social life and really study and work hard. I notice in this business, when the alarm goes off at 4 o’clock in the morning, you know there’s not a lot of partying the night before.”

Watch the video above to learn more about Dreyer’s college experience — including her advice for the parents of incoming freshmen.