The Science Building’s auditorium was filled Thursday for the Accounting Club’s guest speaker Robert Rodriguez, owner and CEO of First Pacific Advisers.

The mutual fund manager spoke to students about his rise in business, which included coming from an immigrant Mexican family to ultimately overseeing $12 billion in assets.

“The world is so much different than 40 years ago,” he told students. “Anyone holding you back is you.”

Growing up, Rodriguez said his father “beat into” him and his brothers the idea that they were going to college.

“Education. Without it you will be roadkill . . . Education, education, education,” the CEO stressed.

But for Rodriguez, getting his education was not an easy task. He said he faced a world fraught with discrimination, including inside the school system.

“Companies today do not care about race and gender as they did when I was growing up.”

Although he eventually got accepted into USC, he could not get student loans. He attributed paying for his tuition through networking.

“I spoke to the dean of the business school, who gave my financial aid paperwork a green light.”

However, his financial woes were not over. When he embarked to graduate school, Rodriguez did not get a fellowship he was aiming for.

So instead, he said, “I worked full-time while attending graduate school full-time. I turned a two-year program into one because I wanted to get going.”

He eventually earned a master’s degree in business administration from USC.

Nowadays, Rodriguez manages both the stock and bond fund for First Pacific, is a frequent guest on business and news programs, and was named by Money Magazine as “the best fund manager of our time.”

Rodriguez credited the success of his firm to conservative business choices, which in turn, he said, stemmed from integrity and ethics he maintained throughout his career.

“You’re going to be faced with challenges. If you do not have integrity and ethics now, you will never have them.”

“He has really inspired me to achieve my goals no matter what,” business major Maria Marquez said after his speech.

Jose Acosta, undeclared major, said, “I think he shows that if you really work hard, you can succeed.”