As prospective college students, you hear your college ambassador telling you that getting involved is one of the best ways to meet people. You get accepted to college, arrive on campus, and are told during Welcome Week that you should join clubs, sports, or other organizations. You even walk through the activities fair, signing up for as many activities as possible.
And then, you don’t do anything.
First semester is probably not the best time to dive into five different activities at once. You are just starting to get accustomed to college life, the workload, and the people you are surrounding yourself with.
Second semester, you are acclimated to your new life at college. It is a great time to join different activities. I didn’t realize how important student organizations were on campus until I became involved. Activities are essential to college life- even just one activity. You feel much more in tune with the campus community. You feel like you have a legitimate role in the campus community. Plus, you are becoming a productive member of society. You feel like your work and involvement in various organizations is worth something.
Another positive aspect to joining clubs is that you meet new people with similar interests as you. Sometimes it is nice to break away from your floor, if only for a few hours, and spend time with upperclassmen and new freshman friends that you would not have met otherwise.
Activities are extremely important on résumés as well. They show employers that you were an active member on your college campus with experience in leadership and organization. Clubs relevant to your major look fantastic on résumés because they indicate that you have experience in a certain field that you wish to pursue further in a
career.
You may feel like you are up to your waist in schoolwork or that you don’t have enough time to join a club. Honestly, trust me, you have time. Those two hours spent on Facebook, procrastinating writing a paper, could have been spent doing something productive at a club. You could be paving your future instead of Facebook stalking your ex.
By the way, meetings for some clubs are barely an hour long. So, you can get up and leave the towers or Cromwell if only for an hour. You can do it. You just need the drive. I have heard a lot of excuses as to why people cannot join clubs—there’s not enough time, I have too much to do, I’m sick. There really is a lot of time, especially down time during freshman year. Starting activities freshman year looks excellent because it shows progression and leadership.
Join a club. Join a theatre program. Join Greek life. Write for campus publications. Do something!