Collegiettes, after you spend some time at UMass, most find that just academics and the social life of their floor isn’t enough anymore and many turn to clubs. But with the abundance of choices it can be intimidating thinking of where to start or what you want to achieve. Whether you’re looking for a club similar to your major, more social opportunities, or something completely different – UMass can most likely satisfy your need for clubs!
1. Alpha Phi Omega – If you’re interested in Greek life but either can’t afford the dues or aren’t interested in Greek life enough to commit, try APO! It is a fraternity based on community service with many different projects such as Boston Marathon and Merit Badge University with the Boy Scouts of America. You still get the perks of Greek life such as having a big and little, with Greek families, but the dues are less than $100!
2. Phi Sigma Pi – This is a co-ed national honor fraternity (the only one in existence), meaning they hold themselves to a high honor. They have a GPA minimum of 3.0 and have the perks of bigs/littles. Their ideals include scholarship, leadership, and fellowship. To uphold this tripod, brothers participate in events throughout the semester as a fraternity, but also by reaching out to the town of Amherst and the UMass campus. They are involved like other Greek life, as they even participated in Greek Week this year!
3. The Daily Collegian – The campus’ newspaper has many different sections in which to write about including arts, sports, news (both campus, local, and politics), and opinions! There are editors to each section so even if you feel your writing isn’t at its best, there’s no worries about feeling inadequate! There are also no requirements to join and is always looking for more writers!
4. Her Campus – Another writing-based club yet gears itself more towards the current attitudes and interests of women such as beauty, style, health and life! Open to all genders and concentrations regardless of writing ability just like the Daily Collegian. A plus to this writing-based club is that it engages our campus through ‘Campus Cutie’ and ‘Campus Style Blog’ both of which gain their stories through students!
5. Belly Dance Club – To those interested in making friends while being active and trying something new! Open to everyone to simply gets together and have fun while meeting more people on campus! A club to look forward to guarantee to bring smiles and even a few shows utilizing your newfound skills!
6. Cultural Clubs – Albanian Student Union, African Student Association, Asian American Student Association, Haitian American Student Association, Jewish Student Union, and more! For those that feel that they want to explore their roots and heritage as well as celebrate traditions and holidays that may not be relevant to all their friends, cultural clubs can be very welcoming. You can learn new things about your heritage and connect to others on a deep level, making connections that last the rest of your life to friends as well as organizations outside of college!
7. Academic Clubs – This can range from Honor Societies of your major such as Psi Chi (Honors in Psychology) to clubs based off interest in either the subject or your major. There are many options on campus such as Society of Physics students, History Club, Neuroscience Club, or Philosophy and Open Thought. The list of clubs offered at UMass for academic subjects could go on and on, but the point is it is very good for those looking to either branch out and engage in a subject of interest to them, to make friends who share their major or interest, making connections to alumni and either hosting events or finding some that engage academic clubs to attend!
The best way to contact these clubs and see if they are still open to new members, or just for more information, the best form of contact is either Campus Pulse or Facebook! Good luck finding something great for you.