<p>Hello everyone, I'm attending CU next fall and would love to join a few clubs (like aikido, volleyball, soccer, tennis), perhaps volunteer in a labaratory cleaning up stuff (to get to know the professors). However, I think I want to do too much and won't have time for everything. On average, how many clubs do people usually join? And I still want to have some free time left to hang out with friends.</p>
<p>Hate to break it to you, but I seriously doubt you’ll be able to do all those things. Depending on whether you join a frat/sorority, I’d say most people do 1-2 EC/clubs while managing to keep up a 3.2+ GPA (with 15-18 credits, and being able to go out 2-3 nights a week)</p>
<p>also, what major are you doing that you’re interested in hanging our in labs? if you want to go to graduate school or medical school, you should eventually look to be more involved in labs than just cleaning things up. even if you don’t do that freshman year, you should anticipate more lab responsibilities and research for credit later on.
I think it’s best to join two clubs that you really care about rather than joining everything you possibly can. in the future, no one will care what clubs you did in college (not like colleges did care which clubs you did in high school) so you should really just look for activities that interest you.</p>
<p>Beeb26, I understand it 
lol So I’m just seeking advice on what clubs I should attend, should it be sports+sports, sports+intellectual (idk, a reading club, for example) or intellectual+intellectual? I really like sports like tennis, vball and soccer but I’d also love to start learning martial arts (aikido) again. Maybe some “intellectual” club will look good/better on my resume?</p>
<p>This brings me to another question, how important is it to participate in EC’s/clubs in college? Is it like in HS or it’s less important? I guess research is much more valuable.</p>
<p>I’d like to hear from Cornell students about their experience with clubs, how many clubs they were able to participate in and how it affected their GPA.</p>
<p>edit:
faustarp,
I’m doing electrical and computer engineering. I read in other CC threads that “volunteering” and helping out professors during your freshman year can help you with research later on.</p>
<p>It’s not like high school. I’m sure nearly every Cornell student was in about 80 clubs in high school, but at Cornell it will probably be 0-2. You might want to join one or more just for fun, you can always quit later if you get too busy. If you just want to boost your resume, being on a tennis team probably won’t help nearly as much as doing research, but that doesn’t mean you should shrug off the former. If a professor asks you to help out freshman year, I’d say accept that offer.</p>
<p>thanks, for now I’m thinking to join the aikido club. Is anyone a member? How do you like it?</p>