On another thread, I saw posters talking about how competitive it is to get into clubs at Penn. Could current students/alums elaborate on this? I’m sure there are some clubs that aren’t this competitive to get into – As a current high school senior who will be a freshman at Penn this fall, I would really appreciate if someone with knowledge about extracurriculars at Penn could create a list of what clubs are competitive and which ones aren’t. For example, do even service related clubs have an extensive application process?
@bssurly Almost all clubs have an application process, for some it is extensive, for others it is not. The point is to recruit people who are actually interested/committed to the club. Penn students take their club involvement rather seriously and it is a prime way to learn outside the class and socialize. There are some clubs that are very very popular and thus can be competitive to get in, and many others that are not competitive. Also some of the clubs at Penn focus on working with real-world clients so a rigorous application process is warranted.
The good thing is that there are so many clubs at Penn that it is hard for someone not to find their place. Some might not get 1-2 clubs they wanted but they will get into a few others.
I dont have a specific list and it has been a few years since i was at Penn so i dont have the most up to date picture of which clubs are the most competitive.
@bssurly Can you tell us which school, major and any special interests you may have? Also, I am guessing from the pic that you are probably female?
With that information, posters may be able to provide some specific examples. I know some examples if you are a female in SEAS studying CS, but if you are a CAS, Roman History, male student, those will not be meaningful for you.
Keep in mind his points such as:
“The point is to recruit people who are actually interested/committed to the club. Penn students take their club involvement rather seriously and it is a prime way to learn outside the class and socialize.” …“Also some of the clubs at Penn focus on working with real-world clients so a rigorous application process is warranted.”
This all caught my freshman son off guard as he was used to just signing up in order to participate in clubs and community service that interested him. That is most definitely NOT the case at Penn and most ALL of the clubs have extensive application processes that includes resumes and multiple rounds of interviews, including and especially, the service related clubs!!
This doesn’t mean you cant go to the events the clubs offer or participate in community service through the events, in fact, the more you do that (and chat up members in the club at the events) the more likely you are to eventually get in the club. So sign up for the list serv of the club’s you are interested in and participate as much as you can. If there is a club you really want, keep trying for spring semester or sophomore or even junior year… and network/ ask around for advice …upperclassmen will help you! Eventually you will get what you want or find something else that works… he said it does become a social outlet (lots of downtown BYOs) and he has met interesting, great people who have become his good friends as well as gain real world experience pertaining to the mission of the club! Lots of good stuff-
But… this is the one aspect about Penn my son said he wished he would have known about sooner bc in hindsight he should have studied over the summer all of the different club offerings, picked out the ones that interested him, gotten the low down on them from group chats etc and prepared a game plan so it wasn’t so overwhelming/stressful.
Penn does a 2 hour club fair at the beginning of semester, but he said it was hard to see all of the clubs and talk to them/ sign up for list serv in that time frame, bc there are so many and the process with its competitiveness can become … so I would recommend really studying Penn’s website with regards to all the clubs and come up with targets and a game plan. I think there are Penn clubs and also each school has clubs, but I’m not sure if they are all online in one location- you may have to search individual school websites ie Wharton, SEAS, for all of their clubs too.
PS, FWIW, They only club my son found that didn’t require a resume and rounds of interviews was the ski club, but that required $$$
@Penn95 Thank you for the information and links! I’ll definitely check them out. @Much2learn Yes I’m female, and I’m going to be in CAS. I’m not sure about my major yet but most likely something in the social sciences. Some interests of mine, I want to be really involved in west Philly so I’m hoping to join some service groups that will be able to give me opportunities to do that. I also want to go to law school and I know there’s probably pre-law societies. @runswimyoga Thank you so much for sharing your son’s experience! That information is really helpful for me. I’ll make sure to do some research this summer so that I have a decent plan coming into freshman year. Thank you once again!
The squirrel watchers club is unbelievable. If you haven’t visited the campus you’ll notice pretty early how nuts these little rodents are. Join the facebook page to I think it’s called unofficial squirrel watchers club or something similar.
