<p>I'm not sure if this is the same as high school trying to get into college. One of my friends tells me it's good to be involved, but he said he just signed up for a club and never go to their meetings. To me, that is a waste of money, since you have to pay club fees in order to join. I'm holding back from joining freely like that, because you have to pay in order to join. Clubs are also mainly cliques. And unless you already know the people, it's not going to be a very easy time to make friends. Another friend of mine suggested that if I wanted to get involved, then I should just volunteer. It's free, it will help someone out, and I could meet older people who may have connections. I'm considering volunteering, but since it most likely will be off campus, transportation is also a *&!@#. So, do grad school care if you join clubs or not? Not really, right?</p>
<p>No, they don't care.</p>
<p>No, unless it's related to your major.</p>
<p>generally, you join a club that does something that you like. Not for grad school. If it's something you like, you will enjoy doing the activity and enjoy meeting other people that you share interests with.</p>
<p>Club fees???</p>
<p>I haven't paid anything yet. We just had a retreat to the beach and stayed at the Hilton for Senate and I get paid to write for the school newspaper.</p>
<p>And yea, I've heard the same thing that clubs don't really matter much for grad school. Everything I'm in (swimming, SGA, newspaper, Campus Crusade) is completely out of interest in them. Not because I think they will help for med school.</p>
<p>Volunteering on the other hand can play a much bigger role, especially for medical school. Not sure for other grad schools though. I'm starting later this fall for volunteering at a local hospital, but I also want the experience because I would like a better idea of what field I want to specialize in.</p>
<p>med schools want to see that you care about human beings - so doing significant volunteer work (over the summer or otherwise) is a big plus.</p>
<p>Med school is more properly defined as a professional school, not grad school; grad school generally refers to Masters/PhD programs.</p>
<p>For grad school, work as a research assistant. For med school, volunteer at hospitals as well. That will be really helpful.</p>
<p>what about for MBA progams or internships/jobs in banking and consultancy firms?</p>
<p>If you're looking to go to professional schools (med, law, pharm, PT, OT, etc), then being involved, and more importantly having leadership positions, on campus is an important piece of the puzzle and are essentially a requirement. You have to have something to show. </p>
<p>If going to Masters/PhD programs it matters less so. You can be the most anti-social person in the world, but still be a great researcher. It's harder to be a physician and hate working with others.</p>
<p>I'm a law student, however my girlfriend is currently a masters student in bio. Clubs don't really do a whole lot, places your energy on research, which it seemed for many schools was more important than grades/GRE scores.</p>
<p>There's an anime club at my school but I've never gone since I figure the people there are probably too geeky.</p>
<p>i can do research as an undergrad? on what?</p>
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One of my friends tells me it's good to be involved, but he said he just signed up for a club and never go to their meetings.
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<p>Heh, I have a friend who said she did that, just signed up for a couple of no-fee clubs and only went to 1 meeting or so in one of the clubs. I think its a good idea if the club has no registration fees, I mean, the club needs people to count as their members or else the University might pull funding from them, and you need something to put on your resume, its a win-win situation for both parties.</p>
<p>For med\vet school, its fairly important to get involved in a couple clubs as an undergrad, to show you have good leadership and people skills, and are good at time management with your classes+ jobs + clubs</p>