I’m a senior in high school currently, and I was looking at some clubs for one of the universities I applied to. I really want to use clubs as an opportunity to meet people with similar interests and hobbies and hopefully make some good friends. I have a list of potential clubs I would be interested in, but what I want to ask is how many is too much? I am planning on working during school and I of course need study and personal time, so I don’t want clubs to take up too much of my schedule.
Any advice is very appreciated!
Same as in high school, it’s about quality, not quantity.
Wait until you get there, then evaluate your time management
You wont know your work schedule yet.
You wont know your class schedule yet.
You won’t know when the clubs meet.
You also wont know how much time to dedicate to your personal needs for:
eating,
chores,
biking/transportation,
office hours/tutoring,
required lab times,
studying hours
study groups,
and social time. If you do sororities/fraternities, all bets are off.
You don’t need to decide now. You will figure it out when you get there.
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What I’ve heard is join many clubs as a freshman during recruiting season, and then leave the clubs you don’t feel fit you. They won’t have hard feelings if you leave.
We told our D to limit it to 2 first semester - one club solely for fun and one that was more academic/professional.
Many schools will have club “fairs” at the beginning of the year during orientation where you can learn about all the clubs without committing.
Start with one club and see how it goes. You’ll make friends with your classmates thru the actual classes and within your living group.
After setting aside time for sleep and personal higene you’ll have about 100 hours a week to work with. 50 of those hours will be classes and homework. 10 hours for meals which can also be social events. A job will eat up hours. So, your time for other activities is ok but not huge. Being in a club will also require commitments. Don’t just be a “joiner”, that will hurt your reputation more than joining will help.
Most colleges have club fairs early in the semester. I would say to start attending 3-4 see what you think…and then narrow it down to 1 or 2.