Is starting a club always considered trite?

Applying to College
1

I’m a junior, and I understand that this is kind of late, but my friend and I have a genuine interest in astronomy (we stargaze ourselves), and we noticed that our school has no home for it. We haven’t started a club for it yet because I’ve seen lots of people here say that starting a club will negatively impact your future application since it appears to be trite.

Is that the case even if you’re actually interested in it? If so, what can I do to remove that sort of stigma? I really want to do this and hang out with others who share my interests, but I don’t want to hurt my future self. And I sincerely say this - I am not starting this club to improve my future application.

2

I think first try to figure out if there’s a critical mass of interest; maybe just have a first get-together without all the paperwork and official stuff. Find out if it’s sustainable and whether you can do some interesting stuff. I don’t think it’s a bad idea in all cases, but it needs to start from the right place. JMHO.

3

I’d question what legitimate purpose would be served by starting the club. You and your friend like stargazing, which is nice, but why have a school-centered “club” for this activity?

4

There is another thread going right now, think it’s “starting my own club.” Lots of interesting thoughts on this. In fact, you have just said you want to hang out with others who might be into stargazing. In many ways, I think that is better than trying to start a club on the pretense that it will somehow be beneficial to the community. And I don’t think starting a club is necessarily going to hurt your application. I do think that some colleges will not find it impressive though. If you want to get together with other stargazers, go for it. But do have a look in your community, there might already be an astronomy club in town. Whatever happens, do not assume that it will benefit or hinder your application.

5

@sherpa That’s a great question! We think that we can hopefully encourage more people who have any interest in astronomy to actually start engaging in it. All the technical information with observation turns people off when they’re first introduced to it, so maybe we can offset that? I’d love some feedback on this.

6

It is only considered bad because often times the motivation behind creating a club is to pad the resume.

Maybe you could use this club to somehow benefit the community like an above poster stated. Perhaps host these stargazing events to educate young kids about astronomy, use them as fundraisers for a charitable cause etc.

You can always leave the “founder of the astronomy club” off your application.

7

I agree with @rdeng2614
I started a club my Junior year out of pure interest, but it ended up not being a significant time commitment compared to my other ECs, so I just left it off of my Common App. You could always do that.

8

@neoking Try to see if your new club can hook up with a larger adult astronomy club, they often have community outreach events that need volunteers for star parties. Your HS club could work with this larger club to effect community change and if you combine this with an interest in science / physics you can write a great essay on how your legitimate peer interest grew into a great community service opportunity. This, combined with your academic interests, could be a compelling narrative.

9

I think if you show it is a REAL activity as opposed to padding it will help. Perhaps create an active website with a real schedule, community outreach etc, that you can link to on your application. I think it is only trite if you make it so.

Think about it, you are hesitating to do something that you seem to genuinely spend time doing that would have been considered innovative 20 years ago because you think doing it will be worse than not doing it.

10

Yes, trite, 100% of the time, unless the club is academic, sponsored by a teacher, and meets discuss ideas.

11

I think it is unless its necessary as a local chapter for academic competition.

12

I don’t see it as “trite” at all, unless the big emphasis is on the “starting” and not on the club and what you do and what it says about you. Think of it this way: You want the Activities List to show who you are as a person. You’re into stargazing and astronomy? Cool! If it’s not necessarily related to your academics, I’d say that’s even better. The more stuff that isn’t the usual Athletics, Band, “I Live And Breathe Academics,” and Selfless Service to Others, the more you’ll stand out.

I’m not saying those other things aren’t good if they’re genuine interests – in which case you’ve probably got a kind of “theme” developing among your activities that shows growing focus in certain areas – but unusual things like “started an astronomy club” is actually pretty neat, particularly if you end up doing things like, I dunno, getting up at 4 am to see meteor showers.

My S at first didn’t want to include the totally hobby-related club he started (and spent a ton of time on – too much, frankly, LOL) on his Activities List for the same reason – he also thought it could seem trite, or not serious, or something like that. But honest to gosh, when the list was complete, it was so cool to see that funky hobby popping up among everything else, because it really helped to paint a picture of him as a full person. His ECs ended up looking great, not because of “started this or that” or “won this or that” (which he didn’t have much of), but because it’s just a clear picture of him as a person. And honestly I think that’s what you want.

Starting a club isn’t a big deal in itself. But what you do with it, and how it’ll end up showing who you are and differentiating you from the crowd (as a person, not as a “leader” – e.g., a community service twist would probably spin it towards trite because who’s going to believe you do stargazing to help the community?), is what I think would make it “trite” or “not trite.”

Oh, and either way, it’s not going to be a negative. C’mon, who thinks that way? (“Look at this kid! He started an astronomy club! What does he think that is, some big deal? That is SO bad. Let’s not let him come to our school.”) If you want to do it, go for it! :slight_smile: