Rereading my comment above, I realize my comment about D23 and her experience offered no support to the OP who brought up the subject of competitive clubs.
I understand the reasons behind why certain clubs/majors are so competitive while at the same time can be discouraging especially for new students/freshmen. Hopefully those who are experiencing this rejection will be able to find other opportunities to get involved. First semester can be especially tough.
I like that concept. Especially for something like start ups or App development which both seem like a good learning experience, shouldnât they be open to all eager students? Then if they want to narrow for whatever competition they could chose. By the way my D says she learns more from YouTube as some lessons are better explained there!
So itâs okay itâs all our mania to want limited supply goods and buying in to those hyped up things.
So many of my favorite dresses are generic not designers.
I agree about the lack of transparency and sympathize with your D. Unfortunately, students run the clubs and teams and get to choose how they run the selection process. Like most things in life, Iâm sure thereâs a large amount of subjectivity and even bias. (Think about how job interviews encompass more than just skill. Candidates often need to pass âthe airport testâ to see if they gel with the group.) After all, these are college students. They were interviewed only a year or two before, and now they turn around and interview someone else. Itâs less than ideal.
Iâm sorry about your D not getting into those clubs. That stinks, and I know how disappointing it is. As I mentioned, S23 didnât get into the rocketry or EV project teams. Even though heâs moving forward, he was also disappointed. (And H and I are disappointed for him too.) Heâs considering joining the Maker Club instead.
I think the suggestions from @mountainsoul and some other posters are excellent. But it sounds like your D is doing exactly what she shouldâfinding other things that interest her and that may also provide some experience. The cleaning a lake project sounds fantastic! If sheâs up for applying to competitive clubs again in the future, that is certainly something she can put on her resume. It will also give her a unique experience to talk about.
Thanks for your as well as everyoneâs input! It means a lot for me, a nobody!
I strongly believe in the field of dreams ideology. If she is passionate something would work out.
Yes these kind of things though heartbreaking will make one tough and resilient.
Look at any prominent artist/scientist/visionaries everyone had their share of rejections and heartbreaks.
One other suggestion is to look for an opportunity that provides mentorship from someone at the school that has BTDT either formally or informally. Through a cultural organization on campus I had a college junior buddy/mentor and not only did it expand my friendship opportunities but they guided me on who I needed to talk to/meet to learn more about job opportunities in my career interest. My kid in college mentioned, for example with tour guides, people have friends from other activities that are tour guides so when it was time to interview they could ask someone with knowledge of the process and could find out more on how to prepare.
Vt has a mix of competitive clubs and open ones. Thereâs a rocketry club open for everyone even non engineers.
My son forgo all that and instead joined the board game club and the chocolate milk club and started learning Rock climbing
What is the chocolate milk club???
My son said the Yarn Club has the largest membership at his college. Itâs crocheting and stuff like that. Very inclusive, apparently!
They meet on Mondays and drink chocolate milk and hang out. 
Itâs just a low pressure way to hang out and meet people.
https://gobblerconnect.vt.edu/organization/cmm
Sounds like fun! Hope your son is enjoying Virginia Tech!
Hey loves it so far⊠but he has sounded more tired the last couple of times we spoke to him. He got sick and had to miss a week of classes and heâs been working hard to catch up. Also, heâs starting to understand that things are harder than in high school and he actually has to grind more.
Two of my sonâs best buddies from home are flying out for the weekend to see him (and attend Syracuse Halloween parties). Im excited for him!
chocolate milk 
club? hmm
I am so glad chocolate milk is actually chocolate milk not symbol of something else!
Just back from D23âs family weekend at Suffolk University in Boston. Very similar report to @Liz1986 up thread! Suffolk is in the same area as Emerson, we spent the weekend mostly stuffing her with food and just trying to spoil her a little bit. I thought we would shop more but she did not need anything. The hotel was ridiculously expensive but it poured all day/night Saturday so it was nice to be close to her and have a place to hang out. The backside of her dorm is basically Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall so Friday night she gave us her tour of the school now that sheâs in it -where her classes are, where she eats, where her friends live-and then we walked to the North End and had dinner at one of the cute Italian restaurants. Crazy lines in the street, we had a reservation but it was still chaotic. Worth it once we were seated!
She seems to be doing really well. She is in a triple. Her roommates are basically fine. One has more issues than the other, when we went up to the room she did not take her headphones off, get out of bed, or say hello. But they all get along. D23 joined a few clubs including the Women in Business club and a sorority. She is not a big group person but has made a few friends she really likes, thereâs a boy who is NOT her boyfriend but sounds like a bf to me - she seems very settled in and grounded.
Sheâs not using the dining hall enough, doesnât like the offerings, so we were brainstorming what she could spend her meal plan on - grab and go yogurts etc - so it doesnât go to waste. Sheâs a very serious, disciplined kid so we had to actually encourage her to spend more money and explore more. She wants to only spend her summer job money this year and save her grad money TO BUY AN APARTMENT in Boston! She loves the city and thinks she will want to stay there after college.
We are all excited for her to come home for Thanksgiving. She misses our dog and her bed. We took the Amtrak train up & back from NJ and that was great, so much better than doing the drive.
I grew up in DC and went to Boston College and fell in love with the city so I totally get it! Moved here in 2005 and cannot imagine living anywhere else.
@swan1
Hey, so sorry to hear about your DDâs trials and tribulations. I agree, it is beyond insane and stupid. Problem is that the gate keepers are kids that want to keep these domains exclusive. My DD went through some of the same stuff applying to consulting and business clubs at UNC. When she got in, it was a giant waste of time in general. Dressing up to see speakers and having chips and dip after only goes so far.
I told her to start networking in earnest and sharpen her resume. Zero regrets so far. Will start her third internship in three years next summer at a top firm. They did not care 1 bit about her clubs.
Iâm not sure (but I donât know) that this is necessarily true. There are some clubs that work on specific projects, produce certain results â and like any business, there are only so many positions you can fill/manage effectively, without distraction causes the result/project to suffer.
This might be different for more âsocial/outingsâ or âgroup activityâ clubs, where individual commitment/involvement/attendance can also fluctuate from meet to meet.
My daughter will eschew any whiff of exclusivity (as a purpose), but once in charge of a club might very well have to be selective (out of necessity) with respect to the ânext generationâ.
I canât speak for others, but networking was not the primary purpose of club membership for my children. They joined clubs to work on interesting projects/initiatives and to expand their social circles.
For D23 she has found the D&D club and started going to that. I am glad she has found her people. D&D was her savior during Covid because they could play over video chat. She also plays Magic the Gathering, but I am not sure if she has found that group yet. Her Honors program is also keeping her busy and active which is good.
The best club I ever heard of was at D19âs school. It was âWatching the squirrel watchers clubâ So if I wasnât clear. There was a squirrel watchers club on campus and someone then made a club to watch that club. Basically you go watch people who are watching the squirrels.