I want to go to Political Science (but probably not International Relations) and feel that Model UN would be a good experience, especially since I’m naturally quite introverted and would like to get out of my shell. The president of MUN wanted me to be the Treasurer, so a leadership position would definitely look good on college apps as well.
However,
I’ve been class president for the past two years and wouldn’t be surprised if I get elected again next year.
I’m leading my own club, and will continue to do so next year.
I’ll be taking all APs next year, and
I’m already feeling exhausted and stretched out, though I don’t know if it’s to maximum capacity.
Though I know private scholarships are available, I don’t know if I can afford the other costs (business attire, hotel fees, etc)
If I join, I will be going to six conferences in the course of the year. I’m also applying to schools through Questbridge, so I win awards from a conference in time to put them on my QB application, though if I don’t get matched, I might get a few onto my RD applications. I suppose what I’m saying is, will the experience be worth the workload?
MUN is super fun at my school, but we have a small delegation (max 10 people honestly), we only have the money to go to 2 conferences a year, and we only meet once a week. I also go to an all-honors school, the workload is probably more than all-AP. I lead a club this year, and probably will lead two next year. So my advice to you is, if your time-commitment per week is similar to mine and you also think it would be fun, you should totally do it.
Do you have to go to all 6 conferences? Do you have to be treasurer?
Do you want to be class President again? How much effort is it?
For your own club, you are going to need to start transitioning leadership. Starting next year, I would have a model in your club that this years VP is next year’s President…so you can start training your VP and share the load.
@bella22 Whoaa I’m glad that you enjoy it so much! It does seem really fun to me.
I’m honestly not sure how busy I’ll be next year- for my school, it really depends on the teacher. I consider my two APs my easiest classes, while I’ve had to put in the most work to maintain my chem grade. On a regular school day after clubs and other commitments, I typically start doing homework at 9 and go until 1ish. On weekends, I’m free to do schoolwork starting at 5. Does that sound anything like your schedule? How do you manage your mental state and free time?
@bopper I have talked to the president about only going to 4 conferences, but any less than that and my status will be dropped to Junior Varsity (micromanagement, partnering with underclassmen peers who are not as committed), which I’m sure I wouldn’t enjoy as much.
Honestly, student government is really stressful. Our school is new and this club doesn’t get much teacher support, so communicating and making things happen are often inefficient. I have considered stepping down to take another role, but though I’m glad for the support of the rest of the Junior Council, I’d feel almost guilty giving them much more of my current workload.
My club doesn’t have a lot of underclassmen and is pretty skill-based / nichey (we make webcomics). For those reasons, I don’t know if the club can continue running once most of the current members graduate. I’m currently sharing the load of management with the co-founder.
So my schedule usually looks like school 8-4, rehearsal 4-6, then dance ~6:45-8:30, depending on the day. My MUN team meets at lunch once a week. I usually do my homework during the day in breaks and on weekends, but I guess I usually do homework ~2 hours a night, though I know people who try a lot harder (and get better grades than me, haha). You should be getting more sleep. 8 hours is healthy, going to bed at 1 consistently is usually not, and your health matters above everything. To manage my mental state and free time, I try to spend as much of the time I’m not in class or practice being present with my family and friends, as well as realizing that none of the things I do today will matter in years to come. Only do MUN if it’s not that much of a weekly time commitment. Also, conferences are super fun but super draining. 6 seems super fun, but again, only do it if you think you can take on the weekly commitment. Please be careful with your physical and mental health
Definately do it!
all you do is go to a conference, sit for 2 hrs doing nothing and then give like 10 min speech about the stuff you read on wikipedia about the country. You do have to write a research paper before the conference but no one really checks if it’s good. my school’s MUN has 4 meetings a year so its not that demanding, plus we meet in schools and centers and average meeting is no more than $75. Plus business attire will be useful later like job interviews or prom or something so it’s all not wasted.
Wow! You sound really busy! There is not a model UN club at my school but if there was I would definitely join! There are multiple reasons why you should join. One being that you already seem to be interested in the topic. International Relations and Political Science are similar but Political Science covers more in the material. Joining MUN would definitely give you a leg up when studying this in college because you would be able to understand how this process works and apply it to college classes. MUN is also great because it helps with your debating skills. I am applying to a few jobs right now and I cannot tell you how important it is to be able to have a good interview. Knowing how to persuade people through speech and knowing how to debate are important skills to have as well. It sounds like you are busy and will get busier next year but will MUN add much more to your schedule? If you feel that MUN is adding to much to your schedule, you can always quit and do it the next year as well!
@bella22@bopper@maxim21@367367
Thanks so much for the advice guys! Pleased to say that I will be joining Model UN in the 2017-2018 school year. Just participated in a crisis committee, while representing Comoros on the topic of climate change, and it absolutely ROCKED. The money is still a lot for me, but I’ll be taking advantage of my position in Student Government next year and allocating more funds towards this amazing club so that everyone can afford to go to conferences.
