@class0f2017 http://georgetowngaap.■■■■■■■■■■/post/83951744954/how-do-you-join-clubs-i-hear-that-joining-is-very
Current Georgetown student here.
Yes, stress culture at Georgetown is real, and yes the “club culture” can be a little overwhelming at times.
With that being said, the people they interviewed for this video were purposefully more of an exception than the rule. I know of (though don’t personally know) many of the people, and they are “those” people who everyone knows simply because they are involved with so many things. With that being said, I know that they were not all doing all of those things at the same time.
The norm is to do maybe 2-3 things. I’m on the board of a political club, am in one of the greek organizations on campus, and work at an on campus job 8 hours a week. I did an internship one semester when I wasn’t on the board of the club, didn’t have the other job, and only took 12 credits. My roommate plays a club sport and is in an investment club. That level of commitment is far closer to the norm and is far more realistic.
There is some pressure to be over-involved because as the video mentions, it is the main vehicle to socialization on campus, especially in the earlier years. However, that tends to fade away as time goes on, and people sort of narrow their involvement to things that they actually like/care about. It’s also not true that you will be “judged” for not being involved–people literally don’t care what you do or don’t do. In fact, I think people are more inclined to judge those who are clearly too involved (the video is right, people get tired of hearing how busy you are).
Also, while people may ask you “what do you do?”, it’s not out of some sort of competition to see who’s busier, but rather a proxy for determining 1) what your interests are, and 2) what mutual friends you may have.
In short, it’s not completely untrue that Georgetown has a somewhat toxic culture with regards to clubs/involvement, but this video makes it seem as if one has to be superhuman, which simply isn’t true.
I’m bumping this because there has been movement on the issue I mentioned in post no 17. I was told that the price to get help from CAPS has gone down, and the number of visits available has increased. I just saw this story in The Hoya about a donor who is helping the lower-income kids get greater access to mental health services, which is great, but I do hope that admin will find a way to institutionalize this idea and not rely on a private donor who could pull his gift at any time.
http://www.thehoya.com/donor-sponsors-caps-services-for-gsp/
Also, I noticed on FB that GUSA was making a big push to get people involved in the past couple of week so I’m unclear why anyone would say that it’s exclusionary or difficult to join.
As a former grad, I’d like to debunk all the negative speculation on this thread. Ask yourself this question, would you really make a decision on college based on a video of ~5-8 individuals? If so, you certainly aren’t of the caliber to represent Hoya nation.
Yes, “Sleep when you’re dead” is in fact a latent georgetown motto. However, aforementioned video leaves out the debauchery that supercedes sleep. Hoyas believe in being the best, in a holistic sense of life. ----------To be more specific, consider the day in the life----- Having the raged night before: swim across the atlantic and back, resolve an imminent nuclear threat, shake hands with Joe Biden, solve world hunger, rescue puppies from a fire, and most importantly, shred the d-floor later that night. And it’s only Tuesday.
HOYA DOIN?
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@2016senior2020 and @fhgirl16 – Would you mind giving me some feedback? I was just wondering after reading this thread, how your first year at Georgetown has been? What did you encounter with the club situation? My DD is currently trying to decide between Georgetown, Notre Dame (and possibly BC, but probably Gtown vs ND). One of her big concerns about Georgetown is what we have heard about the clubs and cliquey atmosphere. And also that there’s not a huge sense of community because a lot of students do things off campus, so they are more dispersed. My understanding is that ND is known for the exact opposite, a huge sense of inclusiveness and community, but it has it’s own negatives, like not being close to a city like DC. My DD comes from a cliquey high school, so we are trying to avoid this issue wherever she goes. Any feedback you would be willing to offer would be much appreciated.
Is there any chance you can visit Georgetown? Or perhaps correspond directly with current (and past) Georgetown students? The latter may be difficult to find, but some are on this board and the student government office will also put you in touch with students.
I say this because CC boards tend not to be the best forums for such discussions. First, many of the posters are applicants or newly admitted students, and so are not the best posed to comment. Secondly, much of the discussion revolves around rankings, test scores, admission rates etc (which are all taken as proxies for how great a university is). Finally, people have a natural tendency to be defensive, especially on a board like this. That’s true of any university.
I suspect what you want to know about are the “subjective” aspects of the Georgetown experience. Try to communicate directly, and privately, with a student. They will give you the good and bad and you can then make an informed decision.
@waitingmomla I agree with @exlibris97 you should try and speak to a student directly about the club situation and campus environment as I found them very helpful when we visited GU.
Anyway, here is my $.02 worth as the parent of an admitted student (who has yet to make a decision). Please take this with a grain of salt as I am basing it on recent conversations that we had with current students (but these kids seemed to be straight shooters).
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Clubs - I asked this question directly to 2 Juniors. Basically, a lot of the more popular “clubs” are student run businesses such as the Credit Union, Coop (Bookstore), coffee shops. These "jobs’ are popular with Business majors for experience plus they are usually paid positions. This and other paid positions (such as tour guides) are competitive for there reasons. They added that beyond those orgs and areas such as student government (where you need to be elected for roles) most of the other clubs are not that hard to get into. I forgot to ask about performing arts but I assume that those are also competitive. Also, if someone gets turned down for a role as a frosh, they can reapply the next year.
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Community - I came away totally relaxed on this point. An important aspect of the campus community is that all students are required to live on campus for 3 years. As a result, particularly freshman year, there is a lot of camaraderie with students in your dorm (there are 4 frosh dorms). Students do take advantage of DC (which a major advantage that GU has over ND) but since they are living on campus they are always returning at night.
FWIW I did not find GU cliquey at all. I try and watch out for this, as my son is at a very cliquey school (Miami) where kids’ social groups are largely determined by wealth. Also, at some state flagships, kids come to school knowing lots of kids from their high school and neighbouring schools. At GU, I did not discern any major cliques by geographic or income demographics. There is lots of national and international demographic diversity which again is one of the school’s advantages. There did not seem to be a high contingent of DC/MD/VA kids as many of them want to get away from home for college. Not to pick on Notre Dame again, but I think that GU has ND beat here also.
Good luck with your decision.
@waitingmomla Sorry for the late reply! But now towards the end of my first year here, this is my take on the club/social scene.
I have a vibrant social life, and none of the clubs that I’m in require a competitive application. Yes, I’m in a few positions/programs (i.e., boards of clubs, pre-orientation, etc.) that required an application, but that’s because I wanted to do those, not because it was a social necessity. I’m in those positions because they supplement and enrich my experience, but my social life would have been equally good without them.
The argument that you need to be in a competitive club (e.g. Blue and Gray (tour guides), The Corp, GUASFCU, The Hoya, etc.) in order to have a good social life is a myth. I did not apply to and therefore am not in any of those clubs. While the people in those clubs do enjoy them and meet friends through them, they are by no means a pre-requisite to a good social life. I would argue that the people who boast too much about being in those clubs become known for it in a negative light.
It’s also interesting to note that these clubs aren’t selective just for the sake of being selective. Using the above examples, Blue and Gray only needs so many tour guides, The Corp only needs so many employees at their coffee shops, GUASFCU only needs so many bank tellers, and The Hoya only needs so many writers. They don’t turn people away just because they want to; I think their selectivity is more a reflection of the ambition and drive of Hoyas than anything. That’s a good thing.
I have made most of my friends either from my freshman floor or through political clubs, which don’t have a competitive application process. (Technically, College Dems has an “application”, but everyone who applies gets in – it’s just a paragraph saying why you’re interested in joining the club.) Most people aren’t in a selective club and still have a good social life.
One other thing to keep in mind is that Georgetown does not have Greek life, so the clubs (selective or not) become the main vehicle for social life. This replaces the competitive atmosphere that can exist at some schools (I don’t know about ND, I’m just speaking in general terms) surrounding frats and sororities. There are some unsanctioned Greek chapters; the people in them enjoy them, but they are not a pervasive part of the social scene. As someone who didn’t want to be in a frat (and still stands by that!), I’ve found this to be one of the best parts of the social scene here since there is no pressure to join.
I hope that helped!
One or two people said there were a good bit of Ivy rejects at Georgetown. I would just like to clear something up:
I’m sure this is true, but what you have to understand is that this is to be expected. They’re peer schools. I know Georgetown rejects attending Ivies. I know Ivy rejects attending other Ivies. So of course there are going to be Ivy rejects at Georgetown- the Ivies are a group of 8 very good schools that people often apply to along with Gtown, Duke, Stanford, Chicago, etc. Whether or not these kids were rejected from a college they’d rather be at than the one they’re currently attending, it doesn’t matter- most kids vying for the tip top have been rejected, because the way to maximize your chances of breaking in is to apply to as many as you would reasonably see yourself doing well at, and just pray. At all of these schools, you’re going to get kids who have been rejected by other good colleges. I’ve PMed kids rejected/waitlisted from SFS who got into HYPS and they were UPSET that they couldn’t go to their first choice. I know kids in the MSB who turned down Wharton- I mean this year Gtown put more kids onto Wall Street than any other school, right ahead of Wharton and then Yale.
Kids apply to a lot of colleges because nowadays at these top schools it’s basically a lotto, and generally just go to wherever will accept them. You’d be hard pressed at ANY top university to find many kids who haven’t been rejected anywhere. Ivy rejects just happen to be common because it’s the only actual GROUP of schools at the top- if Georgetown, Duke, Stanford, MIT, Chicago, Hopkins, Caltech, Northwestern, and Vandy (and there are a few other top schools that could be included but for the sake of argument I’m just including the first that come to mind) formed a “New Ivy League”, I’m sure there would be plenty of “New Ivy League” rejects to go around at the Ivies.
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