It’s been three weeks since the club fair, and for first-years and any other students who are not skilled in the art of walking past tables at the club fair without signing up for an email list (myself included), this is an important time. Now that the excitement of potentially joining a new club has passed, it is time to separate clubs into their new categories. So here are my categories for clubs, with some helpful advice.
- The clubs you actually go to
This list can vary in length. For first-years, this list may not even be established yet — perhaps clubs are still shifting between categories, perhaps you are still looking for the perfect club to join. Wherever you are in this process, it’s alright; you have plenty of time. If you’re stressed about this list, take a deep breath. If you’re still looking for clubs, just keep trying new things; you’ll find one you like. If you’re in too many clubs, you’ll figure it out (at least I hope so … I’ve been told I’m not actually qualified to give advice for this).
- The clubs you mean to go to but for some reason never actually do
This category encompasses a broad range of club-joining-statuses. Common outlooks towards clubs on this list include options ranging from reading the email each week and thinking “hm, that looks interesting, maybe I’ll go” to actually mentioning the club to someone who puts you in touch with their friend who you then speak with regarding the logistics of joining the club followed by you reading every single email and then still managing to not have time to go (not that this very non-specific situation happens to apply to me. As a side note: if I, hypothetically speaking of course, were in that situation, I would like to say to the person who made a club sound very fun that I’m sorry and I really do want to come at some point, I just haven’t been able to make it to the past few meetings, but I’m going to at some point). But I digress. We’ve all had one of those clubs where you’re on the email list for forever — maybe you read the emails interestedly before not going, maybe you only read the subject line, it matters not — and that’s okay. This is a perfectly reasonable place to be in with a club. I would suggest waiting until the end of Spring Term and then suddenly just starting to show up (no, wait, don’t do that, 1/10 would recommend). But anyway, keep reading those emails, and know that whoever is in the club would probably love to have you if you ever want to come to a meeting.
- Clubs that you probably should have gotten on the email list for but somehow didn’t despite having signed up for literally every other one nearby
This is the simplest category: either move these clubs into category two (or even maybe, just maybe, category one) by finding someone to put you on the email list or decide that this club is not for you right now. Both of these options are good. My advice here would be to wait a few days to see if you still want to join the club before attempting to join the email list. Or you could ignore that and just join the email list.
- Clubs you’ve discussed with a friend but never actually joined
This is a strange category, and one in which my advice depends on the type of conversation you’ve had with your friend and what you’re looking to get out of the club. Sometimes, the fun in joining a club with a friend is in the hypothetical “what if” part of the conversation. This is particularly true when you both have busy or conflicting schedules or when the club isn’t really within either of your interests. However, those same circumstances can also be reasons to join a club with a friend — it could give you a way to spend more time together and bond over being really bad at something together. Either way, it’ll be fun!
In conclusion, I have only one recommendation here — go to the club. Or don’t. Whatever makes you happy. There are no wrong answers here; join the clubs that make you happy in the moment and remember that you can always change your mind later.
