Campus Life: How Do I Find a Club or Group That's Right For Me?

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Whether you join one campus group or a half dozen, make sure that your time is well spent. Students follow a number of strategies when searching for campus organizations:

• They find out what's available. It's impossible to know about every group on campus"and likely that you'll miss some great opportunities"unless you try to learn about them by visiting campus Web sites or attending activity fairs, for example.
• They sample groups' meetings or activities to see if they  match up with the people or the programming.
• They ask questions to find out how others enjoy the group, and to learn what the time and financial commitment will be.

"What do you care about? What do you love to do?" Those are two questions Kristen Watts (University of Texas at Austin) suggests students keep in mind when choosing from the menu of extracurricular offerings. "At your school's freshman orientation, you'll probably be bombarded with information on this club and that. Take all the fliers and maybe give a few of the clubs your e-mail address."

Although a group's goals and activities will attract interest initially, the fellow members are the real reason you'll stick with a club or organization, says Kristen, who is president of her cluster of dorms, a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and a member of the university's rowing team. "These people are teaching me more than I could learn in class; they're becoming my friends for life."

Students say it's essential to at least try an activity if you're not sure about it. If it's not what you had in mind, you don't have to go back. And of course, if you enjoy it, it was well worth checking out in the first place.

But you'll never know unless you try.

Bethany Sheldon (Boston University) was a cheerleader in high school, and initially did not plan to try out at BU. But curiosity got the best of her. "I ended up going to the tryouts just to see what it was like," she says.

She made the team"and is glad she decided to check out the opportunity, because it has enriched her college experience. "Cheerleading has been one of the biggest highlights of my college career so far," she says. "I met my two best friends at college through cheering."

Julia Bauler (Gonzaga University) agrees with the open-minded approach. "Interests change over time," she says, and students are free to try new things. At the same time, joining a group may lead to unexpected benefits. For example, Julia was active in Gonzaga's chapter of the Residence Hall Association, and has served as executive vice president. That led to a campus job in the university's housing department. "Opportunities and activities always lead to other adventures," she says.

It may not be easy to find a club that's the right fit for you. If that's the case, don't get discouraged, says Holly Jericoff. Instead, network"talk to fellow students, professors, and advisers. Holly found a great deal of support from the Idaho faculty; one professor even offered to help her launch a group and serve as adviser.