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what kind of university clubs/societies are you in?

Does anyone else feel like since they started uni they've been totally lazy about extra curricular stuff? I've tried to join a few things but really I feel like I do nothing/not enough. No charity work, no societies etc. Yet I feel like I really should, in an attempt to boost my CV (I'm going into 3rd year now).

I wander around freshers fair each year looking at the millions of clubs on offer and just think blehhh.

Do most students have a CV crammed with extra curricular stuff? What kinds of things do you find enjoyable? Anything people would recommend? (my uni is likely to have most things I think)

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I'm on the archery club committee (Secretary) (yes there is a lot of weirdos at it, but I just run from them). I'm a class rep, will be a member of the welcome team next year during freshers and that's about it. I don't have time to join other clubs due to work and such but I am a few things :smile:
Reply 2
I signed up to like 7 different societies at freshers fair, only got emailed information from like four of them though. I went to the Philosophy society on and off for the year, but it felt quite mature, mostly lecturers and some older years went so it felt a little intimidating really.

First meeting for the Creative Writing society was actually with the student union who needed 3 people to run it, 5 people turned up. As a fresher I didn't want to run a society in my first year. I don't think it ended up running this year, despite like 60 people signing up to it in Freshers week. :rolleyes:

I'm certainly gonna give societies another crack next year and join new ones, but I was the only one in my flat of 11 who actually went to a society at all. :s-smilie:
Reply 3
Original post by LSD
Does anyone else feel like since they started uni they've been totally lazy about extra curricular stuff? I've tried to join a few things but really I feel like I do nothing/not enough. No charity work, no societies etc. Yet I feel like I really should, in an attempt to boost my CV (I'm going into 3rd year now).

I wander around freshers fair each year looking at the millions of clubs on offer and just think blehhh.

Do most students have a CV crammed with extra curricular stuff? What kinds of things do you find enjoyable? Anything people would recommend? (my uni is likely to have most things I think)


CVs here, CVs there, CVs, CVs, CVs ... When browsing TSR people might well start to think that the whole concept of societies and clubs was not invented for the enjoyment of people but only to boost CVs.

"Here, see employer, I've been active in this society and that club, I spent my time in a soup kitchen etc. pp. I mean, I didn't really enjoy any of those, but isn't that a great CV?!?!"

:facepalm:
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 4
Original post by Sir Fox
CVs here, CVs there, CVs, CVs, CVs ... When browsing TSR people might well start to think that the whole concept of societies and clubs was not invented for the enjoyment of people but only to boost CVs.

"Here, see employer, I've been active in this society and that club, I spent my time in a soup kitchen etc. pp. I mean, I didn't really enjoy any of those, but isn't that a great CV?!?!"

:facepalm:


I enjoy what I do take part in, though some of it seems CV inappropriate :wink: And I hope to enjoy any more I do join. But I won't lie, I'm applying for a work placement year out this year, and according to people who have done it in previous years, the internal interview requires you to have a lot of extra curricular stuff :frown:
Reply 5
Original post by LSD
Does anyone else feel like since they started uni they've been totally lazy about extra curricular stuff? I've tried to join a few things but really I feel like I do nothing/not enough. No charity work, no societies etc. Yet I feel like I really should, in an attempt to boost my CV (I'm going into 3rd year now).

I wander around freshers fair each year looking at the millions of clubs on offer and just think blehhh.

Do most students have a CV crammed with extra curricular stuff? What kinds of things do you find enjoyable? Anything people would recommend? (my uni is likely to have most things I think)


Are you at Strathlyde by any chance? Everyone raves about uni soieties, but I/ most people I knew at Strath weren't involved in anything, and th choice just didn't seem as good as other unis. I did join the snowsports club in my final year. It was fun.
Reply 6
Original post by LSD
I enjoy what I do take part in, though some of it seems CV inappropriate :wink: And I hope to enjoy any more I do join. But I won't lie, I'm applying for a work placement year out this year, and according to people who have done it in previous years, the internal interview requires you to have a lot of extra curricular stuff :frown:


It wasn't all about you specifically, just about all this CV hype that seems to spread like a tumor - People being secretaries of uni societies in order to prove their leadership qualities (I always wondered how being a secretary or president of a society of some dozens of members who only meet out of fun is something special).

On my CV (well, until now I don't even have a CV :biggrin:) I have a year working for the Red Cross in Ghana, but on the imaginary list of reasons my CV was placed like 10th or so.

A lot of people (apparently not you) seem to be desperate about joining societies and getting positions only to boost their employability without even liking it; and I think those people 'kill' the whole society experience. They actually don't want to be there and don't care a bit.
Reply 7
Original post by fiona344
Are you at Strathlyde by any chance? Everyone raves about uni soieties, but I/ most people I knew at Strath weren't involved in anything, and th choice just didn't seem as good as other unis. I did join the snowsports club in my final year. It was fun.


No no, I'm in Glasgow. There's hundreds of choice it seems. I'm good for sports right now, don't think I could handle taking anymore on. But everywhere I go I seem to see people having protests about slavery/politics etc. Or people doing charity work/collecting for charities, or fund raising for summer missions to africa to save the endangered whatever. And as far as this sort of stuff is concerned, I've did absolutely nothing :P

Original post by Sir Fox
It wasn't all about you specifically, just about all this CV hype that seems to spread like a tumor - People being secretaries of uni societies in order to prove their leadership qualities (I always wondered how being a secretary or president of a society of some dozens of members who only meet out of fun is something special).

On my CV (well, until now I don't even have a CV :biggrin:) I have a year working for the Red Cross in Ghana, but on the imaginary list of reasons my CV was placed like 10th or so.

A lot of people (apparently not you) seem to be desperate about joining societies and getting positions only to boost their employability without even liking it; and I think those people 'kill' the whole society experience. They actually don't want to be there and don't care a bit.


Ah, I haven't bothered running for board positions in the tiny amount of the things I am in because if I'm honest I don't have enough time to attend meetings and thus would be a complete failure of a board member, and I do it for fun really, I don't take it seriously.

I'm thinking I should do something serious though, like the Red Cross for example, rather than just sailing through uni having a laugh :s But at the same time, I don't know how far I'd go in being serious about charity work etc, maybe I should accept I'm not really that kind of person :P
Reply 8
A sporty one

Two journalism ones - these take up the majority of my time.
Creative Writing one
Reply 9
I joined archery (Now the captain). I found its really good fun doing a niche sport and it seems to pull a certain kind of people that I really get on with.

Also joined the lit soc - really didn't like much.
And a member of the geog soc.
Rowing - stopped attending after two terms because one of my lectures was moved to the time we have training. Then it got moved back and I couldn't be bothered to go back. Still a member though

The Media Society - only joined so I could write for the uni's paper. Which I did for a couple of issues then I stopped turning up for meetings.

I'm looking to join some new clubs/socs next year but obviously I have commitment issues :colondollar:
In first year I signed up for loads of societies but wasn't really a member. I simply wanted to enjoy first year to the fullest and just explore being independent. However in second year I realised that that was a big mistake and that while I had the time (and less stress), I should have taken EC a little more serious. Now I am part of the drama society, law society and RAG as well as being a course rep and doing a lot of guiding. Being part of a society (especially drama) has made my second year that little less stressful and more fun! I can say that honest to god, if I hadn't had so much fun in the society and made so many amazing new friends, I may have dropped out because of the amount of stress my course concealed.

So join societies! Not only because it'll look good on your CV but simply because you enjoy that certain activity :smile:
Reply 12
Original post by LSD
Ah, I haven't bothered running for board positions in the tiny amount of the things I am in because if I'm honest I don't have enough time to attend meetings and thus would be a complete failure of a board member, and I do it for fun really, I don't take it seriously.

I'm thinking I should do something serious though, like the Red Cross for example, rather than just sailing through uni having a laugh :s But at the same time, I don't know how far I'd go in being serious about charity work etc, maybe I should accept I'm not really that kind of person :P


Serious is always good, just make sure to enjoy it. If you really have no time to attend meetings, maybe only join one single society and make sure to invest some time in it, otherwise it's rather pointless.

The Red Cross is always good (worked for them, so I can recommend that :biggrin:) and no one claimed you cannot have a laugh this way. It somehow seems that you take this society thing very serious and think that it can't be fun; if you like what the society does it indeed will be fun - not to mention that you'll meet new people and not every single event a society does is super serious, I think most societies also organise nights out for their members once in a while :wink:

I'm not yet at university, but having skimmed through the societies' prospectus my list includes:

Atheist Society
BUNAC (volunteering abroad ... somehow)
Call to Action (associated with the Red Cross)
D.A.R.E. (development issues, fundraising for poor countries)
Diplomats Society
Psychology Society (pretty much obligatory :wink:)
Forensic Society
Model United Nations Society
Politics Society

For sports:

Fencing (already did it)
Rowing
Swimming

I will probably have to narrow it down to one sports and not more than two or three societies. Maybe I'll even join some more but rather on a guest basis, really throwing myself in one or two and just attending the most exciting events the other societies organise (like the lecture series about forensic science).
Reply 13
At Freshers' Fair I signed up for everything. Half the societies were offering free sweets if you joined their mailing list and I fell like a sucker [badum tshh] :colondollar: I only actually went to one and dropped out halfway through. I'm going into second year and I feel like I've wasted loads of unseen opportunities. I think you should think of two or three things that interest you and seek out those societies next year. Chances are you'll drop one of them, but try to maintain the other two. I'm gonna do kayaking and surf club, and try to do the magazine for subject-related stuff but kayaking and surfing are my main priorities. I came to a uni by the beach for a reason so I better start making the most of it :tongue:
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by LSD
Does anyone else feel like since they started uni they've been totally lazy about extra curricular stuff? I've tried to join a few things but really I feel like I do nothing/not enough. No charity work, no societies etc. Yet I feel like I really should, in an attempt to boost my CV (I'm going into 3rd year now).

I wander around freshers fair each year looking at the millions of clubs on offer and just think blehhh.

Do most students have a CV crammed with extra curricular stuff? What kinds of things do you find enjoyable? Anything people would recommend? (my uni is likely to have most things I think)


I'm in literally the same situation as you! I feel dead lazy at the end of second year having not really contributed to anything at the uni, and next year I'm hoping to get pretty involved with the student newspaper. If your university has a radio station, those are quite fun (tried it for a few weeks but didn't get on with the station manager), or maybe some of the volunteering stuff as well (our charities hold weekly pub quizzes and look out for quiz masters and things).

However, I'd say join a society or club because you enjoy it, rather than for your CV, as you may as well be looking for work experience if it's only for enhancing your CV.
I start university in the fall, but I can't wait to join the sailing club and archery club and will most likely join the fencing and kayaking clubs as well. I'm just afraid I'll be spending too much time there as opposed to academic work. I was at a small college in the US this past year, where there were not a whole lot of different clubs, so I am really looking forward to joining some. And the fact the my uni is on the water is awesome.

Also, is a CV the same thing as a resume? Never heard that term in the US before.
Reply 16
Original post by Beleg Cuthalion
Also, is a CV the same thing as a resume? Never heard that term in the US before.


Curriculum vitae = resume.
Original post by Sir Fox
Curriculum vitae = resume.


Ok, thanks.
Reply 18
Archery definitely seems popular :P I may look into this out of interest!

Thanks guys :smile:
Reply 19
OP, you're at Glasgow? I'm in loads of societies here :smile: If you're interested in charity ones I can give you lots of information about them :smile:

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