By: Sherlyn Ong

How do you know what clubs to join and how to  find the Balance? Finding a club to commit yourself to is always a difficult decision.

There are many factors into choosing a club. Finding a club that shares your interest is the most important start. This is essential because commitment to a club is extremely reliant on whether you care about the issues/activities that the club represents. For example, if you are into environmental activism, you can join SEAK. If you are into entertainment and event planning, you can join UPC.

If you would like to be more in touch with your culture, you can join clubs like Asian Student Association, EBONY, Hispanics and Latino Organization (HALO) and SU Native. If you wish to be involved with the LGBTQ+ community on campus, you can join Pirates for Pride. These are just some examples of clubs that could correspond with your interests.

Secondly, looking for a club that fits in your schedule is important. All clubs meet at very different times, so it is important to find one that you can attend.

It would not work out if you could not attend meetings because clubs often discuss about future events and topics during that timeframe. Not attending meetings is almost equivalent to not investing yourself in a club. Hence, scheduling is also a very important part of your decision.

Thirdly, the pool of people you will be joining is also an important factor to consider. If you find yourself unable to connect with the people in the club that you are joining, it can be quite a painful experience. It could be as a simple a reason as having a vastly different personality as the other people in club. It could also be that you don’t share the same views as those people and you find it hard to get along. That is a good enough reason to reconsider your participation in that club.

Fourthly, determining if you have enough time to dedicate to all your clubs is an important factor. Not all clubs require the same amount of dedication, but it is important to choose ones that do not amount to too much work for you, alongside to schoolwork. If you find yourself overwhelmed with all the meetings and activities, you may want to consider leaving some organizations.

The above note leaves us at our final point, quantity is not always better than quality. When you are involved in too many clubs you are left unable to balance your time and commitment to their activities. You may very well end up becoming a ghost member.

Furthermore, when choosing clubs, it is also important to choose a few that are related to your future career. This will give you an upper-hand in the job place since you have already come into contact with things that are related in your field.

On that note, good luck to all in finding a club that will match your interests for the years you are here.