College can change your entire life. Not only will you gain the skills and knowledge you need to succeed in a vastly more competitive and challenging world, but it will also allow you to find out things you never knew about yourself. College also offers an opportunity to be a part of a community, or a society, that is hungry to make a difference – to make a change. This is where student organizations come in. Almost every college institution has at least a hundred various organizations you can join – from charitable organizations to organizations of people that have joined forces over a certain commonality, like language or nationality. Here are some of the pros and cons of joining college campus organizations.
One of the biggest pros of joining college campus organizations is that you will do better in school. Indeed, tests show that students that join a certain organization become much more serious and committed to their collegiate education. No matter if a student has visited is getting their health informatics degree or they are going to law school, being a part of an organization can make them more vested in their future.
A big con, however, of joining campus organizations is that they can be distracting. Indeed, if an organization doesn’t make a college student vested in his or her studies, it will make that particular student quite distracted from them. The very nature of college organizations is that they are social, which means that students could go down the road of spending too much time with friends rather than studying or doing their school work.
Yet, a big pro of joining a campus organization is that a particular student can meet new people and friends. It is the socializing aspect that can be incredibly beneficial to a student’s emotional development in college. If you have a unique interest, or if you are focused on a niche topic, it may be hard to meet people in the real world, so having a social group can be really advantageous. In college, sometimes fighting back the loneliness and the homesickness can be incredibly difficult, so having an organization that you can say you are a part of can be helpful.
On the other side of the coin, though, some college organizations can actually be just the opposite if helpful and positive. In fact, hazing or bullying is a big part of a certain organizations. This hazing can be incredible hurtful emotionally and physically – not to mention the hit it can take on a student’s self esteem. It is important to note that only some organizations have a culture of hazing or bullying, but it may help to do your research before you become a part of one.
Lastly, more than anything, college organizations can also prepare a student for the future. A big pro of joining a college organization is that you can meet contacts and organizations that could be integral to your future career plans. Not to mention, it is great for networking and trying to figure out what to do with your life. At the end of the day, all the pros far outweigh the cons. If you want a more enriching college experience, you should definitely research a college organization that you may want to join.