Extracurriculars: your other classroom

How to manage a full course load and different clubs, and still have a great social life...in three easy steps!

"Excuse me, do you like to sing?"

"Are you interested in politics?"

"Just put your name and number down on this list right here..."

I'll never forget my first experience at Yale's Freshman Bazaar. It was eleven o' clock on the Sunday morning of my first week at school, and Old Campus had already been invaded by hundreds of extracurricular groups. Newspapers, singing groups, volunteer programs, fraternities and sororities—each organization had its own table, staffed by two or three seemingly tireless spokespeople singing their group's praises to everyone who walked by.

Coming from a tiny suburban high school with about five clubs, I was excited and a little amazed by the dizzying array of choices—and by the fact that so many students were willing to get up early on a Sunday morning simply in the hopes of attracting a few new members. I put my name down for activity after activity, not wanting to prematurely reject any options or offend the people who had just spent time encouraging me to join.

While the Bazaar is what initially caught my attention as a freshman, what strikes me now after three years at Yale is that the Bazaar isn't just an aberration or a one-time deal in the midst of the frenzy of Camp Yale. It's a genuine illustration of the passion that Yalies have for activities—a feeling that lasts the whole year, even in the midst of classes, friends, dorm life, and exams. Extracurricular groups at Yale offer students the chance to become involved in something substantial and meaningful, whether it's a tutoring program, a newspaper, or a play.

Yalies generally support each other's efforts—the audiences for Yale productions are frequently sold out, and you'll often find students reading Yale newspapers and magazines over breakfast—so there's a definite sense that the effort is worth it.

Meanwhile, the old cliché "if you can't find the club you want, just start it yourself" really does hold true at Yale. During each of my three years here, I've watched new groups form and quickly rise in popularity. A Different Drum (a new dance group), the Conservative Party (the Political Union's newest member), the Yale Humanist Society, the Yale Review of Books, and several new college literary magazines have all been started in the past few years.

As a result of the intensity of Yale's extracurricular scene, the time commitment can often be considerable. Rehearsals for plays and dance performances tend to go well into the night during the weeks before show time, and newspaper editors devote many hours each week to proofreading and production. Don't let this daunt you, however. Extracurricular involvement at Yale is far from being an all-or-nothing deal—while leadership positions in groups can be demanding, it's usually possible to be an involved member without signing your life away.

What's more, the term "signing your life away" is probably misleading anyway, since the Yalies who make a huge commitment to an activity don't usually view it as a sacrifice. One of the best aspects of activities is that they offer a chance to make friends with people whom you otherwise might never meet. The bonding develops by virtue of spending so much time together while working on a common goal or project.

Groups often have parties and go on retreats together; some groups, particularly singing groups and improvisational comedy groups, often go on tour together during vacations. The Baker's Dozen, a male a cappella singing group, even has its own house on Lake Place, where many of its members live. This helps to explain why Yalies remain committed to their extracurricular groups even after graduation; alumni often donate money to activities they had participated in as students, and it's not unusual to see a contingent of elderly alums at singing group jams or athletic events. Yale is a fairly big place, and one way to feel connected is to find a niche in a smaller group.

There's no denying, however, that balancing extracurriculars, a social life, and classes can be a difficult juggling act at times. Yale is an intense place, and it's hard to not feel like you're being pulled in a million different directions at least once in a while. But one nice aspect of college is that you're much freer to make your own decisions—in a 150-person lecture class, no one is going to know if you fall behind in the reading once in a while. The difference between the obligations you can put off and those that demand immediate attention becomes pretty clear, and you can prioritize accordingly from day to day.

So enjoy the Freshman Bazaar. Sign up for anything which catches your interest (at worst, you'll get a few extra phone calls during the first weeks of school), and then spend the next month or two trying them all out. One of the best features of Yale is that most activities are completely non-exclusive. Unlike Harvard's notorious "comps," in which newcomers face competition and scrutiny in order to join activities like the newspaper or the radio station, Yale groups are most often open to anyone who expresses interest. Over time, you'll settle into a couple of activities you really love, and next year at the Freshman Bazaar, you may very well find yourself behind a table at eleven in the morning, urging freshmen to put their names down on a list.

Graphic by Matthew Wiegle.

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