A guide to keeping your sanity

BY JOSH DRIMMER

After signing lots of sheets, receiving many desperate phone calls from strangers, scooping up free food at many more information sessions, and maybe even hitting a few auditions, you—the average, active freshman—have toyed, teased, and tossed around many a great extracurricular organization. Unfortunately, shopping period follows Camp Yale ever so harshly. Along comes the things your parents really sent you here to do: schoolwork. Soon, the realization will set in: you can't do everything. Between taking enough classes to make your Dean happy and having enough of a social life to keep yourself out of Psycholand, you have only so much time for extracurriculars. No matter how great an actor, writer, or foam swordsman you may be, there are limits you cannot go beyond without losing sleep and/or sanity. With all the great things you can do at Yale, picking and choosing is never easy. To ease the process, here are a few questions to ask yourself.

What do I love to do? Perhaps this may seem like an obvious and easy question, but considering the route of extracurriculars-solely-for-the-purpose-of-résumé-building that many students have taken to rack up a good high school profile, it is definitely an issue worth considering. Without the constraints of high school's more limited options, everything from tabloid writing to hip-hop dancing is now available to you, and the chance to expand your talents or to discover ones you never thought you had is too good to waste while you think of what will look good on paper. If it isn't fun, don't continue in it, no matter how much you did it in high school. If it sounds fun, then just try it; after all, you may never have another chance.

Am I good enough? This question may apply more to would-be actors than to any others, though it is worth noting that societies also hold try-outs, and even publications are somewhat selective about giving articles to writers. The truth is that Yale is a place with a lot of talented people in almost all fields. Thus, though Yalies do not aspire to a ridiculous level of competition, it is more difficult to get into plays and several other activities than it was in high school, if only because you are no longer the most talented of the bunch. The only thing you can do is be persistent and confident in whatever you try. As hard as it can be to take rejection—and everyone has to deal with it at some point—the only wrong way to deal with it is to accept it as the final word. The greatest risk is not taking one.

If I miss the Bazaar, can I still get involved? Yes. Though the rush of the Freshman Bazaar does not repeat itself, in no way is your window of opportunity slammed shut if you fail to sign every single sign-up sheet and attend every information session (though you will have missed a great chance to get free food). Organizations always need people, so don't be shy about contacting the leaders of groups you are interested in via e-mail or phone, or just attending open meetings. At the beginning of the spring semester, there will even be yet another recruiting drive, complete with fully-stocked info sessions.

How much do I really have time to do? The number of classes you are planning to take, and how you schedule them, weighs heavily on this decision. For example, if you are planning to take four classes your first semester, none starting before 11:30 a.m., you have a lot more flexibility than someone taking five classes starting at 8 a.m. Yale's 36-credit requirement means that five-credit semesters are coming for you eventually, and this means that as much as you might want to edit a publication, get involved in the Yale Political Union, and play a starring role in a drama all at once, you will not be able to—most of the time. Try just a few activities your first semester to avoid early burn-out. You will still be able to handle your friends and your classes at the same time.

Remember, as many things as you may want to do your first semester, there will still be another three and a half years in which to do them.Take it easy there, star.

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