Campus Organizations

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So my parents want me to get involved with some kind of campus org. because it looks good on a job application. The problem is I don't know where to start. My major is MIS (Management information systems) which is a business degree with computer emphasis. I was wondering, since many organizations are on campuses all over, if anyone had any suggestions. My interests are aquarium fish, NASCAR, politics (but not campaigning like College Republicans), and my faith. I can talk about pretty much anything though...

I would recommend Delta Sigma Pi (the professional business fraternity).

I'm in a couple of campus ministries (Wesley Foundation and Chi Alpha [XA]. I also am a member of Student Activities Council (part of Student Government Association). Student Activites Council was kind of like what I was with at my old college a few years ago. I wanted to be a part of something that provided activities for the students to do on campus, such as movies.

I'm a member of my university's College Democrats and am also a member of my university's chapter of the biology student organization Tri-Beta.

GMU Kendo/Kumdo Video

http://www.broadsideonline.com/videos/Kendo.mov

Since you mention your faith, I would go for a faith-based organization. If you're a Christian, there are things like Campus Crusade for Christ and InterVarsity, which are national organizations with chapters at local universities. You may also find independent religious groups that are unique to your campus. There are also lots of groups for other religions.

In general, I have found people in faith-based organizations to be more accepting of who I am than people in my department. I am currently on the leadership team of my school's intervarsity chapter, which means that I see the other members of leadership once a week. I also see my small group once a week for Bible study. And we have larger group meetings every other week. Plus other social gatherings, like game nights, a Thanksgiving dinner, we're going to the planetarium tomorrow, and Sunday we're making gingerbread houses. Of course, all of the activities are optional, and sometimes I choose not to go because I've just had enough of people. But usually our activities are fairly quiet and low-key, so they are more fun for me than a party thrown by people in my department (which would involve loud music, tons of drinking, and a lot of people that I don't know randomly dropping by).

So for me, I've found a good fit with a faith-based organization because of the people and because of the types of activities.

I go to an intervarsity bible study every week and I went to cru last year, i need to get more involved with those things but I find it difficult to make myself go, and it's not because I don't like it either, it's just that I get too comfortable in my room and can too easily talk myself out of leaving it. That's another issue though. Nice to see I'm not the only christian on this board. I stopped looking at the political section of this forum because it makes me feel VERY alone, lots of atheists and the like but not too many christians at least none that speak up.

Faith-based organizations are good to get involved with. I'm part of the science/pre-med club at my school and I'm looking into starting a section of the science club devoted more to forensic science (rather than strictly medicine). I'm also part of the karate club and we have training sessions and seminars. It's a lot of fun because there are students from all different courses of study. In my karate class, there's a music major, a computer science major, a biology major and me (I'm chemistry/physics).

You should go into the information room at your school and ask about different clubs. That would be a good way to get an idea of what's going on as far as that goes.

Lets see I did"

Kappa Delta Pi
Student PSEA
Gamma Theta Upsilon
Several leadership organizations/fraternities
Scrabble Club
History Club
Campus tour guide
Empowering Women in politics - basically a week long retreat where you got to meet many female politicitans, then you went back to campus and created your own leadership project.

Its not hard to find something. Most clubs will accept you even if your major isn't related to them. ANd if you can't find something start your own.

Once you've decided that you actually want to go to, say, a weekly meeting, but you only manage to get there once a month or so because it's just easier to sit in your room alone, you can find ways around the lack of motivation.

-Find somebody in the group who lives near your dorm (or at least has to walk by your dorm on their way) and have them stop by and pick you up to walk together.

-Arrange to meet somebody in the group for dinner right before the meeting (bonus: you get to develop a relationship with this person).

-Mention to somebody in the group that you'll see them at the meeting, that way you have to show up in order to keep your word.

-Tell somebody in the group that you're having trouble pulling yourself away from your work to come to meetings, and ask if they'd be able to call you 15 minutes before they start to remind you to come (and perhaps persuade...).

-Spend the afternoon in the library, then stop by the meeting on the way back to your dorm room. If you're not already at home, then you've got to get up and go sometime. Might as well go to the meeting.

I can definitely understand your position. There are lots of times when I would much rather just stay home than deal with getting myself together, going out, dealing with people, and then coming back home. But unless I'm truly exhausted and overstimulated, I usually have a good time once I get there. And I remind myself that I've always got the option to leave if it doesn't work out. If I get up and go to a party and it's just too much, I can always excuse myself after an hour and say that I've got to do something, or that I've just had enough and I need some quiet time.

I usually end up using the technique of scheduling all of my stuff in a row so that I don't go home in the middle of the day. That way, I don't have to worry about getting the motivation to go back out. I'm also generally expected to show up at several things, because I have been coming regularly for some time. So if I don't come, somebody will ask where I was. Which is further motivation to go.