The Voice

Sorry to break it to those of you who are slackers, but just attending college isn’t enough anymore.

In order to be considered for a serious job when you enter the real world, you must not only have a good GPA, but you must also have a resume filled with extracurricular activities. Even if you have a 4.0 GPA, if you are involved in nothing throughout college, chances are, future employers will take a look at your resume and laugh. But, of course, you probably knew that already.

Many upperclassmen are involved in a host of clubs, teams and other organizations. Some of the freshmen are rapidly becoming involved as well. Then, on the opposite end of the spectrum, there will always be those students who do nothing but attend class, study, and party like the world will end tomorrow. To those of you in the later category, you’ll regret it later.

This is a simple problem, and thus, has a simple solution. Get involved! Join clubs, teams, organizations, or get involved with the Greek life. Join many, from a variety of disciplines. But be cautious and don’t go too far because over-applying yourself is a very bad thing.

How full is too full? Is there a fine line drawn between not being involved in enough activities and being involved in too many activities?

There certainly is a point where the burden you place upon your shoulders will threaten to overwhelm you, but what the individual can handle depends purely on the individual. It depends on his or her fortitude, class schedule, how well he or she can juggle spare time and just how much he or she values sleep.

The negative effects of taking in too many activities may seem to be very obvious. Your grades might be hurt, since you’ll need to forgo study time in order to have adequate time for all of your activities. Hanging out with friends might be difficult, unless they’re involved in the same activities as you. Also, when a student’s plate becomes too full, he or she loses the ability to apply their full dedication to each of the organizations he or she is involved in.

Is there any good in being involved in an activity that you don’t have time or don’t care enough to do? Will this one more activity make your already impressive resume that much more impressive? Probably not, since you’d be very unlikely to get any good recommendations from the president or adviser since you’d be too busy to commmit your all to the activity.

When getting involved, make sure you are able to prioritize what’s important to you first, and make sure you don’t bite off more than you can chew. If you’re going to commit to something, stay committed.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 14 2005. Filed under Our Voice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry