Connections Outside the Classroom

High school is over, and you’re now going to college to prepare yourself for amazing career opportunities once you graduate. Most people think that playtime is over and focus 100% of their time and energy strictly into their studies, spend their day and nights in their books, and before you know it the cycle continuously repeats for every class they take.



While focusing on your studies is really important, much of the college experience happens outside of the classroom where it’s beneficial to get involved. What happens when students get involved?

By getting involved with your school and joining organizations, you’re more likely to be exposed to a lot more resources to help you propel your future career goals forward. Say you join a pre-health organization. The most common goal everyone would have is trying to get into pharmacy or medical school. As everyone has the same goal, everyone will likely be talking about resources to help them get to those schools such as which Pharmacist or Doctor is willing to accept shadowing slots, or available undergrad research opportunities.

As most students will likely be away from their friends and family, getting involved will help build your own community where you’ll gain new friends and find peeps with similar interests! Part of building a future career is not only having the skills, but also developing a huge network. College provides both, but if you focus strictly on studies and not get involved, you’re missing a big opportunity.

Organizations will also help you realize what you truly enjoy and and dislike, and these will carry through into your future. If you get really involved to where you start becoming the club’s leader (president, VP etc) it can make a great resumé builder!

When joining new organizations, it’s important to keep an open mind. These are opportunities to try new things that you may not have the opportunity to do in the future. You may not end up liking the club that you thought would be interesting, but this helps you narrow down the clubs that you do enjoy to focus on. This is an ongoing process, and your involvement may transform into something bigger as time goes on.