File photo: Georgetown Voice
While classes and where you live are defining factors of your Georgetown experience, student involvements hold a big impact on a typical Hoya’s time on the Hilltop. The Council of Advisory Boards (CAB) holds a fair every semester, taking place this year on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., where clubs table on Copley Lawn and try to lure new students in with free food and overall swag.
There are lots of student organizations on campus just begging you to join them, and CAB Fair can get a bit overwhelming. Here are our tips on making the most of your first CAB Fair.
Sign up … if you’re actually interested
So many freshman make the mistake of going to every single table and scribbling their net id down, no matter the club. Don’t let every club’s cheerful speech, free food, and colorful flyers fool you. Sign up if you’re actually interested and your email inbox will thank you later.
That’s not to say, however, that you shouldn’t do your best to leave your comfort zone and try out lots of clubs. Just make sure you meet a balance between signing up for things you might be interested and signing up only for things you know you’re interested in.
Keep an open mind
You don’t have to join every club you were involved with in high school. College is a time to explore and try new things. For example, you may have never thought you liked writing until you stopped by the Voice table, or that you really liked the sight of big meat until you joined GUGS. Take flyers at tables so that you can look back on what you signed up for, because a 30-second spiel in a crowd is never the best way to learn about a club.
You won’t stick with every club you join
Many clubs at Georgetown involve applications, which is definitely a change from high school where you wrote your name on a sheet of loose-leaf paper and called yourself a member. Vox thinks signing up or applying to about five or six clubs is a good start and you’ll probably narrow that down to two or three, depending on how involved you want to be.
Don’t overwhelm yourself with involvements. It is your freshman year and living in a new environment and adjusting to college life is a lot on top of too many clubs and student groups!
Give it time
CAB Fair will not be the only factor in what clubs you join and throughout your first semester, you will see student groups in action and hear from friends about what they’re involved with. Lots of students don’t join clubs that they really commit to until second semester, sophomore year, or even junior year, so don’t think that you have to approach every table diligently. And considering that the weather is supposed to be 96 degrees and sunny in DC on Sunday, you will want to get out of there very quickly on Sunday.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in a previous year’s version of Prefrosh Preview, and is modified to reflect the change in name in the Council of Advisory Boards fair since Jan. 2015.
