By Jared Miller
There’s a moment in every college orientation when you look around and think, “this is it, my new life.” The college experience is universally considered to be some of the best years of most people’s lives. Never again will most people live in a meticulously designed bubble of a community intended to maximize the convenience and likelihood of success of its residents.
The memories you make, the knowledge you gain, the growth you experience and the people you meet are all aspects of college that will be cherished for life. Yet a question I began pondering early on in my college experience was whether or not these social opportunities naturally supplied by our universities are sufficient enough to facilitate these outcomes from our time at college.
Are the O-Week meet and greets, resident advisor events and class discussion sections really enough to sustain lasting friendships during our four short years at Cornell University? The answer I arrived at is an emphatic “no.”
Essentially, all our tuition provides us with are classes and dorms. Yet I believe that waking up, going to class and then heading back to your room before repeating the cycle is not the way to make the most of your four years. It is up to us to create memories and friendships in the spaces between what our school provides.
In my experience, in college, the friendships that tend to last the most are the ones arrived at through extracurricular activities. Specifically, my comedy group, Humor Us! Sketch Comedy, has reinforced this notion. I genuinely believe that joining this club was the catalyst of and primary factor in my enjoyment of my freshman fall semester. A majority of the laughs, positive memories and Instagram-worthy photographs stem from my time as a member of Humor Us!
Early on in my freshman semester, I was advised to join as many clubs as possible and see what would stick, as my older brother made his closest friends through college extracurriculars. Although I initially took this advice with a grain of salt, I went into Cornell’s club fair with an open mind and left with more fliers, stickers, QR codes and stress balls than any person could ever need.
In the week that followed, I filled out applications and audition sign ups galore, as well as attended more interest meetings than I was interested in attending — all to find my niche. I threw my hat in the ring for two sports clubs, three writing-related clubs, two acapella groups, three religious clubs, an improv group and Humor Us!
Most of the clubs ended up not being for me, and I stopped attending after a little while without gaining much. Yet it was 100% worth it because any of those clubs had the potential to become my niche. There is value in giving unknown opportunities a chance, because you never know how easily they can change your life. None of my other clubs were nearly as impactful as Humor Us was. Yet if one of those clubs had provided even a fraction of the opportunities that Humor Us presented, it would have been well worth it..
That is why my advice to you all is to join every club that you possibly can. Not with networking, resume-building or future-planning intentions, but with the purpose of simply enjoying your short time on this wonderful campus. Not every club is going to work for you, just as it did not for me. Some will feel like they are not your niche, some will feel like a waste of time and others will just be a source of junk mail. However, I think it is important to give every club that is even mildly appealing to you a chance, because you never know when you will find your Humor Us! Like I mentioned before, college is designed to be a bubble, but sometimes it is up to us to pop that bubble and see what is waiting beyond it.
Cornell can feel like a massive campus, and part of the goal of clubs is to make that campus feel smaller. My favorite part about Humor Us! was the fact that it meets every week. No matter what stresses, emotions or issues I was dealing with at the time, I knew that every week I had my sketch group waiting for me. It’s a nice feeling knowing that you have a home, a constant that is always there waiting for you, no matter what.
I truly believe that it is up to us to make the most of our four years, and I believe clubs are the way to do that. I know for a fact that my college experience would be significantly worse without Humor Us!, and I don't even want to imagine my time at Cornell without those experiences. Yet, unfortunately, not everyone gets to find their Humor Us!
I cannot praise the benefits of club membership at Cornell without acknowledging the elephant in the room of Cornell’s cutthroat club culture, though. The unforgettable moments I was able to experience, unfortunately, came at the expense of taking those moments away from someone else. Of all the people who auditioned for my sketch group, only five new members were admitted. Meaning out of the dozens who applied, searching for their own way to better their college experience, only five were able to join our little group.
It is no secret that the club culture at Cornell is very present and harsh, with certain clubs having lower acceptance rates than the university itself. During my time attending auditions, I recall my other friends attending countless coffee chats, interviews and information sessions, all for a club which only seems to cause them more stress if they got in (which they did not). The goal of improving their futures often comes at the expense of enjoying their presents.
We only get four years of college. Four years to explore new things, experience new people and enjoy this short time before the real world starts. College may be a bubble, but it's one we must shape ourselves. The friendships and memories are out there, but they shouldn’t be so hard to reach. Everyone deserves the chance to find their own Humor Us!
Jared Miller is a first-year in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He can be reached at jmm792@cornell.edu.
