Entry into Student run Clubs at Ivy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dc (entering freshman) was a little shocked by the student club culture. Every single club needs applications and interviews and most have a very low probability of acceptance. Seriously regretting the decision to go to an Ivy. This was hardly DC's idea of what college life would be. We were willy to not know about any of this stuff?

I have commonly heard this from students at Yale. I was stunned, being a Michigan grad myself.

It’s bad at Michigan too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS is a highly recruited athlete freshman at an Ivy, and he got many invites to join exclusive clubs. One of his teammates' older brothers is the head of one of those clubs. DS was told that he could be a member of the club by: a) coming from a wealthy family or b) an athlete. He fit the latter.

I assume the level of recruitment was irrelevant, but rather there are clubs controlled by teams/frats/etc. For example, I bet the recruit who was offered the last spot on the team gets the same benefits.

I am the PP. My DS is the best athlete on the team so he was offered a spot in the exclusive club. He also receives extra benefits that the worst athlete doesn't get in that club, according to my DS.

If you go to a school all the way across the country, how do they know you are wealthy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is at an Ivy that has gotten some bad press for “exclusive club culture.” She applied/tried out for a ton of things freshman year and got plenty of rejections but some nice opportunities too. Here’s the thing - clubs are student run and have budgets. You can’t have 200 kids on thr debate team or any other group/club, it would be chaos. And these kinds of schools are filled with students who want to do ALL THE THINGS so if course there are going to be more interested students than spots. But these schools also have plenty of clubs that are open to anyone and casual, and ambitious students start new ones all the time. It works out. The key is not to set your heart on a particular club or activity and to cast the net wide

Best Answer! Maybe we have kids at the same ivy. OR maybe they are all similar in culture. It works out!

What school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this is one of the problem with ivies. What school, OP? I know Penn is awful. Such a cutthroat atmosphere.

Yes, Penn does not look good. DC having club rejections. Ridiculous.

OP here. Penn.

I knew it. Penn has such a reputation for being competitive and unwelcoming. I wonder whether anyone would apply if it weren’t an Ivy.

My kid is at Penn…no problem joining a club sport team, sports analytics club, entrepreneurial club. Never interested in the IBanking or VC clubs which are probably nuts. Says there 100+ clubs that aren’t competitive.

NP: mine is at Penn, ‘26! Loves it! Got into one club that required screening/audition, in two other non competitive ones, and did not get into a different one that in hindsight is a huge time suck and as a junior realizes not needed. Research and internships do not correlate with clubs. There are so many opportunities there—it is only IB obsessed freshman who get angsty over clubs. Once they grow a little and relax they realize there is plenty more to do there and clubs are what you make of them. From her friend at Brown, Penn seems less competitive because there are many more open clubs!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is at an Ivy that has gotten some bad press for “exclusive club culture.” She applied/tried out for a ton of things freshman year and got plenty of rejections but some nice opportunities too. Here’s the thing - clubs are student run and have budgets. You can’t have 200 kids on thr debate team or any other group/club, it would be chaos. And these kinds of schools are filled with students who want to do ALL THE THINGS so if course there are going to be more interested students than spots. But these schools also have plenty of clubs that are open to anyone and casual, and ambitious students start new ones all the time. It works out. The key is not to set your heart on a particular club or activity and to cast the net wide

Best Answer! Maybe we have kids at the same ivy. OR maybe they are all similar in culture. It works out!

What school?

My son is at Penn, 2027

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Clubs that have zero applications at Harvard Business School: consulting, private equity, marketing, banking, real estate, family business…

Undergrads with zero work experience have no business filtering out who can be in these clubs. As someone in the industry I would scoff at a kid who tried or boasted about it.

Nothing in your comment makes much sense. I am sure if HBS has a private equity club, there are tons of students in it.

Not sure how work experience has anything to do with undergraduate clubs. BTW as “someone in the industry”…what industry?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC at Cornell just went through this. Essentially hazing with the business clubs that operate as frats and seek to embarrass applicants during the "interview" round by forcing them to tell jokes until they run out or making them solve impossible brain teasers. Most of these pre-professional clubs take 5-10 members out of 250 applicants.

Toxic, competitive and mean culture. Maybe that's why we end up with horrible Ivy people like Vance, Trump and DeSantis.

Ask around: work colleagues have current students at Michigan, Georgetown, UVA and Chicago have all complained about club application and audition culture and huge cuts from everything IB to A Capella to Journalism clubs. They also have many open clubs and the kids eventually figure it out and find something they like. This is not a problem exclusive to ivies, by any stretch. It is everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS is a highly recruited athlete freshman at an Ivy, and he got many invites to join exclusive clubs. One of his teammates' older brothers is the head of one of those clubs. DS was told that he could be a member of the club by: a) coming from a wealthy family or b) an athlete. He fit the latter.

I assume the level of recruitment was irrelevant, but rather there are clubs controlled by teams/frats/etc. For example, I bet the recruit who was offered the last spot on the team gets the same benefits.

I am the PP. My DS is the best athlete on the team so he was offered a spot in the exclusive club. He also receives extra benefits that the worst athlete doesn't get in that club, according to my DS.

It’s more the luck of the draw of the sport and club. None of what you say makes much sense…I mean are you referring to a Frat/eating club/final club? Maybe that’s the miscommunication, because we are talking about career clubs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is at an Ivy that has gotten some bad press for “exclusive club culture.” She applied/tried out for a ton of things freshman year and got plenty of rejections but some nice opportunities too. Here’s the thing - clubs are student run and have budgets. You can’t have 200 kids on thr debate team or any other group/club, it would be chaos. And these kinds of schools are filled with students who want to do ALL THE THINGS so if course there are going to be more interested students than spots. But these schools also have plenty of clubs that are open to anyone and casual, and ambitious students start new ones all the time. It works out. The key is not to set your heart on a particular club or activity and to cast the net wide

The bolded are inconsistent. You say some clubs are casual and open to anyone. The question is why are so many at score schools not?

PP here. Not inconsistent at all it just depends on what they do. Debate and model UN that travel and have to run practices etc have a finite number of spots. A Capella groups can only have so many singers for their arrangements. The outdoors and rock climbing clubs happily accept anybody who shows up. Volunteer/service opportunities abound and always need folks. Consulting clubs are smallish but many schools have a bunch. Certainly you can understand some activities have a “more than merrier“ quality while others have limited places. And not long ago at my DD’s school (Yale) after the debate/mock trial/MUN tryouts wrapped up some students who didn’t get in decided to start a Moot Court team and now - tah-dah, new club and opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS is a highly recruited athlete freshman at an Ivy, and he got many invites to join exclusive clubs. One of his teammates' older brothers is the head of one of those clubs. DS was told that he could be a member of the club by: a) coming from a wealthy family or b) an athlete. He fit the latter.

I assume the level of recruitment was irrelevant, but rather there are clubs controlled by teams/frats/etc. For example, I bet the recruit who was offered the last spot on the team gets the same benefits.

I am the PP. My DS is the best athlete on the team so he was offered a spot in the exclusive club. He also receives extra benefits that the worst athlete doesn't get in that club, according to my DS.

It’s more the luck of the draw of the sport and club. None of what you say makes much sense…I mean are you referring to a Frat/eating club/final club? Maybe that’s the miscommunication, because we are talking about career clubs.

I was referring to IB and finance clubs, where my DS was invited to join because he was an athlete recruited to play for an Ivy. On top of that, he is the best player on the team as a freshman. One of his teammates' older brothers is the head of the club, and DS was accepted into that exclusive club. There was neither application nor interview for DS. According to DS, about 70% of the members are students from very wealthy families, and about 30% are athletes. My DS falls into the athlete category. Regular and/or poor students do not need to apply, according to the head of the club. That's what he told my DS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS is a highly recruited athlete freshman at an Ivy, and he got many invites to join exclusive clubs. One of his teammates' older brothers is the head of one of those clubs. DS was told that he could be a member of the club by: a) coming from a wealthy family or b) an athlete. He fit the latter.

I assume the level of recruitment was irrelevant, but rather there are clubs controlled by teams/frats/etc. For example, I bet the recruit who was offered the last spot on the team gets the same benefits.

I am the PP. My DS is the best athlete on the team so he was offered a spot in the exclusive club. He also receives extra benefits that the worst athlete doesn't get in that club, according to my DS.

It’s more the luck of the draw of the sport and club. None of what you say makes much sense…I mean are you referring to a Frat/eating club/final club? Maybe that’s the miscommunication, because we are talking about career clubs.

I was referring to IB and finance clubs, where my DS was invited to join because he was an athlete recruited to play for an Ivy. On top of that, he is the best player on the team as a freshman. One of his teammates' older brothers is the head of the club, and DS was accepted into that exclusive club. There was neither application nor interview for DS. According to DS, about 70% of the members are students from very wealthy families, and about 30% are athletes. My DS falls into the athlete category. Regular and/or poor students do not need to apply, according to the head of the club. That's what he told my DS.

God - you are tiresome. How many posts do you need to write bragging that your son was the bestest of the best on the Ivy team. GMAFB

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS is a highly recruited athlete freshman at an Ivy, and he got many invites to join exclusive clubs. One of his teammates' older brothers is the head of one of those clubs. DS was told that he could be a member of the club by: a) coming from a wealthy family or b) an athlete. He fit the latter.

I assume the level of recruitment was irrelevant, but rather there are clubs controlled by teams/frats/etc. For example, I bet the recruit who was offered the last spot on the team gets the same benefits.

I am the PP. My DS is the best athlete on the team so he was offered a spot in the exclusive club. He also receives extra benefits that the worst athlete doesn't get in that club, according to my DS.

It’s more the luck of the draw of the sport and club. None of what you say makes much sense…I mean are you referring to a Frat/eating club/final club? Maybe that’s the miscommunication, because we are talking about career clubs.

I was referring to IB and finance clubs, where my DS was invited to join because he was an athlete recruited to play for an Ivy. On top of that, he is the best player on the team as a freshman. One of his teammates' older brothers is the head of the club, and DS was accepted into that exclusive club. There was neither application nor interview for DS. According to DS, about 70% of the members are students from very wealthy families, and about 30% are athletes. My DS falls into the athlete category. Regular and/or poor students do not need to apply, according to the head of the club. That's what he told my DS.

The athletes don’t waste their time joining the finance club. What’s the point? Also, the wealthy kids don’t care about the finance club either. Again, what’s the point?

Something is off either with the story or the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son at an Ivy hasn’t run into this.

He made the Club sport team and joined the club he wanted.

Same. My kid is unhooked. He has found lots of friends, joined club and a sports team and is having fun.

I guess it depends on the Ivy.

+1

Same. Club sports team he made is competitive though. Rolling cuts over 3 days of tryouts. 100 kids for 4 Freshman spots. He got one of them. But, club travels and plays other colleges- flys to championships, etc. This one plays nearly year round. Most colleges certain sports are very competitive to make the teams. Very large schools near impossible.

There are intramural teams for kids not on the Varsity or Club teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is at an Ivy that has gotten some bad press for “exclusive club culture.” She applied/tried out for a ton of things freshman year and got plenty of rejections but some nice opportunities too. Here’s the thing - clubs are student run and have budgets. You can’t have 200 kids on thr debate team or any other group/club, it would be chaos. And these kinds of schools are filled with students who want to do ALL THE THINGS so if course there are going to be more interested students than spots. But these schools also have plenty of clubs that are open to anyone and casual, and ambitious students start new ones all the time. It works out. The key is not to set your heart on a particular club or activity and to cast the net wide

The bolded are inconsistent. You say some clubs are casual and open to anyone. The question is why are so many at score schools not?

PP here. Not inconsistent at all it just depends on what they do. Debate and model UN that travel and have to run practices etc have a finite number of spots. A Capella groups can only have so many singers for their arrangements. The outdoors and rock climbing clubs happily accept anybody who shows up. Volunteer/service opportunities abound and always need folks. Consulting clubs are smallish but many schools have a bunch. Certainly you can understand some activities have a “more than merrier“ quality while others have limited places. And not long ago at my DD’s school (Yale) after the debate/mock trial/MUN tryouts wrapped up some students who didn’t get in decided to start a Moot Court team and now - tah-dah, new club and opportunities.

+++ this.
Calm down parents, some limits have to exist and students can join open clubs or start something new! These kids apparently were leaders and resourceful and go-getters and resilient and intellectually curious, to be able to get in in the first place. They can use that do find or make opportunities. And, furthermore, why exactly is it so horrible to face rejection? Many of them have never had so much rejection. That is ok! Rejection and disappointment is a part of life. They will face it looking for jobs or applying for med school, etc. They had better get used to it and learn how to cope. Dust off, cry for a bit, and get back up and try for something else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clubs that have zero applications at Harvard Business School: consulting, private equity, marketing, banking, real estate, family business…

Undergrads with zero work experience have no business filtering out who can be in these clubs. As someone in the industry I would scoff at a kid who tried or boasted about it.

Nothing in your comment makes much sense. I am sure if HBS has a private equity club, there are tons of students in it.

Not sure how work experience has anything to do with undergraduate clubs. BTW as “someone in the industry”…what industry?

These clubs at HBS all exist. They are all open to anyone who wants to join including non-student significant others. No one gets rejected. What a waste of time.

Multiple industries: consulting, banking, private equity. The industries are incestuous.