Most people come to college with the goal of securing a job that wouldn’t otherwise be attainable without a college degree. While academics are extremely important in this regard, I would argue that there is another aspect that is even more important: professional student organizations. Professional student organizations provide three main benefits: making friends, networking with alumni, and learning specifics about your career path. Before learning about these benefits, incoming freshman should browse a list of UW-Madison clubs, found here, and consider how these benefits would play into clubs that you’re interested in.
During my college career, I made a lot of my friends through the finance-related clubs that I was apart of. It helped me build a sense of community within the profession that I wanted to pursue and really kept me motivated. I was also able to network with a lot of alumni from the clubs that I was a part of, who were able to give me really good career insight that they wished they would’ve had. I was also able to learn a lot about my desired profession through the curriculum that was put together by the upperclassmen in the club.
All in all, these benefits made me reflect on my college career and realize that it was these student organizations that got me to where I am today, not so much the classes that I took during my time at UW-Madison. This is why I would urge all freshman to join at least one club during their first semester.
