Campus Groups and Clubs

There are dozens of clubs at Carleton (most of them active), from the Druids to CarleTwin to Mock Trial to Swing Dance. Many students are members of multiple clubs, and this can get difficult to manage! This blog post will be a rundown of my experience in the clubs I’m active in, and my recommendations for prospective students.

The Club Fair

During one of the first weeks of Fall Term, there will be a Club Fair on the Bald Spot (the field at the center of campus) organized by the Student Activities Office — this is a great opportunity to walk around with friends, meet new people, and most of all, check out all of the clubs!

Each club will have a table manned by multiple members, all eager to answer questions (and get you to join their email list). A lot of them also have club swag — the tables for publications, like the Carletonian, No Fidelity (a music journal), Babyteeth (collaborative art journal) the Cow Print (a satire journal), and more will often hand out copies of their issues, and some clubs (like CANOE) even hand out stickers to prospective members!

While it may be tempting to sign up for every club, I would recommend committing to a maximum of 5, and maybe even fewer. Most of the clubs at Carleton are pretty active, and you don’t want to fill up your schedule too much (especially in your first term). It’s definitely okay to sign up for lots of clubs so you’re on the email list, but make sure you’re not overbooking your time with meetings to go to!

Clubs I’m in This Year!

During the Club Fair, I signed up for a good amount of clubs: CANOE (Carleton Association of Nature and Outdoors Enthusiasts), CAT (Carls with Artistic Taste), ANDS (Association of Neurodivergent Students), the GSC (Gender and Sexuality Center), Babyteeth, the Carletonian, Nordic Skiing, Carleton Druids, Carleton Birders, ECO (Environmental Carls Organized), the Equestrian Club, MHAC (Mental Health Awareness Collective), and Cow Print. At least, those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head.

Anyway, some of these groups meet weekly, some meet once or twice each term, and some have different schedules completely! You also don’t have to attend every meeting of every club; for example, I only go to some of the ANDS meetings since sometimes I’m busy with work, and I stop by the GSC once or twice a term if they’re hosting an event that I find interesting. However, I do go to a horseback riding lesson with the Equestrian Club every week, and as a board member of Carleton Birders, I attend a lot of those meetings.

Looking to the Future

At next year’s Club Fair, there’s definitely a few more groups I want to sign up for — not to say you can’t join a club partway through the year, but it’s easier to get on all the email lists at once. A lot of my friends are in dance groups like Ballroom Dance and Social Dance, so I think I want to give those a try, and I’m also interested in the email lists for some of the interest houses.

Whatever kind of club you’re looking to join, Carleton probably has it! (And if they don’t, anyone can start a club, so absolutely go for it and you’ll find people who are just as excited as you)

Felix (he/him) from Washington, DC is a freshman at Carleton this year interested in geology, environmental studies, and art history, and is excited to explore campus and all it has to offer throughout his first year. Felix is an officer of Carleton Birders as well as an editor with the blog this year, and participates in the Carleton Association of Nature and Outdoor Enthusiasts (CANOE), the Carleton Disability Alliance (CDA), Carls with Artistic Taste (CAT), the Equestrian Club, and the Gender & Sexuality Center (GSC). In his free time, Felix enjoys exploring the outdoors, drawing and painting, and listening to music (currently enjoying Hozier, Car Seat Headrest, The Velvet Underground, TV Girl, and Elliot Smith).