Clubs are not for everybody. Freshman students that can manage school work and participate in clubs should definitely join a club. These students will find it easier to evenly distribute their time between school and their involvement in a club. If a student is not good at multi-tasking, the student should consider only joining one club. A study done by the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen (NLSF), illustrated that Latino females G.P.A increased more than Latino males and Black females G.P.A increased more than Black males (Baker, p. 283). Black males were the only group of people in the study to decline in their G.P.A. This is due to black males spending an average of more hours participating in clubs (mainly athletic based clubs), so they were not able to spend as much time as the other groups had on their work. Students who are already struggling with their grades or get overwhelmed easily, should not join clubs in their freshmen year. These students should wait a semester, before joining a club, to see how well they perform in college without clubs being a distraction.
All in all, the advice to join a few clubs in freshman year can be beneficial and harmful to the student. If the student is able to multi-task and balance schoolwork with their participation clubs, they should join a few club. However, if the student cannot determine when they have overworked themselves, their grades will reflect this. Before making your final decision, think about your future and how it will be affected.