Club Sport in College Worth It?

I'm a freshman at college and I've recently joined a club sport for the hell of it. It's a sport that I've always found pretty cool but have never played. The time commitment is a lot more than I'd expected and it often requires giving up my whole saturday and hours of my evening almost every weekday as well. I've heard that varsity sports can help a lot with recruiting but do club sports have the same merit? My particular school's club team for this sport is also pretty good amongst all the others. The problem is I've already found it taking away from studying and social time early on so I don't know if it fits my lifestyle, especially with finance clubs starting up soon. Any advice?

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Note: I will give you a biased answer (see my username).

I played in college (and after college when work allowed) and would recommend it but caution that you will have to be extra disciplined to stay on top of grades/recruiting while playing. I actually found it easier to be disciplined with my schoolwork when rugby was going on (as I knew that I *had* to study all day on Sundays and non-practice nights after giving Saturday and 2-3 weeknights/week up to rugby) but it really does take up a lot of time/energy so consider how much capacity you will have for school. It is a great sport, and if you enjoy it and stick with it, then you will make life-long friends and have a ton of fun doing it in college (including what is generally a fun social side across most schools) and potentially after.

Impact on recruiting (IMO): Most varsity sports > rugby > most club sports. You are more likely to bond with an interviewer over rugby than club soccer/lacrosse but it does not garner the same respect with most people that most varsity sports will. FWIW, my first boss played rugby in college and we talked about it for most of our first interview but that is obviously a lucky case.

 

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