Sami Diedrich poses for a photo at the Mifflin St. block party. Jake Piper/The Daily Cardinal
Jake Piper
When freshman Sami Diedrich first came to campus, she knew she wanted to join a club. When the university’s organization fair started, she was one of the first people in line outside the Kohls center, eagerly chatting with her friends while waiting to step inside.
By the end of the fair, Sami had signed up for more than 20 different clubs. Over the next two weeks, she attended meetings for nine of them. Today, however, she remains active in just three. The promise of connection gradually faded, worn down by differing ideals and mounting scheduling conflicts.
Sami’s experience is far from unique. Each year, hundreds of college students enthusiastically sign up for clubs, only to quietly disengage weeks later. Whether due to overwhelming schedules, unwelcoming atmospheres, or simply shifting priorities, many students find it difficult to sustain the initial excitement they felt at the start of the semester. As campus organizations struggle to retain members, the trend raises questions about how clubs can better meet students’ evolving needs — and how a student-run company can help change the status-quo.
According to a study published in Behavioral Sciences, students and their clubs can only obtain a truly sustainable relationship when both are active, mutually invested participants. Something that Sami thinks isn’t always happening at clubs at UW-Madison.
“One of the clubs I checked out — the reason I didn’t join was because I went with a friend, and no one said a word to us on day one,” Sami said. “It felt cold. I like when people are warm, welcoming and casual with time commitment. Especially because classes can be a lot and you don’t want to be stressed about something else.”
She noted that an unwelcoming environment, combined with heavy academic pressure, often pushes students away before they have a chance to form meaningful connections. One of the reasons Sami — and many other students — have increasingly ghosted clubs.
The other major factor, Sami said, was confusion about the expectations, time commitment and seriousness of clubs when applying. She, like many other college students, cited this as the largest reason to leave a college club. The unclear expectations clashed with her busy life as a college student.
A new student-run app hopes to address these exact challenges. ClubCrush, a Tinder-like platform launched by UW-Madison students, matches users with campus organizations based on interests, schedule preferences and commitment levels. Instead of trial and error, students can “swipe” through clubs and find better fits upfront.
“This would have saved me so much time,” Sami said upon hearing about ClubCrush. “I wouldn’t have investigated so many clubs that didn’t work for me.”
Yet on the other side of the coin, some clubs are also becoming more exclusive to join. This has created an inverse dynamic, where demand to join far exceeds the number of available spots in some clubs. It’s something Sami herself said she’s experienced on campus.
“I don’t want to say the club’s name, but there was one I got in to, but then they basically bullied me out,” Sami said. “I don’t quite know what their deal was, but I could tell even though I had joined, they didn’t want me there at all.”
She hopes that with apps like ClubCrush, this problem can be alleviated. Instead of the traditional means of joining, where potentially hundreds of applicants can be screened at any one time, ClubCrush would allow organization leaders to directly vet their applicants, and match with their most desirable candidates.
“If something like ClubCrush had existed, I know I would’ve been able to find my dream organization here on campus without the months of trial and error,” Sami said.