For freshers new to Trinity societies, these student-led groups are the key to enjoying your journey at Trinity outside of academics.

You can meet people with similar interests, pick up forgotten hobbies or continue ones you thought impossible to maintain while in college. Trinity societies are set up to upgrade your Trinity experience without increasing your stress levels.

Interested? You should be!

How to pick a Trinity society

There are over 120 societies in Trinity you can find them at the Trinity Societies Hub. Here you can discover an up-to-date list of all of Trinity’s active societies, each one offering up an enticing description of their activities. Ask yourself which ones peak your interest and make a list of the ones that intrigue you.

Research!

To get a feel for the societies speak to those directly involved in running them. Make sure to attend Fresher’s Fair during Undergraduate Orientation Week at the start of the first semester.

If you are unable to attend these orientation days, all hope is not lost.

You can speak to your S2S mentor or your Global ambassador tour guide for their top picks or stalk each society’s Instagram page at your leisure to get a comprehensive look at what different societies get up to.

Pros and cons!

Evaluate the list with pros, cons or any other relevant factors such as location, time, effort, etc.

Now that you have a clearer image of what each society is like you can make an informed decision on which societies you will join and why.

College societies are a great low-risk way to dip your toe into a new hobby, build friendships, and even hone skills. Just make sure that each society on your list speaks to you personally.

How many is too many?

Now that I’ve got you hooked (and some of you have about 120 societies in your checkout basket), you have surely started to wonder how many societies you should join. The answer to this is extremely subjective. Put plainly you can join as many societies as you want.

Those with various interests and hobbies could be inspired to join a society for each one, be it two, five, or twelve (guilty, as charged), others prefer to choose one or two societies to dedicate their free time to.

Know your limits & energy levels

The important thing is to know your limits, time and energy-wise. There is no need to participate in all societies equally, you may go to the weekly casual meetups for one society, but take part in the big end of year event of another.

Personally, I joined around twelve societies in second and third year! Although this is on the extreme end, I don’t regret it one bit as I had a genuine interest in all the societies I joined.

This year I plan on joining fewer societies because I have less time to spare and through being a part of so many I have learned which ones I enjoy the most.

Finally, a pragmatic question must be addressed.

How to balance college work and Trinity societies?

I could rehash some spiel about time-management and prioritisation, all of which is perfectly valid. But I prefer to give you some pragmatic advice.

Each society sends its members a short weekly email which details the events and activities that will be held in the upcoming weeks. By scanning these emails you can decide in advance which events you will commit too and which ones you won’t attend.

Add these to your physical planner, your Google calendar or what have you for quick and easy referencing.

What else should I know about Trinity Societies?

Societies often collaborate with other societies to hold fusion events!

There is no pressure/requirement to attend a certain amount of society events a week/month/year.

If you are really passionate about a society you can run to be part of the committee at their AGM.

Some societies provide members with discounts for shops related to that specific society.