What is AIESEC?
AIESEC is an international organization
with over 80,000 members in 110 countries around the world. There's a
very large chance that your campus may have one as well. If you do, you
may have seen these enthusiastic people in their blue t-shirts all
around marketing various events and activities.
First Impressions
To the outsider,
it also seems like a selective club where membership is only limited to a
lucky few that manage to make it through all the hurdles. In fact, I
remember remarking to a friend that it seemed eerily like the
frat/sorority rush that was also happening on campus. During my
undergrad degree, I was interested, but it also seemed like way too much
of a time investment just for the privilege of having someone consider your application.
Mandatory
information sessions followed by a huge online application form,
leading to 2-3 days of a large group interview and then followed by
another group activity event...all for the privilege of joining the
bottom of the totem pole. It didn't seem worth it, so I didn't try. Of
course, I suspect that process may have helped in weeding out people
that thought like me.
Second Chances...
Fast forward a few years and I'm onto my
second degree at a new university. This campus also has an AIESEC
branch and as with before, I constantly saw them around campus. I found
myself wondering what I had missed by not joining and decided to go for
it. Luckily for me, this branch had a much more stream-lined
application process, which I liked. An online application followed by a
panel interview. A week later, I got my acceptance email and details
for the introduction meeting for new members.
...and Second Thoughts
I think my initial
ambivalence about joining never fully went away. Those feeling were
multiplied the more I learned about it. The main point of AIESEC is
facilitating exchanges. And don't forget all those conferences. And
meetings.
Now, I did a decent amount of extracurriculars in
undergrad and what I realized early on was that there are two things I
can't stand: 1) marketing and 2) unnecessary meetings. Unfortunately
for me, those are the two things that AIESEC demands the most of.
Marketing
is required because you got to get the word out about exchange. So
lecture-bashing. Handing out flyers. Postering. Seeing tons of people
avoid eye contact with you so you won't bug them. Great fun.
There
were also tons of unnecessary meetings. More than half the time was
wasted talking about irrelevant stuff and even when there wasn't that
much stuff to do, the weekly meeting was still mandatory. I never got
why people have meetings for the sake of having one.
The
conferences, surprise, surprise, were almost never in the same city.
Some were on a different continent! In many cases, they also happened
to be mandatory. Now for someone that is practically drowning in
student debt already, there was no way I was going.
Now before
anyone gets offended, I'm not saying that AIESEC is a bad thing. It's
not. It's provided tons of people I know with leadership opportunities, skills and contacts that will probably be a great asset to them in the future. I've seen how dedicated
their members are, especially those running of EB or LCP positions. You
would have to be just to make yourself fill out that 13-20 page monster
file that is your election platform document.
I probably would
have gotten more out of it as a first year on campus.
Parting Ways
Searching on the web, almost everyone only had positive things to say about their AIESEC experience. However, the other day, I'd run into a friend who I hadn't seen in a while. We'd met through AIESEC. She told me that she'd quit, saying that it wasn't what she had expected. I echoed those sentiments but it seemed as though we were a rarity. Maybe we are.
In hindsight, quitting AIESEC was probably the best decision for me. I actually felt as though a burden had been lifted off my shoulders the day I told my team leader.
I don't regret my time there though. If I hadn't, I would probably still be wondering what I'd missed out on during undergrad. Now I don't have to.
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