YuLin Zhen, Photography Editor

On the first day of September, hundreds of Yalies made their way to Beinecke Plaza for the much-awaited extracurricular bazaar, many frantically filling out interest forms for every club they walked past. 

Then, they were hit with intense competition and stressful, long application processes. Students the News talked to expressed frustration with the competitiveness and intensity of applications themselves, describing the process as overwhelming and discouraging.

“I knew coming to Yale would mean that clubs would be competitive, but I didn’t expect the applications to be this tedious and intense,” Hrishita Shah ’28 said.

Shah’s first few weeks at Yale have been consumed by the “grueling” application processes of finance clubs like Yale Student Investment Group, Yale Undergraduate Diversified Investments and Yale Alternative Investments.

Although interested in the Yale Undergraduate Consulting Group, Shah did not apply given the extensiveness of the applications of the other clubs she was interested in. 

Mansi Anil Kumar ’27 told the News that while potentially disheartening, these recruitment processes do prepare students to best interact with employers in the not-so-distant future.

“Pretty much everyone here was at the top of their high schools, so it’s difficult to be in a competitive environment where you’re not the best anymore making the impostor syndrome epidemic inevitable to the initial weeks of first year as club decisions roll out,” said Anil Kumar. 

She added that, with time, these rejections help students grow thicker skin that will serve them well during the job search process.

Like Anil Kumar, several sophomores now acquainted with club culture at Yale found themselves growing out of their tendency to self-deprecate in the event of a club rejection and instead focus on the merits the system has to offer. 

“The club application process reflects the somewhat broken system in the real world — it is like a nice little taste of what life is like when you are looking for a job,” said Sasha Tarassenko ’27, a member of Yale Symphony Orchestra — one of the most competitive student groups.

Tarassenko treats these club recruitment cycles as a way of doing an anxiety-inducing task at far lower stakes than in a professional setting.

Still, many students argue that the extreme selectivity of certain clubs creates unnecessary stress and fosters a cutthroat culture that contradicts the spirit of community many clubs aim to promote.

Pol Berger Romeu ’26, president of the Yale Undergraduate Consulting Group, acknowledged the competitive nature of the recruitment process of YUCG, attributing it to high demand, several returning members and a limited number of spots on projects each semester. 

“Back when I applied to YUCG, I was a biology major with zero consulting or business experience, so you can imagine that I was quite stressed about the entire process,” said Romeu.

To reduce the stress of applying, Romeu said YUCG has attempted to make the application process less intense through coffee chats, information sessions, office hours with YUCG members and multiple workshops.

However, Romeu noted that because of how talented and driven the Yale student body is, he is not surprised by how daunting the application process is.

“When you put several competitive people who define themselves by their titles in one place, what do you think will happen?” Rohil Mohan ’28 said.

The Yale Student Investment Group, a finance club, advertises that its acceptance rate last year was less than 6 percent.