Fancy a subsidised holiday, a free booze up, or just a bit of stimulating company on lonely winter evenings? Well, for the price of a pint it could all be yours.

Sometime during the first few weeks of term, you will be assailed by all sorts of offers from college societies and sports clubs desperately keen to make you a member. For them, every subscription counts when it comes to college grants and prestige. Once they've got your membership fee, and have given you your free gifts, such as they are, it's up to you to make the most out of your membership.

Even for the most outgoing of people, college can be a difficult place to feel at home. Getting involved in a club or society is one the best ways to get over the feeling of rootlessness that afflicts many freshers in their first few months in the big smoke.

It's unlikely that there'll be nothing of interest to you as the range of societies, especially in the larger universities, is quite mind-boggling. If the traditional debating and faculty-based societies don't hold any attraction, you can affiliate yourself with anything from the Turf Appreciation Society (which will bring you to race meetings) to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Society (where you can catch up on those episodes of Deep Space Nine that you missed).

Bizarre societies to emerge in the past few years - and sometimes disappear just as quickly - include the Sixties Appreciation Society, the Strange Things Society and the Naked Society, a confederation of UCD streakers never officially recognised by the college.

The society scene has been the start of many political careers. Most colleges have local branches of political parties, even if their funding can sometimes be a matter of controversy. If there isn't a branch of your preferred party in college, local activists are likely to bend over backwards to help you set up one. Don't expect a rush to join your Trotsky Appreciation Society, though - Fianna Fail is still dominant on most campuses.

Student radicalism isn't completely dead, however, even if it is far quieter and less ideological. The Socialist Workers have a small but vocal presence in several colleges, and do surprisingly well at the ballot box now and again.

Branches of St Vincent de Paul, Greenpeace and Amnesty allow students to get involved without as many of the political trappings. There are also student societies not affiliated to any wider organisation which organise grinds for students living in disadvantaged areas close to college.

If you're a true child of the Eighties and believe there's no such thing as society, then there are still plenty of reasons to join the college version. The larger faculty-based societies organise balls and discos, while the smaller ones can be a good way of getting to know your classmates.

There are also a number of outlets for the aspiring media star. Many colleges now have film societies. Some are exclusively devoted to "film appreciation" (communal video watching), but others make films of their own and offer an invaluable opportunity to gain experience in film production.

College newspapers and magazines have been the springboard for many a journalist, allowing them to make mistakes and lapses of taste for which they would be sacked on the spot in the real world.

As regards drama, it's only a few years ago since Conor McPherson was a campus playwright. Now he's been touted in the British media as the new Chekov. Every year, colleges from around the country compete in the Irish Student Drama Festival, which gives the best of campus drama the chance to prove its worth on a national stage.

While college newspapers don't charge anything to get involved, other media societies can have higher-than-average membership fees. However, film and theatre society membership frequently includes free access to screenings and performances during the year.

Sports clubs provide a good opportunity to try out sports that you wouldn't otherwise have taken the trouble to get involved in. Most colleges have subsidised sports centres where students can keep in trim for a fraction of the membership fee they'll pay to commercial gyms when they graduate.

If you've always wanted to fence, or square up to someone for a bit of Tae Kwan Do, Freshers' Week is the time to speak or forever hold your silence. Nor is there any need to feel intimidated by the super-fit jocks sitting at the membership stands of more conventional sports.

Soccer, Gaelic football and hurling are played at fresher, intermediate and senior levels in most colleges, and soccer fans can play at every level from "super league" kickabout to League of Ireland dogfight. Student life, frequently fuelled on alcohol and frozen pizza, can be hopelessly unhealthy if you don't keep in shape, so make the most of the facilities while you can.

Sports clubs and societies can be good ways of seeing the country on the cheap. Intervarsity competitions are frequently held over weekends in various parts of Ireland. If you're any good at your sport, there may even be a free trip abroad out of it. Some nonsporting societies also organise subsidised weekends away.

If you have any aptitude for public speaking or stand-up comedy debating societies can be particularly rewarding when it comes to travel: this year's World Championships are being held in the Philippines. Previous hosts were Sydney, Athens and, well, Cork. The Irish Times sponsors two student intervarsity competitions: a debating competition and the Challenging Times quiz.

The first round of the Irish Times Debating Competition takes place in colleges around the country, with team and individual winners of the heats going straight through to the semi-finals. Outright winners go on an all-expenses-paid trip to the United States where they are invited as guest speakers to a number of US debating clubs.

Challenging Times involves even more colleges, with the later rounds being televised. Selection heats are held in colleges around the country early in the academic year.

Students who forsake society activities in pursuit of academic glory may live to regret it. In the real world, a first class honour is far less useful than a good second and some extracurricular activities to fill in the gaps on your CV where your hobbies should have been.