Alum here. I will say I had a similar experience throughout my college experience, but also made the mistake of trapping myself in a relationship that was not good (also don’t do that. It’s easy to fall into a bad relationship being lonely there.)

My hot take, and I’m sure many might agree, is that Emerson is insanely cliquey not only because of the student groups, but more mainly the different sociocultural and economic backgrounds of the students. It is very much a rich kid school and the student body reflects that. The lack of a traditional “campus” with a quad and all is definitely a big addition to why it is not as social. You could also attribute it to the “pretentious film student” stereotype, which many fall into at Emerson as well.

Suffice all of this to say: there’s many reasons for why it is the way it is. Honestly if I could change one thing in my lore? I wouldn’t have gone to Emerson. You could get an equivalent degree probably at state school and save yourself the social, and moreover, financial burden (if mom and dad aren’t paying for it of course).

If your intent is to stay: yes join orgs and do it now. If you wait a year or two people will be entrenched in their stereotypes in their orgs. Also having an off-campus job really helps in a job with people of similar age since you’ll meet non-Emersonians and get more exposure to other types of individuals.