About NCA, ICA student membership

[sanchxuan]

A question, is it necessary to have NCA, ICA student membership for graduate students of comm? I am confused that if I have this membership can I include it in CV for professional affiliations? Even though I don't have conference participation experience of the organization?

[E-P]

Depends on where you're at.  I bought it when I started my PhD, but my program paid for it.  So I wouldn't get it unless you're:
1. Planning on going to a conference

AND 2. Getting your PhD.

 

If you are getting your PhD, I definitely would also go to one/both of them if your department has a travel budget for grad students.

 

That said, being on the mailing lists is free, and those are good. So sign up for the email lists.

 

[CommPhD20]

I would advise not paying for it until/unless you are going to their annual conferences. The conference registration discount for members is much larger than the membership fee, so joining basically lowers the cost of attendance at the conferences. There's not much benefit to continuing to give them your money in years that you aren't attending the conferences, though. If your department is paying for it, of course, then there's no harm in being a member and a few small benefits.

[SalishSea]

I would definitely *recommend* that you take out student membership whether or not your department pays for it. Why? Firstly, the fees are usually cheap relative to other members (so it's possibly to pay out of pocket). Secondly, beyond the conference, with ICA/NCA you are usually going to find out about other opportunities (workshops, regional conferences, publications, calls for papers) via conference divisions/interest groups. Finally, you can start to network with people outside of your PhD program and more specifically in your area of research. If you are at all interested in job and/or publication outcomes, graduate membership is very much worthwhile.