... But do you decide your degree and future career not based on what course is on offer but if there is an O club?
... Yes, absolutely you do if you're in the Junior squad clique. Which just makes it more of a clique. ShUOC and EUOC are wonderful for their members, but for other universities they're just a pair of giant vampire squid sucking up all the talent.
Agree, and not sure this is healthy for the future of the sport.
In the past people chose university based on course - and if there wasn't an orienteering club when they got there they started one. As a result there were probably 20-30 active university clubs, and that at a time when there were perhaps only 50 universities. And with only one or two established orienteers in a club, all newcomers had a chance of making the team for BUOC, BOC, JK etc. With a few exceptions (e.g. gg restarting Warwick a few years ago) this doesn't seem to happen much any more.
I wonder if EUOC and ShUOC bring as many newcomers into the sport as they would do if they didn't attract an instant "first team" each year?
I think this is a significant factor in the current shortage of 21s in the sport.