If you were involved with a marching band during your grade school years, then you probably want to continue the experience up through your college years. Being involved with a marching band is a very memorable experience, and creates a sense of teamwork and camaraderie with your fellow band members. If you were a successful member of the marching bands in years of the past, you should have no problem getting involved with a college marching band. They are more rigorous and definitely have a higher threshold of quality required to be a part of the band.
Like any school activity or sport, a college marching band is as much a fun social experience as it is the production of professional sounding music. Band members will often go out for a night on the town after practice, having a good time. Going through college without any extra activities is a very boring experience, and it may be harder to meet friends when your only venue is class. Therefore, if you have been having any doubts about marching band, you should know that the social aspect is a good reason alone.
If you really want to master an instrument, college marching band is a good way to do it. The performance quality relies on every single performer being of a high quality, so if you are not up to standards then you will most likely be dismissed from the band. This provides motivation for hours and hours of practice, and enough work to completely master the instrument. Even if you were top in the class during your previous marching band experiences, you will find that the competition is much tougher this time around.
If you are interested in joining a college marching band but haven’t had any previous experience with an instrument, you are probably out of luck. It is possible to pick up an instrument and become fairly proficient with it over a short period of time, but unless you have a predisposed talent you will probably not reach the level required. However, if you are able to take an entire summer and practice for 8 hours a day every day, you may be able to master an instrument. It is possible, but like anything amazing it requires lots of commitment.