I can speak as someone who went down this path and is now an organizer with the PSL. The process of joining a serious socialist org is definitely different from the DSA's big tent approach. They're making sure you're a good fit for each other and there's no red flags because you'll be a representative of the party.

We send our applicants the party program and a few articles that we then discuss. Education is important so we strike a balance between theory and action. So when you join there may be something like classes but at least in my org most of the time is spent doing work on the ground.

It sounds like you want to avoid joining a reading group. How did you decide on which orgs to apply to? Do they have a social media presence where you could see the organizing work that they're doing? You should think of this as a two-way street rather than a job interview. They should be happy to talk with you about the work that they're doing and I'm sure would like to hear what you're interested in getting involved with. There's definitely organizing work you can do as an applicant. One thing our branch does is to get applicants to attend outreach with party members. And if the org doesn't do outreach, that's not a good sign in my opinion.

I'm glad that you're wanting to get more involved and take action. We need all the people like that we can get!

For me, I started a local group whose focus was community building through direct action. It started with a IRL meeting of like 5 people and has been expanding outwards. We are working on ICE/Cop watch. Community meals. Helping the local housing first project in town. And a section that focuses on the local city council.

We have a lot of things we want to do but we are mostly focusing on building connections and trust in the community. Given we are only a year old, I think we are doing a good job.

All of this to say, reach out to local people and figure out what is the most pressing issues of your community and work on that. Strengthening connections as the empire falls is very important.

Imo the best thing you could try to do is organize a union or something along those lines. Maybe your local orgs know a place that needs a salt. Most of the political parties in this country don't have any idea what they're doing because they aren't actually rooted in the working class. They have no organized base of workers to lead in struggle against the system which means the parties don't actually learn anything. This leads to meaningless debates and continually rereading and misinterpreting theory.

Also forget everything you know about unions and read about "direct join unions" or "solidarity unions" because that's the only way you'll ever organize a union that will further the cause of socialism and it might be the only type of union there is in the coming years.