Not in a Top Club or Frat at Berkeley — Big Deal?
I'm a rising sophomore with a strong GPA and solid experiences, but I'm not in a top business frat/club at Berkeley. Do any Cal students or anyone in general know if this is a major disadvantage? I'm starting to network and focus on technical prep.
Yes this is a major disadvantage. You should try to join CBA or BAP, but they almost never take sophomores, you should still try. Don’t join UBG/DSP they haze to unethical levels. Then also try your hand at BFC and UFA. Without one of these, expect to get almost no responses from Berkeley alum in your networking bc they are 99% loyalty tied to their frat and club and won’t respond to berkeley kids that aren’t affiliated with it. You can still do it but you will essentially have to network like a non target with a limited alum network to tap into
I really can't tell if this is a joke or serious.
OP, finance is a job like any other job. It's actually a pretty shit job. But for the money, you should really want to do something else. It'll be easier to get hired with this attitude rather than the weird, hyperfixated, borderline obsessive, personality a lot of kids seem to have. Chi va piano, va sano e lontano.
Cringe post
You'll be fine. Source: myself, a Cal alum who did not join any finance clubs or frats and ended up at a bulge bracket after graduation.
I agree with this - you don't need it. But it will require you to work 10x harder. One of my friends from UG (went to a private school in the northeast) was able to do this, but he was pushing himself every day of the week and in his free time. I think its doable, but with all of the other things/opportunities in college, having a support network can be very helpful.
On another note - about your school specifically, I interviewed a couple of interns to my office in ny and my team was impressed by a group of students from berkeley that happened to be in the same club (learned while they were interning). I know club politics sometimes happen at large state schools (I know IU's culture is terrible and based on another opinions, its likely the same at Berkeley). So happy to share what i've learned hiring from berkeley specifically privately. (my office rarely hires from usc/stanford/cal for context)
I went to UCLA and was not in any finance clubs or a frat and had an offer for IB. It is always possible, but harder. Get to work on prepping for interviews and make sure you can outshine those other kids. Also, there are frequent finance events in the Bay for working professionals, find out about them and go.
From what I've heard, don't join a consulting club - they will probably be a waste of your time. I know there is one business frat that actually prioritizes sophomores in the fall, at least according to my friend who wants to do finance. I also would take what all the clubs say about hazing with a grain of salt. I'm not even at Berkeley yet and have already seen how some of these students care way too much about other clubs rather than their own. Its kind of crazy, but I would just shop around. You have an advantage being a sophomore that you are older than most of the freshman next semester. (You also don't need a club, but an older sibling of mine told me it helps tremendously to have a group of people watch your back throughout recruiting and during college)
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