Pre-Professional Clubs Are a Joke
Pre-professional club culture is exhausting. At my HYPW school it is especially bad. Hundreds of people apply to consulting and finance clubs like wtf. It is mostly bots and social climbers kissing ass for resume lines. Same rich, well connected kids recycling themselves and their prep school friends into leadership roles and acting like it is merit based. Everyone in these clubs is hot which somehow makes it even more ridiculous. It feels less like learning anything useful and more like a popularity contest with case interviews.
I have buddies at another HYPW and they say it is the same at their school too. Consulting clubs, finance orgs, even the college newspaper’s business board. Same dynamic everywhere.
"even the college newspaper's business board"
lol this is definitely referring to CrimBiz at Harvard which I was a member of during my undergraduate years
Personally didn’t comp CrimBiz but have a few friends that did. What was it like for you and are you aware of how much it has changed since?
I joined CrimBiz nearly a decade ago. It is significantly more competitive now with how much more pre-professional Harvard College has gotten since the pandemic (CrimBiz, HCCG, and similar clubs had acceptances rates closer to 20-30% when I attended Harvard and now it’s less than 5% according to my cousin who is a current junior there). The process was also very different when I applied. Just speak to current upperclassmen and members within the club.
What club you’re in may benefit you, but it doesn’t decide your fate. If you didn’t get into a club, don’t use that as a scapegoat for your own failures in recruiting.
Maybe for IB but what about for consulting?
congrats on wharton
Wharton is on the same level as HYP among the Ivy League schools which is why I added it to the acronym. Doesn’t necessarily indicate that I go there.
“It feels less like learning anything useful and more like a popularity contest with case interviews”
Unfortunately, this is how real life is too
Also at HYPW and from the prep school comment sounds like you might be P from what I hear from friends there. From everyone I know the clubs don't matter much (except like EVR RX and CAP) and its just a way for competetive people to continue being competetive
Same culture at my school although it’s not one you mentioned. I agree with what you’re saying, the concept is stupid and a 1st/2nd year undergrad is worse off developing habits, learning from other students with only 4 months of work experience. But for some reason these kids do meaningfully better in recruiting, and land top buyside roles after their analyst program. I think it’s mostly self-selection but it’s still unfair to call these clubs useless.
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