Joining a Business Fraternity at UC Berkeley?
I am a freshman looking to join a business fraternity next semester, and wanted to see people's thoughts. I am extremely interested in investment banking, and I was particularly interested in joining one. I heard from one of my friends that DSP sends a lot of people to Top Tier Investment Banks, and their website careers page seems to support that (12 people going to Goldman, is this real??). Any thoughts / tips on how I can prepare for next semester?
It depends on which business clubs are the best one at your school. At my school, AKPsi was leaps and bounds better than DSP.
It really depends on your class too, when I joined my chapter was just getting back into the faculty's good graces, and by the time I left our dean of business was attending some meetings to see what we were up to and to ask for help on some initiatives.
It's all about the people- make sure you get your college's best and brightest to join and you'll all have a much greater time.
DSP is the secret pathway to GS. Shhhh don't tell anyone...
Do you mind providing more insight? Just curious on what you mean!
he's joking mate
Big brain hours
Rush a regular fraternity while you're at it, although the Berkeley scene probably isn't all that great tbh
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even the geeds know what this is. You still in high school?
PM me, happy to answer any questions you have
Join a real fraternity. You'll get social skills, leadership positions, real connections, and drunk and laid a lot. In a business fraternity, you'll get a guest speaker once a semester and jerk each other off about what and one month LIBOR was yesterday while wearing suits to feel important.
Having worked this summer at one of the BBs in SF (won’t specify for privacy) I do know a few of them and can attest to the frat’s rep- they’re known for recruiting insanely well & this year is no exception; they signed someone for Qatalyst FT on top of the Goldmans. Definitely chill people too. I’d check them out if you’re serious about IB
Chill and Berkeley does not belong in the same sentence.
I'm currently a junior UC Berkeley and although I'm not in a business fraternity, these are some of the trends I've seen in my 3 years at Cal:
DSP was the most prestigious business fraternity on campus in my freshman year; however, this has changed. AKPsi now has the better reputation due to their track record of sending people to private equity and top investment banking groups in New York (looking at the career page).
AKPsi seems to have a stronger/friendly culture? I have friends in both organizations and AKPsi is tighter and less competitive. DSP is a little more cocky/arrogant (their rush video had a maserati in it??)
At the end of the day, I would choose an org based on the people. Personally, I've had better experiences working with AKPsi people, but that's just my 2 cents. PM me if you have any more questions!
The DSP alumni network is pretty solid, the fb pages are full of people looking for and looking to fill some nice jobs. All brothers that go to a few LEADs really get in the spirit, and will definitely help out a brother when they can. It's not automatic trust knowing someone is a brother, but if they seem like a normal person and are a brother they definitely get a boost in your mind, because you know a little of what they've been through.
I would highly recommend a professional fraternity. They take the best of a social frat, add in professionalism, career-oriented goals, and you can get drunk with them in a restaurant without fear of getting kicked out. DSP is one of the best for the network, they're just plain bigger than any other.
what is this supposed to mean?
Obv my own experience, but my social frat got banned from a few restaurants in town and I started avoiding going out with them because they made me cringe so hard. Tipping low, loud, rowdy, messy, and overall didn't give much fucks because they either had no plans for future or their future was already set.
Business frat manages to get all the west coast chapters together in a hotel, tons of drinking, and I didn't feel the need to babysit anyone.
In one you manage to be successful despite of it, the other enables you and boosts your success. Easy choice if you have to choose one.
are business fraternities not useful? (UCBerkeley) (Originally Posted: 09/05/2014)
Hi,
I've looked through some discussion threads about biz frats and it seems like many people label them as useless or say they have a negative impact on your resume. I'm wondering if that's actually the case as they pride themselves so much on "networking opportunities".
To give you some context, I'm talking about Berkeley and the west coast offices. Delta Sigma Pi and Alpha Kappa Psi are the two major biz frats on campus. for I-banking, DSP has an impressive list of full-time offers and internships, not so much for AKPsi though. But AKPsi does look like it has pretty good placement in other fields (consulting, tech, etc) in general. I'd like to ask 1) From a professional point of view (coz I don't depend on a frat for social life), FOR BANKING, is AKPsi worth joining? Are there lots of opportunities? 2) how about for consulting?
Thanks in advance for any advice!
For context, AKPsi on the East Coast has been useful for networking and helping score interviews for consulting. Not sure if the network is as strong for banking/West Coast.
AKPsi for me seemed like a very diverse group of people with representation in both consulting and banking. With that being said, I think when joining a business fraternity you should pay more attention to whether or not you fit in with the group rather than for solely professional reasons. You can get into IB at a BB without being in a business fraternity or Haas, it's just a matter of how much you want it and are willing to work for it.
just rush a normal fraternity and get in Haas
AKPsi at Berkeley places better for investment banking positions on the east coast. 3 going to JPM NY this summer, 2 CS, etc..
I'd say GPA + Rigor of Coursework + Finance Experience will weigh a lot more so than having DSP or AKPsi on your resume... At my school at least, DSP is a huge time commitment, and the outcomes are not that impressive. This probably varies school to school, for what it's worth I'm at a regional semi-target in the Northeast.
Current Haas senior at Berkeley here going into IB. I would have to agree with other comments that it is definitely possible to break into Haas/Top Tier Investment Banks without getting into a business fraternity. With that being said, I have some friends in the top three business frats (AKPsi, DSP, BAP) and can verify that being in an environment like that has helped them all tremendously in recruiting. The alumni network in AKPsi seems to be the strongest overall with people working in all the top banks (BBs and EBs) on the west and east coast. DSP (now known as Rho I think) and BAP are also quite strong but seem to only have a west coast presence. AKPsi also seems to recruit extremely well for consulting and tech with many people going to MBB/FAANG roles. Socially speaking, BAP and AKPsi also seem to have a stronger culture if that's something you're thinking about too. I would check out the career pages of each of the frats and get to know the people to find which one you'd like. Don't think you could go wrong with choosing any of them.
If you're looking at it in terms of sheer numbers and placement for IB, the career pages of the orgs give you a good indication of how they're doing (also compare this with the # of people they take). Here's a breakdown for 2021 FT:
DSP: 3 GS, 2 MS, 1 CS, 1 UBS, 1 Qatalyst, 1 Evercore, 1 Lazard, 1 Moelis
AKPsi: 1 MS, 1 CS, 1 BoA
BAP: 1 JPM, 1 Citi, 1 HL, 1 Raine
Couldn't be more wrong and obvious that you're in DSP
As someone currently in a biz frat, don't join one it's a scam.
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