Should I accept the position of President of my college's investment club. Sounds like a huge timesink.

Just trying to hear from y'all on WallStreetOasis. Is this worth spending time on? Feels like I am walking into a bad deal because this entails a lot of responsibilities and time commitment. I should just focus on recruiting instead.

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If you are recruiting this year, don't. The title on your resume is not worth the extra headache that you'll have to deal with during recruitment season. This is coming someone who did that exact thing (was president of a club at the same time I recruited), and trust me it was not fun. See if you can take on a leadership role that takes up less time if possible if you want to stay involved. Also, Halo 5 Guardians is awesome, I played so much of that a few years ago.

 

 Appreciate your input. My most important question: Did it affect your GPA?

I will most likely give up and take the position as VP instead. Sounds like a headache and not much of a resume boost. Would like to hear more opinions

 

It didn't because I planned ahead and took all my hard classes as a freshmen so I actually only had 3 classes when I was recruiting lol. But even if it did, it wouldn't be a big deal because the GPA you earn while recruiting doesn't matter (since it's not what they see on the resume). But again, I promise you it is not worth it to be president if it will be a big time commitment, which it sounds like it will be. VP sounds like the perfect balance between getting to show a leadership position while keeping your sanity. And it's also not about the pure time commitment too, we only have so much mental energy, so trust me when you get home after sending out emails, doing networking calls, studying technicals, etc., you are not going to want to deal with whatever bullshit comes up with the club.

 

Don't do it. Focusing on "investing" was the biggest misdirection I ever went down, and it kept me away from M&A for 3-4 years, which I now lack. Joining my university's investment club in general was probably the worst idea I had during UG.

...and the Truth shall set you free
 

I might push back on the above, or bring a slightly different view--Leadership positions/ a history of leadership is quite important when applying to Business School, and the title matters more than the outcome so it may be worthwhile to go for it for the long term prospects. If it will materially impact your ability to recruit, don't do it, of course, but if you have the chance and it won't make a massive difference, then might as well.

Remember, always be kind-hearted.
 

I don’t see why you wouldn’t. Run the fund how you see fit. Organize speakers. Schedule tours of cool financial firms in town (pe, hf, ib). Brag to the sorority chicks that you’re the investment club president.

Owning this position like I outlined above will pay dividends down the road on your ability to plan, prepare, and execute.

I know I’d send you packing if I interviewed you and you said, “yea, I was offered investment club president role, but I turned it down to maintain my gpa…”

 

My current shop hardly accepts interviews from kids that are not involved with their school investment fund. This has been my personal experience and will probably not be standard across the industry. It would likely not be worth your time to join your investment fund if you are not passionate about investing. Anyways, involvement in school funds have apparently been one of the few constant indicators for a successful summer internship at my firm, although daddy owning a PE fund and doing transactional work with the other side of my company has proved to be a great way to get in, too. Take note that I work in equites and I won’t speak on the importance of school funds outside of my anecdotal experience. I.e. maybe it doesn’t matter for investment banking. Although in my profession, at least, you have to be passionate about investing to succeed, so involvement in a school fund is an easy way to filter students. I’ll add that it is very easy to see through the kids who do it solely to boost their resume by the time they are asked “do you have any investment ideas?” during an interview, but it is phenomenal way to get your foot in the door. I hold my investment club experience close as it very likely shaped my career trajectory, so there is a heavy bias here, but join your schools investment fund if you want to work in public equities and need a way to differentiate yourself.

 

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