Best Finance Clubs at UC Berkeley for IB/PE?
I’m a freshman at UC Berkeley interested in recruiting for investment banking and potentially private equity, and I’m curious which finance/business clubs on campus have the strongest reputation and recruiting outcomes.
For anyone familiar with Berkeley, which clubs would you consider the best for IB/PE in terms of technical preparation, alumni network, mentorship, and placement? Would especially appreciate perspectives from Berkeley students/alumni or anyone who has recruited from Berkeley into IB/PE.
The best finance clubs are BIG, BFC, and UFA. They all have top placements every year and strong pipelines to BB/EB/MF. BIG is an investment fund and focuses on public equities, but they still place very well in IB. BFC is more of a standard finance club that is IB/PE-focused. UFA is a member club, so it is strong for the alumni network
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From what i've seen BFC, BIG and UFA seem to consistently have the best placements on campus specifically into IB/PE. BIG does good but their not as focused on IB/PE and their analyst process is significantly more time consuming. BFC is in my opinion the best bang for your buck, meaning top tier placements into BBs and EBs without all the fluff, which leads to a much more streamlined and efficient recruiting experience. UFA is a member club meaning there is no education involved and it's purely for networking, so definitely a very valuable resource for recruiting but you should join another club to get the education.
How I'd rank them in order.
Tier 1: BFC, BIG, UFA
Tier 2: CIB, BAP, CBA
Tier 3: Blackskies, UPEC, SOF, etc
Alum who was in 2 of the tier 1s years ago and now in NYC IB. See a lot of resumes from all over the berkeley business club spectrum so think it's less important being in a 'top' club than it was when I was at Cal. more important to join a club that you see a cultural fit since at a baseline you can recruit for any bank / PE etc. if you have a strong GPA + good technicals
To be honest, a lot of the "prestigious" clubs don't necessarily help you that much; it's all about the alumni, to be honest. BFC is really good if you want a social experience and gets the rap of being the "fratty" one of them all, and BIG is the opposite, being the most technically enabled club, with most kids not recruiting for banking or PE out of BIG. That said, UFA is probably the most cracked in terms of pure network out of the clubs, as it tends to be a circle jerk of kids in all of the top consulting and business clubs. With that said, though, the business frats tend to be the ones with the best pure IB/PE placements and dedication to helping each other prepare, etc. The only ones really worth rushing are DSP (UBG), CBA (now AKPsi), and BAP, although BAP has been on the come-down in recent years and is primarily Asian. In terms of hazing, they're all not great, but UBG is by far the worst and slightly unethical in some of the shit they do. Granted, they have a direct GS TMT pipeline and place the best EB/BB-wise on campus, with really dedicated alumni. CBA tends to be more academic hazing, and BAP the opposite, with primarily socially oriented hazing, but both have fairly dedicated alumni too and decent placements. Overall really just depends on what you want, and honestly, it all is fairly subjective, but my recommendation is just to meet everyone at tabling and coffee chat the ones you like.
UBG has the best placements for investment banking. Consistently sends at least a few people to Goldman healthcare or TMT every year.
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