Columbia Freshman Looking for Advice - Best Clubs?

Hi All,

I'm a Columbia freshman (CC, not SEAS) and I'm looking for some advice on which finance/econ related clubs are worthwhile to join. I know that usually there is a big club fair when school starts but unfortunately that isn't happening this year. It seems like a lot of the clubs' applications are due by late September so I want to make sure that I have a good grasp on the differences between them so that I can prioritize my applications.


So far I've heard of the following clubs:

  • CFIG - Columbia Financial Investment Group
  • Columbia Econ Society
  • Lionfund
  • 116th and Partners
  • Praetorian Capital Management
  • Columbia Undergraduate Consulting Club
  • CORE - Columbia Organization of Rising entrepreneurs
  • CIBD - Columbia Investment Banking Division
  • CUFE - Columbia University Financial Engineering
  • CFAC - Columbia Financial Analysts Club 

I'm primarily looking to join a club that offers the following:

  1. Good learning environment
  2. Strong Alumni Base
  3. History of sending people to good firms/upperclassmen who care enough to help with recruitment
  4. Fun Events/people (need to make friends somehow)

Would greatly appreciate it if someone could lay out the differences between these groups and highlight anything I've missed! Thanks!


 

Like this at UCLA/UCB/USC as well. Think it’s pretty universal

 

Disclaimer: I'm not involved in any finance clubs at Columbia. They're not necessary at all to be successful but I know some people enjoy them.

Best club is Lion Fund, people are smart and generally successful. I've spoken to some club alumni despite not being in the club and people are more than happy to help. After that 116th is the second best fund, also some really smart people but overall quality is lower. Heard decent things about CFIG? But it's basically just a giant mailing list anyone can subscribe to and you get all the benefits through that. Last relevant one is AKPsi, the biz frat on campus. Have heard really good and bad things about it, YMMV. Join any of those or join none, you just need a group to practice with and participate in OCR and you'll be fine.

 

Do lion fund. their students are top notch and recent alumni going to MFPE programs or HF

 

Oh boy Columbia is turning into Wharton as we speak.

On a more serious note, I want to echo what Intern in HF said - clubs aren't necessary to be successful at Columbia, so don't think that your finance aspirations are over if you don't get accepted to any of the "elite" ones. People on WSO tend to overstate the importance of rankings and understate the power of grit, determination and ambition. That being said, the combination of motivated peers + seniors willing to help can give you a significant leg up. There's a reason why Lionfund sent 2 kids to Blackstone PE last year. So here's the lay of the land as I see it:

CFIG

Very strong club, probably the oldest Columbia finance club (but wait for one of their members to confirm this.) Generally speaking, they (along with CU Econ Society) arrange all of the banking info sessions. Their leadership tends to go on to pretty strong firms - someone correct me if I'm wrong but I think they have good relations with MS. If you don't get one of the club executive positions, you can still sign up for their mailing list and attend their events. Historically has had a very good relationship with Lionfund and usually there are one or two kids a grade who are on both the CFIG and Lionfund eboard.

CU Econ 

Don't know too much about this group, but from my understanding they are pretty similar to CFIG in that they arrange a bunch of events/info sessions with banks. Usually their leadership goes on to strong places; I know that some people that were in both 116th and Partners and CU Econ. Definitely a good group to be a part of. Probably a little more bookish than the CFIG kids so if you are more introverted/academic this might be a better fit for you than CU Econ. I want to say that you can't be in both CU Econ and CFIG but you should check in to confirm that that is still the case. 

Lionfund

Probably the strongest finance related club at Columbia, but also one of the harder ones to get into. First rounds tend to focus on the difference between a good company and a good investment, and get a better understanding of how you think about companies. Questions don't really require any understanding of complex "technicals" - just be able to explain your thought process thoroughly. Final round (at least my year) was a case study where they gave us a company to look at and then pitch as a short or a long after a week's preparation. Alumni base is ridiculous. They've had a Schwarzman scholar, several Blackstone PE analysts, and then a bunch of kids who go on to top IBs like GS, MS, and Evercore

116th and Partners

Pretty strong investment club, a little bit newer than Lionfund. Really fun group of people and a decently close relationship with CU Econ if I remember. I think my year there was a GS ER and an Evercore. Club has had really strong returns lately. I'd also note that they don't really have a "generalist" program - instead after a while you specialize in one of their sector teams (TMT, RE, Healthcare, and C&R). Definitely a work hard, play hard vibe. 

I don't really know too much about the other clubs. CORE tends to focus more on people who want to be entrepreneurs, CIBD is ok. Praetorian is brand new so don't know anything about that group. In general, I'd probably advise you to check out each groups FB page and listen in on their info sessions to get an idea of what each is like. 

 

Depends on what you want to do.

Of the clubs you mentioned though, just want to point out that CFAC and CIBD are barely active. They are most likely resume padder clubs. Also, want to mention that Praetorian is a sham. It’s run by a rich Chinese international student who wanted to created a club for her resume and use Columbia students to manage her private weath lol. They flaunt the fact that they have “$1mm AUM”, but it’s pretty meaningless considering the fact that that $1mm came straight from the girl who started the club. Also, heard from a friend that they required members to put 10k in the fund when they joined?!?!?
 

In terms of the respected and well-recognized clubs:

  1. Good learning environment: Lion Fund. They have a semester long training program and give you access to some pretty cool seminars. They also invite alumni to teach key value investing concepts. 
  2. Strong Alumni Base: CFIG. It’s the largest finance club on campus. A lot of successful alums loved their experience in the club and genuinely enjoy helping out kids in the club. Lion Fund and CFIG have a large overlap in terms of alumni base.
  3. History of sending people to good firms/upperclassmen who care enough to help with recruitment: Lion Fund, again. Comments already said it. They send a lot of people to GS/MS/BX every year.
  4. Fun Events/people (need to make friends somehow): CORE. They had DJ Khaled at an event once lol.
 

Lionfund if you can get in (acceptance rate really low ~2%)
CFIG also great if you could get board position

 
Most Helpful

CIBD, CUFE, & CREG have recently merged under the Columbia Alpha Partners umbrella. We’re trying to offer a more structured approach to programming in diversified fields in finance across banking, markets, and real estate.

This goal is reflected in the output of our recent alumni and current members who have gone into a wide range of places including, but not limited to: Apollo, AQR, Ares, Barclays, BofA, BlackRock, Citi, CS, EVR, GS, GH, Jane St, JPM, MS, PJT, P72.

 

My only pre-professional club involvement at Columbia is with AKPsi but to me all of these clubs seem to put on very similar events with speakers and companies throughout the year which are open to everyone. Worth noting though that CFIG has built up a bit of a reputation of a snakey culture internally while the other groups seem a bit more friendly and inclusive.

 

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