Rejected from Clubs, Grim Grades- Feeling Discouraged
It's my freshman year, and I came into college with a game plan and everything. I was gonna get good grades, join the competitive clubs at my school, network my butt off. But it seems like that whole plan is falling apart. My grades are averaging a B-, despite me feeling like I know the material well. I don't think I'm dumb, but looking at the results, it's convincing me otherwise.
I spent the last couple of weeks at my semi-target applying for competitive clubs and business-related organizations. I got rejected from every single one, from the consulting clubs, investment clubs, and also the business frat. I didn't even get into closed rush. I spent a couple of dozen hours working on everything. And I feel it was all for nothing.
Plainly, I feel like I spent all my motivation. I'm not gonna make it to the job I want, and I just know the me of a year ago or even a couple of months ago would be super disappointed. I now have trouble looking in the mirror.
I guess I should look mostly at next semester and the summer at this point. Then again, I don't have the support network behind me that I really wish I had because of my failure at joining clubs.
Sorry for the rant. I really wanted to get this off my chest. Any advice would be really helpful as well.
Topics like these almost make me glad I didn’t go to some nerdy ass school where people worry about this shit their freshman year
enjoy college first and foremost, while maintaining that 3.5+. The rest of the BS and drama will work itself out
How are you sure you're gonna get B minuses if it's only September? Either way, with all the time consuming club nonsense out of the way you're gonna get better grades and you have a lot of time to get your studying down. I'm a CS guy not a finance guy but I doubt you need to be in some stupid clique to get a job
“Stupid clique” a professional, career-oriented club is not stupid and helps a lot with recruiting. You wouldn’t know because you’re a CS guy… which brings another point: you’re not in finance and you have nothing but bad takes. You provide nothing of value and everything trash to this site.
Leave.
You aren't in the finance industry either, you're a freshman in a day trading club. And since I've interviewed with quant firms that makes me a "prospect" like you
Bro chill. My gpa was like a fucking 2.66 and then I went beast mode in junior year and got a 3.6. It’s never too late and bruh it’s just a few clubs lmao. I don’t think anyone their will have anything to share/the club will be run for long since people flake away after a while and the clubs dies hahahah. Better to just browse on WSO and take notes from the forums (I was constantly learning from WSO Trading and Hedge Fund forums which I know which boxes to check off to learn) while the other kids just kind of sit around a campfire maintaining a convo over Gamestop haha
My freshman year I was a mess and didn't get into the fraternities I rushed and got poor grades given I had such a lack of social circle given how little I related to everyone in my dorm "community".
But my soph year I had my shit together, rushed and pledged our best fraternity but still missed the mark on grades.
My junior year I networked my way into two different internships throughout my school year related to M&A given that's when my spark really came to life to do well in life.
Point being, I get the rejection you probably feel not having got into various clubs and what not but use the time as an opportunity to reflect on why you got reject from literally everything and do some serious introspective work on yourself. You'll be surprised how much you can gain from rejection, knowing why people didn't want you to begin with but that's a narrative you can quickly flip.
UC Berkeley, I'm guessing?
Funny -- I was thinking that this sounds exactly like Michigan
Was thinking the same
Michigan has a ton of business frats and not a semi-target lol
I was thinking USC but I guess this applies to most semi-targets with business undergrad
Wahhhh! Where’s your nookie?
Tough love, you gotta sack up.
It's not that bad, you have tons of time. You gotta figure out your routine, focus on school but also focus on networking and stress relief as well (have a few beers and try to touch some boobies).
Try to schedule some easy classes / professors next term and juice that GPA. You can read through this site and basically figure out what happens during those club meetings, just do that on your own.
Don't let anyone else define your shit and definitely don't give up.
NoFap + Weight lifting.
Thank me later.
1.8 gpa my freshman year. I was full Fred Dorfman. Fat, drunk and stupid was my way of life.
Just relax. Stop pulling out your hair or you are going to explode. Stop trying to join the "best clubs" or the "business fraternity" because it will "be good for the resume"
Find a girl/boy/whatever, grab a scotch, have a cigar and calm down. Do what YOU enjoy. Study more, yet take the time every day to be grateful and smell the grass.
Trust me. You will be fine.
I had a very similar experience freshman year but you're thinking about it the wrong way. I just got an SA offer without being in any of the competitive clubs and a sub-par GPA at a semi-target.
Clubs aren't nearly as important as they were in high school. I was never once asked about what clubs I was in in an interview. They can be used to demonstrate your interest in finance or whatever, but non-alumni won't know the difference between the ultra selective IB club and the general program that everyone joins. Either way, it will be a point on your resume that displays interest and experience.
What matters is networking and building relationships with bankers. Clubs help with this, but if you tryhard networking and meeting people on campus, you will be fine.
As for grades, just leave your GPA off the resume. The most important thing is networking to get the first interview and then from there the GPA and clubs won't really matter.
You've definitely made it more difficult for yourself but you still have a lot of time left. The MOST important thing will be what internship experience you have, not what you've done at school.
Two things:
1 - My four year degree ended up taking me six years (I essentially had to repeat two years) and I averaged 8.9/20 in my first year, did even worse in my second. You're only young once, so if you want to spend a decent chunk of your time chasing skirt, at the pub, or getting high, go nuts. I can't speak for everyone I went to university with, but I ended up being fine in the end - I was never at a BB doing M&A like most of this forum aspires to, but I work <40 hours and earn +250k after taxes - and I expect you will be fine too if you're worrying about this kind of thing already. In my experience, it's those that are totally oblivious that end up being left behind, not those with one eye on the ball.
2 - You can be rejected from clubs in America? Seriously? How is that a thing?
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