Can anyone give me a rundown of the business frats at Cal? I have mainly heard of DSP, which seems to be the most well known one. For DSP,
What is their selection process like and how competitive is it?
What could I do to maximize my chances of getting in?
And just in general, do freshmen rush fall or spring?
Thank you so much for any help. I really appreciate it.
Best business frats on campus are AKPsi/DSP followed by BAP. Usually in that order.
At least for AKPsi, the selection process is rigorous. DSP is more relaxed and gives more bids, so I’d rush DSP as well in case AKPsi doesn’t work out.
Prepare yourself for individual and group interviews, mental math, brain teasers and case studies?
AKPsi and DSP only accept spring rush for freshman, BAP recruits freshman in the fall though.
Also don’t be disappointed if you don’t make it the first time. I didn’t haha. But I’ll be applying next semester as well so good luck! Hope this helps
@SternTurn thank you this helped a lot! do you know anything about what would happen if I rushed a social frat first semester then tried to rush a business frat second semester? also do u know if business frats still party and all?
@shiftydraw I am graduating from Cal this year and am not in a business frat, but from my time here this is what I could tell -
DSP is considered the business frat with the best reputation due to their track record of sending people to top banks and consulting firms, at least according to their careers page. AKPsi would be next followed by BAP.
I had friends in both and it seems like a similar amount of people come out to each rush and their pledge classes seem to be around the same size. Regardless, both are extremely tough to receive a bid to and involve a hard semester of pledging.
In response to your question about parties, both AKPsi and DSP have a strong culture of partying and drinking - but probably not at the same frequency as a social frat would. DM me if you have more questions.
I heard people in AKPsi are generally more social, while DSP is more professional and career oriented. Honestly both are pretty comparable on the careers page, with more diversity in AKPsi (more software engineers, tech, consulting) so it really comes down to what you’re interested in I guess?
I heard both AKPsi and DSP are super competitive for applying to, acceptance rates are generally really low. AKPsi seems to have a really strong presence in New York on their careers page, while DSP looks to have a lot of people working locally in San Francisco. They both seem to have a lot of technology investment bankers lol but AKPsi has a bit more variety
AKPsi and DSP are both hard to get into cuz they each get hundreds of applicants and I’ve heard they only accept around 10 or something every semester. I applied and never got in. In the past, DSP was more prestigious, but AKPsi has gotten significantly ahead in the past two years. Echoing above comments, AKPsi cares more about brotherhood and DSP cares more about professionalism. Ironically because of that brotherhood, AKPsi now does better professionally because their alumni/brothers constantly help each other with jobs and networking.
@shiftydraw to answer your questions, AKPsi and DSP don’t take first semester freshman so I definitely recommend first doing social then professional. DSP doesn’t party as much but AKPsi goes hard. Many of their brothers are in greek life and honestly i’ve been to one of their parties and they go crazy. I think at least on Cal campus, AKPsi is the epitome of work hard play hard
AKPsi is the most well known and prestigious. Then DSP then BAP. Super competitive to get in any of them. They each have a three networking events, one individual interview, and one group interview. Maximize your chances by being real with people. Freshmen rush spring for DSP and AKPsi. BAP takes fall freshman.
good luck because i didn’t make it lol but honestly i would still apply just in case u get lucky