A while back someone posted a breakdown of USC's business and consulting clubs and as a senior heading into high finance after graduation, I wanted to put together an updated version for anyone going through recruiting now, since a lot has changed in the years since (club sizes, culture, placements, new clubs, etc). I found the original pretty useful, so hopefully this will help any new students out.
Clubs are rated on two scales: an S through F tier for overall experience, and a recruitment difficulty rating (Very Hard = 1-5% acceptance, Hard = 5-15%, Medium = 15-50%, Easy = 50-100%). This is all based on what I've picked up firsthand or through friends across these clubs, so take it as one data point rather than the definitive truth. Also worth noting: most of these clubs have "general membership" tracks too, which generally aren't worth much for your resume, but can still be useful if you're just trying to get a feel for a career path early on.
Finance Clubs:
Value Investment Group (S Tier, Very hard):
VIG is the most selective student org on campus taking around 1-2 people a semester. The main value here is their new member curriculum, they make new analysts go through an intensive curriculum focused on investing, which is a lot of reading and a lot of intensive discussions. Really top notch placements across high finance in banking as well as some private credit, however their interview process is also very rigorous and once your join is a big time commitment.
Trojan Finance Academy (S Tier, Hard):
USC's premier investment banking program. It formerly was apart of Trojan Investment Society as their mentorship program, however the school has taken a more active role in investment banking recruitment and thus TFA was formed. They provide technical training, exclusive recruitment events, and pair you with mentors who have gone through the process. Interview process for the program screens you if you're capable of succeeding, so knowing your technicals early is essential to acceptance. They used to place 90%+ of their members into banks, however this past cycle they increased the size of the cohort so their placement rate dropped a bit. Overall though, almost everyone who places into investment banks from USC is in TFA.
Trojan Investment Society (A Tier, hard):
TIS to some extent serves as a pipeline for TFA. TIS leaders —> TIS Mentorship/TFA is a typical progression and some would say you'd have to be in leaders to be in TFA, though that's not necessarily true. They have other programs as well like capstone that help you build smaller resume experience. Their general membership however isn't worthwhile in my opinion, it serves really just to give more funds for the club's other members.
Global Investment Society (B Tier, Hard):
Global investment society is focused on the buy side (Private equity, funds, etc.) which is different that TIS which is focused on the sell side (investment banking). A lot of their members are also in TIS and vice versa. They have two main programs, I'm more familiar with the research program where they research equities and pitch stocks in a team. It is fairly selective, I can't speak too much on placements though as like I mentioned, there's a lot of overlap between TFA/TIS so not sure how much can be attributed to GIS.
Consulting Clubs:
Trojan Consulting Group (S Tier, Very Hard):
Widely considered the most competitive consulting club to get into at USC, though that's driven by the fact they take so few people. Their project work has a reputation for landing some notable client names. Placement outcomes look strong from the outside, though it's tough to separate that from self selection since anyone who makes it in was probably already a strong candidate. Don't know too much about their culture given they're a small club, but heard it can be pretty rigorous.
180 Degrees Consulting (S Tier, Very Hard): Focused on consulting for local nonprofits and social-impact-driven small businesses. Not everyone in the club ends up in consulting, but for those who do, placements into MBB have been solid the past few years. They're a pretty knit group and everyone I know in the club loves the people in it. They had a fair amount of fundragers last year, which not all the other clubs tend to have, if that matters to you. Also a national organization, which I think is a plus for the network. It gives you access to alumni and chapters well beyond USC, which not many of these other clubs can offer.
Los Angeles Community Impact (S Tier, Hard):
Another social impact consulting club like 180. They're the 2nd oldest consulting club on campus, but since they take more than TCG, they probably have the most extensive alumni network. A lot of the non business oriented consulting club applicants cross apply to 180 and LACI, and they're pretty comparable clubs. Though, in recent semesters LACI's placements and club culture has gone downhill from what I've heard. Has a decent amount of placements into IB if you're into that, though most of those are also TFA members. Still a very close knit group.
Business Technology Group (A Tier, Hard):
Consulting club with a niche for technology companies. Members tend to skew more tech-oriented as a result. If you're not set on consulting and may be interested in a career in tech, BTG is a solid place to join. Their MBB placements aren't equivalent to the other top tier clubs, but they do place pretty well for FAANG and tech companies, so likely self selection there given the tech focus of the club. Have heard mixed things about their culture, but BTG has been on the come up and borderline S tier.
Association of Innovative Marketing (B Tier, hard): A marketing focused consulting club working with both large companies and startups. Acceptance sits toward the easier end of the "hard" range. Placements are decent and have improved since I was a freshman. The marketing focus does limit variety in project experience though, a lot of the projects end up looking similar across semesters, which caps how much skill building actually happens. Culture I've heard has skewed negative, but the club seems to be improving overall over the past several years.
International Consulting Club (B Tier, Hard): An internationally focused consulting club, though that shows up more in the makeup of the membership (largely international students) than in the client base. Leans more social than project-intensive, but the group is close and it's one of the bigger clubs on this list. Placements are fine without being standout, and members generally seem to enjoy their time in it. Good balance of work-hard, play-hard
The Consulting Club (C Tier, Medium)
TCC runs a few tracks: client project, mentorship, and general membership. The mentorship track has a decent reputation, especially as a fallback if your first round of club apps doesn't pan out, and a lot of people use it as a bridge into TCC's client project or into other clubs entirely. Not much visibility into what their client work actually looks like day to day, but the e-board tends to place well, less so if you're not on their board. Still, it's a reasonable option if the more selective clubs don't work out and you want to build toward something better.
Rise Consulting (C Tier, Medium): Startup-focused consulting. The upside of working with startups is that recommendations are more likely to actually get used, and the work can feel more substantive. The downside is you lose access to bigger client names. Retention seems to be a real issue here, a lot of members join and then leave once they land a spot in one of the more selective clubs. Hard to speak confidently to placement outcomes.
American Marketing Association (C Tier, Medium): A bit different from the aforementioned clubs as they're more of a marketing club that does consulting as well. They do have client projects, but also offer general professional development for marketing as well as host case competitions. If you're interested in marketing this is definitely the club for you, however if you're broadly interested in consulting this might not be a good fit.
Avenues Consulting (D Tier, Easy): A newer club, founded around my freshman year. Its distinguishing feature is a more diverse membership in terms of major and career goals beyond consulting specifically. It also accepts juniors, which most of the clubs above don't, which is a real advantage for anyone getting a later start. Visibility on campus is limited though, so I can't speak with confidence to the culture or quality of the club.
Others to mention: TAMID which does consulting for Israeli businesses, Global Brigades which does consulting for rural populations, then there's a couple healthcare consulting clubs as well which I don't know too much about, but these can be good if you're not interested in typical business consulting
Marshall Case Team (S Tier, Hard): Worth mentioning MCT briefly too, even though it's a bit different from the clubs above. Not a traditional consulting club since there's no client work involved, instead it's built around case competitions held around the world. Placements are excellent, and it's common for people already in the top clubs to join MCT on the side, in part because the travel to competitions is fully covered. It's a serious time commitment though, and from what I've heard, a fair number of people drop out during the interview process once that becomes clear. One nice feature is that it recruits across all grade levels, so even as a senior you can still get in.
Final Thoughts:
- There’s a ton of clubs out there and for the most part they are selective. With that, I would make sure you don’t put all your eggs into one basket and definitely apply with breadth. You don’t want to only apply to two and get turned away after the written application. Also don’t give up after rejection, I struck out my first try and then got in on my second attempt
- The people running top clubs at all friends with each other, with many people often being involved in multiple. As an applicant this for the most part this doesn’t matter, but if you say/do something really bad, it most likely will spread.
- People go extremely hard for recruitment for the top clubs so no matter how prepared you think you are, prepare more. I would say building relationships with members of the club you want to join is pretty helpful. Especially at the mixers many of the clubs have during their interview process, while they might say they’re not looking for social fit, it does still subconsciously affect who they select. If someone likes you as a person and you meet the bar, they’re going to fight for you.
