Guide
Phi Chi Theta versus other business fraternities
Phi Chi Theta, Delta Sigma Pi and Alpha Kappa Psi are the three national names you will hear. This is how to compare them fairly, and what is specific to PCT at SMU.
The three best known national professional business fraternities are Phi Chi Theta, Delta Sigma Pi and Alpha Kappa Psi. All three are coeducational and career focused, and all three have good chapters and weak chapters depending on the campus. The comparison that matters is chapter to chapter, not name to name. At SMU, Phi Chi Theta's Alpha Gamma Chapter is open to all majors, meets at Cox, and has brothers at Morgan Stanley, JLL, Visa, Texas Capital Bank and more. Whether other national business fraternities have active SMU chapters, check the SMU student organization directory.
The three national names
Phi Chi Theta was founded in 1924 as a coeducational professional business fraternity. Delta Sigma Pi and Alpha Kappa Psi are the other two national professional business fraternities most students have heard of. At the national level the three are more alike than different: each has chapters across the country, each is open to men and women, each is organized around business careers rather than housing. We are not going to say anything about the others beyond that, because a fair comparison at the national level does not tell you what you need to know.
Why the chapter matters more than the letters
A national fraternity is a brand. A chapter is thirty to sixty people at one school who decide what the year looks like. Two chapters of the same fraternity at different universities can be completely different in size, rigor and outcomes. So when you compare, compare the chapters that actually exist at SMU this year. For Phi Chi Theta that is the Alpha Gamma Chapter. For any other name, check the SMU student organization directory to see whether there is an active chapter, and go to its Info Session if there is.
The questions to ask any chapter
- Where did members go in the last two years? Phi Chi Theta's list is on the internships page.
- Which majors can join? Phi Chi Theta at SMU: all of them.
- Who spoke at the last three meetings? Phi Chi Theta hosts Dallas firms at Cox; Holiner Holdings is one firm that has come to speak.
- What does the philanthropy actually raise money for? Phi Chi Theta's Pie Chi Theta supports the SPCA.
- Who reads the applications? At Phi Chi Theta, officers do.
- How many hours in a normal week, and during recruiting? Ask at the Info Session; it changes each semester.
Ask the same six questions of every chapter. The one with the clearest answers is usually the one that is actually running. The scorecard turns them into a sheet you can fill in at each Info Session.
What is specific to Phi Chi Theta at SMU
Three things. It is open to all majors, so the room is not one resume repeated. It meets at the Cox School of Business, so the logistics are easy for everyone on campus. And it is small enough that officers know every applicant by name, which is how introductions actually get made. The placement list, Morgan Stanley through Billabong, is the result of those three things over time, not a recruiting pitch.
Can you join more than one
Some national professional business fraternities do not allow members to also belong to another professional business fraternity. Rules vary and change, so ask each chapter directly at its Info Session. What is always fine is combining a professional fraternity with a social chapter, an honor society or a student club. Many Phi Chi Theta brothers do exactly that.
How to decide
Go to the Info Sessions. All of them, if you have the time. Then pick the chapter where you liked the people and believed the answers. If that turns out to be Phi Chi Theta, apply here. If it is somewhere else, we would rather you join a chapter you will show up for. The what to look for guide goes deeper on each question.
Whichever chapter you pick, PonyUp Properties can help with the apartment search near SMU.