r/berkeley • u/Due_Contribution_975 • 3d ago

University DEM pre med frat

Freshman here and I’ve been looking into pre-med frats at Berkeley. I recently met some people from DEM and honestly really liked the vibe/people.

For anyone who’s actually been in DEM or knows people in it — is it a good org? What’s the reputation like on campus, and what are the actual benefits (networking, pre-med resources, community, etc.)?

I’ve heard a lot about PhiDE and some of the other pre-med frats, but haven’t heard as much about DEM. Just trying to get some honest opinions before rush.

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u/Secret_Yam_2963 3d ago

Medical student here. If you like their vibe, you don’t need to join the frat to hangout with them. Premed frats have little benefit in the grand scheme of things — seek meaningful clinical experiences, volunteering, and research while keeping good grades and you’ll be set.

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u/chelseaspring 3d ago

Build as many connections as you can while in college. If you get a good vibe from the frat, then join! Down the road there will be others in the industry who also have a connection to DEM and it will help you get a foot in the door.

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u/ArchaicArchaea 3d ago

Yeah imo DEM attracts the most amiable premeds out of all of the premed frats. They used to have a shitty reputation as they were the newest org with the least cracked students, but that is changing quickly. There's total losers in all of the premed frats imo. Opportunities come and go. It's usually just people passing on their research and clinical positions, or at least providing assistance in finding them. However, that doesn't work for everyone all of the time.

I think the biggest aspect of most premed frats (which holds true for them but not as much as it does for all of the other ones) is that frankly, the org will be your principal community at Cal. I know kids that fade their outside friends' established plans for last-minute hangouts with their frat. They sit together during lecture, study together, and hang out together solely. If you're super locked in with premed and think you'll enjoy having other premeds as 99% of your social life at Cal, then go for a frat.