Our Guide to Student Organizations On Campus
Acronyms. The biggest winner of the Internet era. Whether you’re LOLing or OMW somewhere, too many acronyms can leave us asking WDYM or thinking IDK what that means. It’s tough, IMO. However, perhaps the biggest perpetrators of abbreviations may be the student clubs and student organizations community on campuses across the country.
Just based on the sheer number of clubs that abbreviate their names—and the fact that half of them stand for words in Greek, not English—it can be hard to keep up with who is who.
Since Epic Hire is building a platform that allows clubs to showcase themselves on our club marketplace feature, we wanted both students and our clients alike to have an easy reference to the clubs and organizations that they’ll likely see the most of on our app.
Below we break down both the most common abbreviated names amongst club organizations, as well as a general overview of what those clubs do.
Epic Hire National Club Partnerships
Epic Hire in recent months have formed national partnerships with great clubs! These partnerships are designed to give students relevant work experience and a leg up in their future careers. We’re incredibly excited to continue providing awesome opportunities to their members!
DSP – Delta Sigma Pi
Delta Sigma Pi is one of the largest business fraternities in the nation that aims to develop “principled business leaders of the future.” DSP prides itself on being the first co-ed professional business fraternity and its continued commitment to equal opportunity and diversity.
Launched mid-2024, Epic Hire’s partnership with DSP was facilitated through our long, successful partnership with University of Washington’s DSP chapter. Epic Hire is now DSP’s preferred college hiring platform for their members.
Product Space
Recently, Epic Hire partnered with chapters from the Product Space club on our recent Apple Vision Pro Product Internship. Learn more about this groundbreaking project in the link above.
Business Clubs
AMA – American Marketing Association
Started in 1937, AMA is one the premier clubs for students wanting to jump start their career in marketing or other similar business positions. AMA has over 250 collegiate chapters, making it one of the largest clubs in the country. AMA is not just an on campus organization though, they also have 75+ professional chapters around the country, making it an excellent network for college students.
Check out stand out students on Epic Hire in our AMA Playbook.
AKPsi – Alpha Kappa Psi
Founded at New York University in 1904, AKPsi prides itself on being the oldest and largest business fraternity. AKPsi boasts 227 collegiate chapters across the U.S. and 41 alumni chapters. The club has some 280,000 lifetime members.
AAF – American Advertising Federation
AAF is a collection of advertisers, advertising agencies, and media companies. Similar to an AMA, AAF also has college chapters with student members that are hoping to get real world experience in advertising and to network with alumni and corporate members. AAF has around 200 college chapters and over 6500 student members.
PRSSA – Public Relations Student Society of America
This one we encourage the acronym because that’s a mouthful. PRSSA calls themselves “the foremost organization for communications majors and all students interested in public relations, marketing, advertising, or business.”
WiB – Women in Business
There are numerous clubs, professional organizations, and internal groups that use the name “Women in Business.” While there are many standalone organizations, nearly all Women in Business organizations strive for promotion of female representation across all areas of business. Many campus-based WiB clubs partner with local and enterprise organizations to form strong networks that encourage female entrepreneurship.
PSE – Pi Sigma Epsilon
PSE is another example of an on-campus professional fraternity. While PSE generally focuses on business, since their founding, the fraternity has placed special emphasis on marketing, sales, and sales management.
ALPFA – Association of Latino Professional for America
With their mission statement of “connecting Latino leaders for impact” ALPFA has dedicated their efforts to providing workshops and career resources to their members. ALPFA is a nonprofit organization but through its business model and professional connections, provides numerous scholarships and events for their members.
Engineering Clubs
AIAA – American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
While AIAA has around 7,000 student members from around 160 active student branches, the AIAA’s work extends far beyond campuses. AIAA is perhaps best known for being the United States’ representative in the International Astronautical Federation. More than 30,000 people worldwide belong to AIAA.
SEDS – Students for the Exploration and Development of Space
While AIAA is primarily a professional organization with student branches, SEDS is exclusively a student organization. According to them their “purpose is to drive advocacy of space exploration and development through educational and engineering projects.”
GDSC – Google Developer Student Clubs
Perhaps you’ve heard of the G in GDSC? Google started GDSC as a way for university, and other, students to meet each other, hone their skills, and to build various solutions for local businesses or communities with Google tech. GDSC has gone global with 2,100 college chapters, making it one of the largest and farthest reaching development organizations.
IEEE – Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
IEEE is massive. As of 2023, IEE had over 460,000 members in 190 countries. Their influence is heavily felt through their publications, as IEEE credits themselves with having created 30% of the world’s literature in electrical and computer engineering. There are hundreds of student chapters across the U.S.
FSAE – Formula Society of Automotive Engineers
Like Formula 1? This is the club for you. Formula SAE, while we call it a club, could perhaps be best thought of as a team. Student teams compete by designing, building, and then racing formula-style racing cars. Each season, around 120 university teams register and compete to be known as the best of the best.
SAE International, the organization that oversees FSAE, also has a similar student organization called Baja SAE. Baja SAE is the same concept as FSAE, except, instead of formula cars, students design, build, and race off road vehicles.
Our Need For Speed Playbook highlights some of the best FSAE profiles on our platform, be sure to check it out.
ASCE – American Society of Civil Engineers
The American Society of Civil Engineering is the oldest national engineering society in the U.S., having been founded in Virginia in the year 1852. ASCE has 416 student chapters, including chapters in all 50 states plus DC. They also have student chapters in 25 other countries.
ASME – American Society of Mechanical Engineers
ASME may have our favorite description of their organization as they say they “promote the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe.” With over 19,000 students and around 8,000 early career engineers holding ASME memberships, they’re a badge you’ll surely see plenty of on Epic Hire.
IISE – Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers
While many student and professional organizations have a specific discipline in their name, a large number of them will drift into other areas of interest, not the case with IISE. IISE makes a point of describing their mission as “solely” interested in the industrial engineering profession. So if industrial engineering is your cup of tea, check out their membership options.
NSBE – National Society of Black Engineers
First started at Purdue, NSBE is now one of the top skills-based cultural clubs on campus. NSBE’s mission statement includes increasing black representation in the industry and making sure that black engineers who excel academically will go on to succeed professionally and make positive impacts. Now one of the larger, student-run organizations in the United States, NSBE has contributed to increasing the recruitment of minority engineers.
AIChE – American Institute of Chemical Engineers
Originally established in 1908 to differentiate chemical engineers from chemists and mechanical engineers, AIChE has since evolved into a massive professional organization. The AIChE ecosystem includes around 350 active student chapters at universities around the world.
SHPE – Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers
SHPE is the largest association in the U.S. dedicated to “fostering Hispanic leadership in the STEM field.” They provide a number of ways that members can engage off campus, in addition to on campus. These opportunities include volunteering with K-12 students and other focus groups or attending one of their three major events each year.
SWE – Society of Women Engineers
SWE’s 300 collegiate chapters contribute greatly to SWE’s role in advocating for higher representation of women in engineering and technology. Along with NSBE, SHPE, and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, SWE was a founding member of the 50k Coalition. The coalition aims to see 50,000 diverse engineering students graduate every year starting in 2025.