Mckinsey vs. Goldman Sachs Sales & Trading
I am very lucky to have two offers this summer as a sophomore and would like to know if anyone had any advice on how to decide between the two.
Both are in NY, and I really loved both while I went through the interview process, but am not really sure what I should be looking at in terms of how to approach this decision. I am also only a sophomore, so I would have another summer after this one to intern at the other for example if I really did not like it, so that has also been something I've been thinking about.
Anyways any help would really be appreciated!
Thank you
I would research chances of you getting hired FT after the SA are the dates conflicting...cant you do both?
He's a sophomore though, so he still has another internship summer afterward.
This may be biased, but go with McKinsey. Better breadth of options afterward once you know what area you want to start looking at for FT. Congrats though!
I have already worked for McKinsey and now I am in prop trading so my 2 cents:
Those are very different things going on. In one you deal with the markets the other (McK) is more like investment banking in the sense of things flow by processes and are a lot more burocratic, driven by long meetings, discussions and "problem solving".
What do you wanna do in the long run? Do you want to be a CEO or do you want to be a trader/hedge fund guy?
What are you more curious about? Since this is just an internship, you can make a mistake now and it won't hurt at all. GS or McK are either awesome on your CV.
Do you like to travel? My aversion to traveling and not being the owner of your schedule was one of the main reasons that I left McKinsey.
Well, I love the markets and I love to trade. Both are great options. Think about the long run and what would you want to do everyday. Even though the financial industry is going through hard times, specially S&T, I would take GS's offer just because this might be one unique opportunity and you have another shot next year. McKinsey will always be there if you talk with them the right way.
Hey, do you mind if I ask how you broke into prop trading from consulting?
I'm new to finance/trading/consulting, but just accepted an offer at MBB.
Sure. I was an intern at a hedge fund before joining McKinsey. My former boss and partner at the hedge fund left his position and joined a prop trading desk at a bank (they still exist outside of the US). He called me and offered a position to work with him that I accepted. Not an interesting story, but hope it helps...
I have nothing to offer..other than congratulations....
god damn man congrats. did you include your credit score on your resume?
I would go with McKinsey. It's gold on a resume and finance firms will definitely not doubt your intelligence.
It's times like these that I sincerely wish I had the H-bomb as part of my arsenal...
At the same time I'm inclined towards calling this thread another troll attempt.
In any case, you simply can't go wrong with either of them, however I'd take Goldman S&T.
Congrats. Like others said, it all boils down to what you see yourself doing long-term. I'd rather trade for the treasury of a regional bank than work for Mckinsey but some people would rather work at a no-name consulting firm than trade for Goldman. There's no better opportunity than the one you're most interested in.
Go with Mckinsey, as brian said. it is gold on a resume. I have a few friends who did S&T at GS for a summer and as analysts who are not certified, you cant execute any trades so youre not as useful to them as you are in other internships.
Mckinsey
A lot of people have been saying McKinsey. I'm going to play devil's advocate and say Goldman S&T.
If you are truly uncertain about which you prefer, I might be inclined to choose the more "extreme" of the two options. I would worry that consulting may be almost TOO broad and that you'll find yourself coming out of the summer liking what you did to some extent, but maybe not being extremely enthused. I have a feeling that Goldman S&T will be more of a "love it or hate it" kind of thing. If you really hate Goldman S&T, switch back to Mck next summer. It may feel harder for you to turn down a return offer for the next summer at McK if you had a "pretty good" first summer.
That said, I'm in consulting and would personally go with the McK offer because I know consulting is more for me than S&T. Hope this other perspective is useful. Curious to hear what you guys think.
a
trollage.
I totally second proboscis
Troll is successful here is why....
BB IBD & ST and M Consulting as a sophomore... Yet you come on an online forum to ask which one you should choose..good try.
Not a troll. I go to a target and know a sophomore who has the same 2 choices (except his is for Goldman IBD). Also knew of someone in the same position last year, it's really not that uncommon at certain targets. They are, however, all diversity applicants (the ones I know, at least). McKinseys sophomore program is exclusively for diversity applicants
The people who are screaming troll at every thread like this are jealous. Why would he not come on a forum full of experienced financial professionals asking advice on which is the smarter choice? Just because he got the two offers he is smart enough to make every important decision in his life on his own without help? Chill guys.
To answer your question, like others have said, it all comes down to where you see yourself down the road. If you're interested in the the S&T/Hedge fund route, Goldman S&T would be a no-brainer. If you love to travel (a LOT) and are more of a problem-solver and want to go the consulting route, McKinsey is the clear winner. If you want IBD, GS S&T is the smarter choice because of the name on the resume and you could easily lateral from S&T to IBD in the same firm.
Either way, congrats on the offers and good luck.
So he has an BB IBD S&T and McKinsey as a sophomore.. and he came to an INTERNET forum to help him choose...give me a break.
You are very lucky and/or very good. Choose one internship and give the other to me! How long did it take in your case to hear something of the two firms? I applied for summer interns at both about 3 weeks ago but haven't heard a thing from them
I do not believe this is trolling.
This is literally a position I found myself in as a sophomore. Stop assuming each and every thing is a troll post. If you do a bang-up job networking, there is nothing on earth preventing you from pulling offers in consulting and finance. If you're on top of your shit, there's no reason it wouldn't be MBB and GS/MS/JPM. If you're coherent and rational about your interest in both front office divisions, there's no reason you can't articulate an argument for both S&T and IBD. It happens. It happened.
Double post.
Hey everyone thank you for the responses! I promise I'm not a troll lol, yes it is through a diversity program at McKinsey and through the accelerated process at Goldman. I really think that as you said proboscis, that may be the better route to take S&T this summer and if I love it, I know what I want to do, and if I hate it, something like consulting or maybe trying to lateral to banking would be better. My only concern is if anyone has had experience with McKinsey or just the consulting industry as to how warm they are in inviting you back at a different time. I would just to hate to burn bridges with either company because I did not take that offer because I really love both.
Thank you guys for the help, and as was stated above I really am just looking for people who have experience in this industries to chime in.
How did you get in the accelerated process at Goldman?
Goldman is a firm that will love to bring you back if you decline them once. Trust me.
From speaking with a lot of people, i think that's the difference between consulting and banking, in consulting if you are good they'll always want you back even after you leave the firm to try something else. Its hard to find people who wants to do the work and do it well. I know you are not at mck yet, but as long as you explain your decision well, theyll definitely invite you to interview again. My 2 cents.
I think consulting and trading are very different animals. You said you liked both places equally, so you should decide based on which job you think you would like more. The other factors (prestige, cv, etc...) are pretty much equal. If you don't know which one you like better (which I find hard to believe since they are so different and they involve very different personalities) I'd go with what Proboscis said. You won't hate McKinsey, and I don't think you'll love it either. But a trading floor is a clear love/hate situation, so you'll get an answer and be able to focus for your junior year. As for me I'd take the GS Trading gig any day.
i go to a target GS hasn't even put up a posting for S&T and hasn't even begun interview for its other divisions. There's no way this is legit
This is a lot more common than people think for diversity students at target schools. Both firms have already started with accelerated recruiting.
to those who think this a joke, check the other forum topics, it's all over there for gs accelerated interviews, first deadline was october 30th and they had superday on like nov 18-- offers a week later, don't make assumptions if you don't know
GS Accelerated Process: Round 1: Deadline 10/30, Superday 11/18, decisions 11/25-30 Round 2: Deadline 11/30, Superday 12/15, decisions 12/18-23
McKinsey: No idea.
This is not illegitimate.
Is the picture you chose for this forum your subconscious telling you that you want McKinsey?
In all seriousness though, I feel like McKinsey might give you more flexibility next summer-- you can definitely make the jump from consulting to GS/MS/JPM IBD, but going from S&T to consulting could be a little harder. That being said, I have never worked in consulting, so all of my opinions are from second-hand observations. That is just the impression I have gotten from friends who have interned at MBBs and switched to top IBD jobs without too much difficulty.
I'd take GS, easily. first year traders at GS make twice the salary of first year biz analysts at McKinsey, so think about that. Congrats on being such a baller. getting these jobs as a sophomore is really badass
sad how both jobs are so prestigious, yet suck
take mck - spend ur life on the road, in hotels, earning miles - good luck having a family / kids
s&t - monthly, yearly pressure to earn a profit or your fired
i could be wrong, but you could be just an 'average' middle of pack guy in s&t and still don't get fired. also, there is literally zero job security in management consulting. most consultants at MBB don't stay more than 3-4 years at the job. MBB has 'up or out' policy, which means if you don't get promoted to next level within certain time frame, you are asked to leave.
If you are looking for a very safe, non-risky, stable type of a career, accounting or nursing are way to go. accounting jobs are not as glamorous or pay as well as top consulting/ banking/ trading, but at least there is a great job security and much less stress (no traveling like consulting, or not as much pressure to perform well as the case is in S&T)
This is most likely farthest from the truth, how much security does a trader have from GS vs a consultant from McK? Sure GS S&T looks good to HF/AM firms, but for IBD/CF/AM/or anything McK reigns king
I think Goldman IBD>McKinsey Analyst > Goldman S&T
They're both fire offers, if you do Goldman S&T, you can try to lateral in a HF.. do it!
someone wrote that on my acct..not my thoughts
go with ur gut
well, the true ballers on the street tend to be people in trading or hedge funds. also, i would bet that if you are a top performer in s&t, you can make way more money compared to ibd. in s&t, you have commissions-based bonus on top of base salary but in ibd, you only get to make salary and fixed bonus
i agree McKinsey analyst gig will give you wider range of exit options compared to s&t. but, that is besides the point.
You really need to think about what you are more interested in doing. They're so different and require such different skill sets that I don't know how you could equally prefer one to the other. Do some soul searching and you'll figure it out. Do you want to stay in the office or travel? Do you want a very fast paced environment or no? Can you see yourself staying in a markets-related role for your entire career?
In terms of pure exit opps, I'd say McK offers more overall, but again that depends on what you want to do. Someone in GS S&T is going to have a leg up on getting into a hedge fund (not easy to do obviously), into buyside trading jobs, or the like. It will also give you an excellent shot at moving into another division of the firm if you wanted, or to a different desk for the next summer in S&T if you made the right connections.
You can't go wrong here, but like I said, I don't think that this is that difficult of a decision when it comes down to the day to day tasks. Forget the two names on the offer letters and think about what the job descriptions are and what you think you would enjoy the most. You're ultimately going to be more successful that way IMO.
Just to add to that, I did an SA stint at a top BB S&T as well, and I loved every second of it. At the same time, I think that I would absolutely hate consulting. I think you'll come to find out that you would really like one and really dislike the other. Then again, this is what summers are for, so don't feel like you are choosing what you want to do for the rest of your life. I thought that I was destined to do S&T for my career, and that is certainly not how things are turning out.
GS Sales and Trading or McKinsey (Originally Posted: 02/14/2012)
Hi everyone,
I don't mean to double post, but this post reflects a newfound passion that I feel I'd like to pursue in my career. I am a sophomore and am deciding between a summer sophomore offer at McKinsey in consulting, or a summer at Goldman Sachs in their Sales and Trading division. Both are in New York, and I would love to do both as I loved everyone at each firm and could see myself doing well at both firms for the summer. However, I think my long-term goal is to do Private Equity, and thus IBD would probably be the best preparation, but because I am choosing between these two non-IBD options, I wanted to know which opportunity the forum would find as better preparation, and ultimately-- which would help most in trying to get a job in PE out of school.
I like the S&T opp because it's a foot in the door at GS, will give me contacts in finance, and will atleast get my feet wet in numbers.
However, I like consulting because it is more client based, and I do enjoy the travel part, and the large-scale side of analyzing a company.
Any help would be appreciated, and if any other info is necessary please ask.
Thank you!
pick McKinsey, then try to get on a couple cases where the clients are PE firms or principal investors. i promise you that you won't learn anything relevant to PE by spending a summer on the floor at GS.
Dude, you will not be traveling as a sophomore SA at McK. I would pick McK though. Consulting is way more interesting than investment banking. You can get into PE after a BA sting at McK or Bain.
He will definitely be traveling at McKinsey.
I would go with McKinsey, simply because of how insanely competitive it was to get into their sophomore program. Count yourself among the luckiest ones. :)
If you want to do PE you should take the position at McKinsey. S&T is completely different than IBD (done them both) and given the chinese wall that exists between the two departments I doubt you'd get any interaction at all/ contacts with members on that side (IBD). I SA'd in S&T at RJ in NYC and they made it crystal clear we were not allowed to interact with the IBD side of the firm from day one. Never even met anyone during my summer there all the contacts I had made were on the desk or various other desks throughout the city.
Definitely McKinsey. Like the previous poster said, S&T isn't anything like banking and not relevant to PE. At least at McKinsey, you'll get operational and business experience.
McKinsey is a no-brainer. It's getting repetitious, but S&T isn't going to give you any exposure needed for PE entry. At least the skills learned in consulting can be tweaked for PE interviews.
McKinsey
Well kid, both are great choices. Flip a Coin!
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