What it’s like to intern at GS: feel free to ask about anything.
Have some time since it’s Labor Day and classes are light this week. Thought I’d give my perspective and answer questions on what it’s like to intern at GS in IB.
Edit: see this got a lot of hate. I guess one could take this as me being an a** and humble bragging. Intent here was to shed light on the experience
How did you pin Lloyd in your interview? In my superday he had just been oiled up so I had a hard time getting a grip on him.
Lloyd was very squirrelly. It was particularly hard because they brought him in for the third interview, and I was tired after being grilled hard on some WACC and DCF questions in round 2. Wasnt able to quite pin him but enjoyed talking about the firm and pre-IPO culture
Which group were you in? Location?
NYC. won’t be specific on group
If this is FiDi location, where did you live? How did you make arrangements?
Lived in an NYU dorm. Roomed with a friend. Had to make arrangements on my own
Can you describe the process? What was the cost?
Goldman always sells their culture, what is so special about it if anything?
Hard to say because I haven’t worked at another bank. A few positive things stick out that may (or may not) be true elsewhere.
People are generally willing to meet you, get coffee, give advice, connect you, etc. Everyone is usually generous with their time, even if they don’t have a lot of it.
Senior people were generally pretty welcoming and friendly. Yes, their processes were still inefficient and some of the tasks asked would drive people crazy, but they were generally nice people.
I suspect these things are true as well at many banks. Frankly, the business has become so commoditized... wouldn’t surprise me if the BBs are culturally fairly similar. GS still comes out on top but that’s likely because of the deal experience + the reps & creativity that come with that experience
Was at an other BB and felt similar, was just keen to know why people mystify GS and if it was justified. Thanks for your reply.
A lot of companies sell their cultures look at the big fours?
Does it live up to what you thought it would be , everyone talks about GS being the golden ticket to prestige so did you get chicks by saying you work at goldman, were your family & friends happy for you and overall do you feel more secured in your professional career because of this brief stint?
Leo asking the real question.
Redundant. See below
Lol. Can’t tell if this is sarcastic or not but will answer anyway. Also interesting that you assumed I’m a man...
Women don’t care, nor should they. GS is a great investment bank, but unless a woman you’re talking to has seriously f’d priorities, it’s not gonna sway them either way. Same goes for the people working there — anyone who thinks they’re a total hotshot for working at GS, especially as an intern, is a clown.
Family and friends were proud of me but also interested in whether I actually enjoyed the experience. I don’t think any of them understood what I was really doing all day.
-
Oh, in that case do you want to go to dorsia ? I think we will have a killer time
Everyone assumes I'm a guy on here. Trust me you are not the only one hahah
What are the most important tasks as an intern? I get that you have to stay till late to build some slides or to punch some pitch books, but do you get more exposure if you are doing really well on the tasks that you have been given? Do interns have the time/possibility to differentiate and take a little more initiative on some projects?
Most important task is doing what you’re told, doing it well, and being reliable so that the junior people can start to leverage you rather than having you be a hindrance that they have to constantly correct.
You’d be surprised how many interns aren’t able to have a good attitude, demonstrate a strong work ethic, and do things quickly / efficiently. Throw in some intellectual curiosity and you will definitely stand out.
I did a bit of modeling and had ownership over some projects but was generally there to support the junior people with turning comments, putting together pages, taking notes, etc.
Cheers. Basically not being a retard.. is there overall a high level of quant/maths knowledge required at GS?
Heard differing versions: more senior people I have spoken to (who have left in the mean time) say that quant knowledge is required but juniors say it is not, so could be that time has changed work at GS
I really don't know what to say anymore... I'm sure you had thinly-veiled good intentions, but...
Edit: I apologise, I was tired and unjustifiably jaded for my age (under 26). I've done a plethora of internships and had younger students reach out to ask me about my experience - it's just I would never entertain the idea of me starting an AMA on WSO about my experience as an intern. Kudos to you, hope you got the return offer.
My intent here was to provide some insight into what the internship experience is like, for the benefit of both incoming interns or people interested in applying.
I couldn’t care less if anonymous people on an Internet forum are impressed that I spent ten weeks at a bank. I didn’t start this to get some satisfaction... really just trying to be helpful
Fair enough, I edited my previous comment in light of this - you're not wrong about the misinformation that tends to get spewed on here.
No, it's great information - I think very useful.
I honestly don’t know why you got so much MS for the post, then this guy doesn’t:
https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/start-jerking-off
I don't understand the comment. If there were veiled intentions wouldn't they be bad? Anyways haters gonna hate I guess
Why are thinly veiled intentions necessarily bad? I don't believe that's the case and I'm not a hater, I actually just edited to original comment to provide kudos. It's just I could never imagine myself starting an AMA on WSO about my time as an intern.
Is there anything you had done or wish you had done to prepare for the internship?
Not really, to be honest. Beforehand, I had planned to brush up on technical concepts and practice my modeling. Then school and friends and exams got in the way of that, and I was too lazy to prep in the time off beforehand, so I was nervous going into the internship.
Didn't matter -- nothing I was doing was that technical, so there wasn't any prep that would have helped. I guess if you're not comfortable with Excel (you don't need to be an Excel wizard, but understand conditionals, how to quickly paste formulas/formats, how to sort data, etc.) it might be helpful to review that?
@westcoastbanker23"
Bringing your comment over to this thread. I wouldn’t spend a ton of time focused on practicing technical concepts. If you understand accounting decently well and merger math (accretion/dilution, etc) you will be fine
What were your hours? How did you handle them?
Any 140 hour work weeks? How many 120+?
Hours were probably between 80-90 each week, with a few that were worse and a few that were better. Saturday’s were generally protected, as is firm policy. Sunday’s were not, and I was there for at least 4-5 hours every Sunday with some being significantly worse
Can you give me a referral?
Not sure why you are getting so much hate because of the thread. The OP sounds like a genuine person looking to help others and offer guidance.
I think people believe I’m trying to humble brag. Oh well. Getting MS doesn’t really bother me, it’s not like I’m trying to amass points on here. Just figured I could shed some light on an internship that doesn’t have a ton of particularly useful / accurate & updated info out there
Can you go over the backgrounds(anonymized) of your co-interns? How many sophomores vs junior? Target vs non-target, male vs female etc? Any weird backgrounds?
Pretty standard backgrounds. About 50/50 M:F, and vast majority were juniors.
Most everyone came from a good school. I also found that almost everyone was very social and personable, which was fun. Bonded with a lot of the other interns over the ten weeks and really leaned on them heavily when the hours sucked
It seems like the goalposts are constantly shifting on what’s a target vs. a semi target vs. a non target, and I think that whole conversation is really stupid anyways, so I’m not going to engage in it. But most everyone went to a school where your initial reaction is “oh, that’s a good, fun place with a lot of good programs”
I tried to get this many down votes on a previous post and was not as successful as you. Please share your secret.
Your goal in life is to collect downvotes on WSO.?
,,, ,,, ,,, ,,, ,,, ,,, ,,,
Yeah pleas comment and leave a ms ;)
Gave you an SB instead. What are you gonna do now?
What can I do except say fuck you. Here’s a sb back ya hoe.
[comment deleted]
If you happen to scroll a few comments up you will find your answer regarding hours.
Yes, those groups get drilled really hard. But from personal experience and from talking to other interns, there are plenty of other groups where people get grinded big time. It’s all dependent on deal flow at any given time
were nontarget students ever at a legitimate disadvantage, whether it’d be not having alumni/knowing enough people at the group, being regarded as less knowledgeable because of their school, etc.? Did they have to work harder to get the return offer or was the playing field generally even?
Hard to say personally because I came from a fairly well regarded institution, but generally speaking — no. Once you’re there, it seems like they want you to succeed, no matter where you came from. Everybody seemed to be on a pretty even playing field, being judged by work product and attitude and not by school
If I'm interning at another BB(think DB/UBS) after my sophomore year, will I be able to renege on their return offer to work at GS? Also, how do you think GS views other BB internships in general?
When did you start the recruitment process?
Recruiting was a crap show for my class. JP kicked things off abruptly in early February, so I guess I started then. Going to info sessions, trying to talk to alumni, and all that kind of dominated spring semester
February of sophomore year or junior year for the internship between junior and senior year?
What is your future plans after this internship? Was it worth it in the end?
It sucks, but definitely worth it looking back. Good experience to actually see what IB is like on the inside.
I guess plan is to enjoy rest of senior year and head back full time haha
Hey, thanks for doing this! What questions did you get for the Superday if you don't mind me asking? What was their focus? What took you by surprise??
This isn’t the answer you’re hoping for, but it’s probably the most helpful one. Questions range from technical to behavioral to focused on your resume and past experiences. It’ll be different for everyone based on their major, prior internships, etc... know at a high level some of the main concerns around valuation and why you want to do banking and work at GS. Other than that not much advice I can give because it varies
Got cha. Thanks for the answer!
Hi, I was interested to see what sort of marks did you have cumulative walking into the internship (percentage wise)?
What does this mean
Like what was my GPA?
I laughed so hard when I read the title then peeked at the MS count.
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