Grand Detail List for SA Recruiting
SA recruiting seems far, nonetheless it is fast approaching. I think it would be great if we can compile a grand list of firms and their general non-finance attributues.
Goldman:
Business casual - Very tough background checks (hs gpa, SATs, previous employers called, college transcripts needed) - i know 3 people who SAed at goldman and none are returning despite FT offers due to the culture
Lehman:
Business formal - SATs on resume, transcript needed the first day of SA - 2 w/ FT offers are returning
Citi:
Business casual - Light background check (somebody told me they dont ask for transcripts) - 1 with FT offer is returning
Merrrill:
B cas - light background check ( no transcripts requried) - 3 with FT offers and 2 are returning
what exactly is this Goldman culture that is so off putting? Are they really type-A personality, super anal etc, or is it something else?
Everyone in the firm is rude/arrogant, even if they work in a crappy division like pwm or HR. They have one of the lowest offer rates for SAs.
Most people I know who work there are convinced that GS simply does not care about their experience at the firm.
GS does have fairly low offer rates for SAs, around 65-70% I believe.
Cannot disagree more with comments PoppingMyCollar. Everyone I have met at the firm has been very down to earth, especially those at the upper levels.
Regarding culture - I think the biggest differentiator with regard to GS is the emphasis senior management places on keeping the culture of the firm strong even as the company grows. So if you don't fit with the culture, it may be a difficult place to work. Whereas some other firms do not place as strong an emphasis on firmwide culture, making 'fit' more a a desk/group specific thing.
Hope that makes some sense, just my observations.
It's probably group by group, but GS definitely does not have one of the lowest offer rates. For example I know last year their industrial group made 10 offers to 11 summers and all 10 accepted. In contrast, my group (not GS, but BB) made only 50% offers (but were willing to give 100%...there just wasn't the level of talent). And another group on my floor gave 100%.
Who has a lower aggregate offer rate then GameTheory?
I don't have an answer for that. Like I said, it's group by group. But I do know that almost ever wall street firm is moving towards a model where they give as many offers to their summers as possible, so they have to do less full time recruiting, including GS. I think most groups would happily give 100% offers if everyone was good enough.
The summer just ended, in no way is SA recruiting "fast approaching." Superdays aren't until late february usually.
not so fast on the background checks..citi and merrill have companies that check transcripts.
a friend of mine actually got an email from his school that a background check agency was requesting his transcript and he actually works in ML. Citi the same.
Not sure how you got that. I am pretty sure they ask way before they arrive in NYC. Additionally, isnt bringing the transcript to first day of work reserved moreso for FT analysts?
GS does NOT have one of the lowest SA offer rates. In my group, over 90% of the summers got offers.
I can't give group by group offer rates, but most of the groups have over an 80% offer rate, and HCM claims they have an 85% offer rate across IBD.
Sales and Trading SA offer rate is much lower than that. I've been told by people who work there that they try and aim for it to be between 50-60%.
Yeah S&T at most firms I believe is much lower
"GS does have fairly low offer rates for SAs, around 65-70% I believe."
That's incredibly low. Except in recessions and crash periods, when offer rates go near 0 because people are getting fired, most banks have summer offer rates around 90-95%, only cutting the really sorry performers (who've mostly left finance, mentally, anyway). In other words, a 70% offer rate means that there are 3-6 times as many lost summers.
They check HS transcripts and SATs now?
Hahaha wow, I would have never gotten in.
In GS there are arrogant / rude people too, but not many, mostly recruited as a lateral with strong client relationships (from banks such as ML) which means $$$ for GS which conflicts with the general culture at GS which is of the down to earth, no arrogance person
What do the people who don't fit with GS or decide not to return to GS dislike about the GS culture? what aspects of the GS culture make them join other banks?
Can anyone confirm that they check HS transcripts? What about other banks?
summered at JPM in London 2 yrs back, transcripts on the 1st day... most other places in London (the ones i know) get an agency to do it before your start...
theres no way Merrill doesnt ask for any transcripts. ridiculous.
Who cares if they check HS transcripts? Apply anyways. It isn't like you have a 5 bank limit and can't apply to all of them...
Ok. I can confirm ML does indeed check. My boy said he had to give permission through his school to release academic info. He did inflate from 2.9 to 3.2 and never got called out.
LOL shut the FUCK up dan bush, everybody knows it's you
Something tells me this guy doesn't like dan bush.
i summered at ML
they checked our transcripts 2 months prior to our start date
i don't know where you're getting your info from...
are you guys talking about summer analyst or associate positions?
can anyone comment from first hand experience on the culture at merrill and citi?
how does a boutique's culture tend to compare to a BB's?
lol at dan bush. the guy is hilarious only in his relentless attempts to troll
Why does everyone think they're checking HS transcripts? I took from posts that they were referring to college transcripts... and that certainly makes sense. High school possibly if you're going for some kind of Freshman/Sophomore thing and don't have enough grades on paper to have proved yourself yet.
WHO CARES? The phrase "high school" should not even be in this thread. If they DO check hs transcripts, it is an entirely unimportant formality.
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