Spring Week - Ask me anything (Q&A)

Yes indeed, it was in London!

Yes, got an offer!

Goldman pays, while MS and JPM do not. However, you get your costs reimbursed for flight / train and accommodation is provided.

Definitely many of people from non-target schools, although most were form the classic UK target schools. UK mostly Warwick LSE Oxford, but also people from Germany, Netherlands, Italy, and France

1. yes I had an internship in AM + activities in different societies at uni and back in high school

2. I applied to many AM and luckly got a spot at a very small and unknown firm, however, better than nothing ;) I would recommend to be very active at different societies/clubs at uni. e.g. investment club, debating etc. I had some experiences from high school and uni I could add. Keep in mind that the banks now you are a first year student and they don't expect you to have interned at Blackstone before applying.

3. I think A level results matter a lot! after all if you are a first year student your have almost no track record at university and your grade list only includes some easy introduction courses. I have a really good high school diploma and I think that helped quite a lot.

4. I just checked the list of our participants: 60% of the students were from UK universities, mostly LSE, Warwick, Oxford, Cambridge but also "lesser" known UK universities. For the other 40% it was really mixed, a lot of European target unis like Bocconi, HEC, but also here many different universities were present

on the last day of your SW you are going to have a few interviews. based on your performance during the SW and the interviews you will get invited for an AC a few weeks after the SW. The AC is quite standard and I would compare it to the standard AC in autumn although it is a bit less heavy on the technical part. If you perform well there, they'll make you an offer. I would say that the ratio between SW-AC-offer was around 4:2:1, meaning that they always cut the group in half. I heard that at some firms the ratio is a bit better, meaning that more people get an offer.

I would not say that the recruitment process is much different than for SA internships. Meaning that your will have to be prepared for the same kind of questions, however, I have the feeling that they are much more relaxed on technical questions. It is important to prepare these things before the SW, during the SW you will not have much time. Try to find as much information as possible before coming to the SW, read up deals and try to find people on linkedin if they are scheduled to host a presentation. For example, I researched one specific deal thoroughly because I thought it was really interesting and during the SW two guys from the team that worked on that transaction were holding a presentation (was lucky on this one). The presentation was a case study about the deal followed by a discussion. Of course, I had a huge advantage over other students as I could remember many details that others didn't even know about. So don't forget this kind of research, don't only prepare "your story".

During the SW just always be proactive and listen carefully. Even when you don't like a certain presentation of a certain group try to participate as much as possible. Obviously always ask questions, but ask good questions. The most annoying SW attendees are those that just come up with some BS question because they somehow think that asking questions increases their odds of getting an offer. I strongly advice against it. People will realize whether your have a solid questions or whether you are just BSing. Some presenters told me first hand how much those people annoy them. Thus ask questions, but only if you really have a question!

1. in general keep it simple and stick to the tips and tricks for summer internships. That is what I did and it worked fine. I would't say there is anything special for the SW application. The only thing is that you usually don't have much work experience so it good to highlight any activities (that are somehow related to the job) from high school and university.

2. I submitted most of my applications around end September - beginning October. I heard back from two at the end of December and ended up getting one offer.

3. Absolutely not! I really don't think so as the BB need a lot of summer interns every year and the amount of interns they recruit from SW is much much less than that. But SW definitely helps a lot getting a SA because it gives you the opportunity to secure an internship before the SA applications open. And in case you don't get an offer you can still apply to all other banks when the official applications are open

4. I am not a banker so it's hard for me to answer this question. Generally though my impression was that there was a huge amount of uncertainty and nobody really knew what was going on.