<p>These questions are for Goldman Sachs, specifically.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What are the main target schools for GS? Could you possibly give a general ranking... maybe of the top 10?</p></li>
<li><p>What kind of GPA would be expected/necessary for an IB job at GS? (and/or an interview)</p></li>
<li><p>What is the importance placed on ECs? President of a frat or just some community service? (i.e, what's typical for getting hired?)</p></li>
<li><p>What else is important?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Now obviously, networking and such play a big role. And obviously, every candidate is a different case and some originality can possibly help. However, I'm simply wondering what the typical entry-level investment banker at Goldman Sachs has accomplished / what they usually bragged about in the interview or put on their resume.</p>
<p>Your private parts must also exceed Goldman’s minimum size, otherwise you will be immediately rejected. I believe in 2008 the threshold was set at 10 inches.</p>
<ol>
<li>They are what you’d expect: Wharton, Harvard, Princeton, etc. </li>
<li>Varies somewhat depending on a school’s grading system, but I would shoot for 3.5+</li>
<li>Not as important as prior work experience, but you should have something</li>
<li>Fit</li>
</ol>
<p>Clearly, Ivies + top Private schools are disproportionately represented in the field of IB, esp. at Goldman Sachs
You won’t see any Public schools represented at GS or other IB firms. Maybe Berkeley or SUNY (if your a top student).</p>
<p>If you want to go to NYC, you’ll need to attend a top school (HYPS + MIT/Columba/Wharton). Offices in other cities will recruit locally (Houston - Rice/UT and etc).</p>
<p>You’ll need top grades (as high GPA as possible) in Business/Econ/Math/Engineering. Your ECs will need to exhibit leadership and a strong interest in finance/banking.</p>
<p>You also need to network extensively with other alumni to help get your foot through the door.</p>
<p>Even with all that, it’ll still take some luck.</p>
<p>I know this is a bit off topic, but I think that people should spend a lot more time thinking about if they really want to be an investment banking analyst before they think about how to actually become one. It’s a really rough lifestyle.</p>
<p>Anyway, what the last poster said is pretty accurate.</p>
<p>I probably won’t even end up wanting to work for GS or any other investment bank. I just like to know what the playing field looks like before I attempt to get into it, so I know my options ahead of time.</p>
<p>If you say so, but there must be a reasonable number of people that disagree given the number of banking analysts that don’t make it to the end of the 2 years. it’s obviously a personal choice, but I’m going to guess that the number of people that would actually find banking worth it is far far few than those trying to figure out how to get into it. Of all the popular first jobs out of college I feel like banking is the one that people should really try to get an internship in, not just because thats the primary way that the firms hire for full-time, but just because the lifestyle is so out there that people should try it out before committing. I did it for a summer and I pretty immediately knew that wasn’t for me.</p>
<p>I don’t like the banking lifestyle any more than you do and don’t plan on staying in IBD for long, but I think having ibanking experience gives you a much stronger resume as well as many job opportunities. A worthwhile investment, nothing more.</p>
<p>I hardly think of an Ibanking analyst job as a job in itself. Personally, I view it as a stepping stone, a necessary (the experience) evil (the hours/life style) towards a top MBA program. I mean, Law students go through hell, Med students also go through hell…an Ibanking job is just a Business student’s version of hell.</p>