<p>I recently posted a thread asking what are my chances of getting a consulting internship. I found out about 2 weeks ago that I have no chances at all! You were completely right, so thanks for telling me the truth about my chances - it helped so that I was not surprised by the rejections. </p>
<p>I have a new question: Goldman Sachs is recruiting in our 40 - 50th ranked school (we keep fluctuating between there) for the first time ever. I have already given my resume and attended info sessions, but I am worried. I am currently an undergraduate junior pursuing a bachelors in Biochem/Biophys and a MBA at the same time, with a 3.79 GPA. Even though I am pursuing the MBA, I am still listed as an undergrad in my transcripts and all school papers. </p>
<p>I applied for the undergraduate internship at Goldman Sachs and want to know whether or not I'll be dinged for being "overqualified" because of the MBA. I asked the coordinator of the GS info sessions and he said "no", but I don't know how much I can trust him since he works for our college, not for GS.</p>
<p>That is the only potential problem I can see with my resume (the fact that I am pursuing a MBA and I am applying for an undergraduate internship at Goldman Sachs). I have varied leadership, awards, 2.5 years of science research, paid and unpaid mentoring, 3.5 years at a very small scale local consulting company and 2 years of volunteering. </p>
<p>I probably don’t have any advice, but I am curious about something. Can you clarify - do you already have one undergradute degree or does your school allow students to attend graduate school before they earn an undergrad degree? I’m not sure what is common practice, where I went to school I think youneeded an undergrad degree to get an MBA. But I’m sure that may not be true everywhere. Maybe it’s some special combined program. In that case I say it would be absolutely no problem - you are still technically an undergrad.</p>
<p>It is a special program. I entered college with so many credits (52) that they let me enter the program early. Usually the few people who even join the program start in their senior year, but I started in my junior year Getting an undergrad degree before an MBA is still the case in most other places. </p>
<p>I obviously can’t guarantee anything (since neither of us knows how many apply for the internships, how many openings they have), but I would encourage you to apply. I know enough about Goldman Sachs to know they cherish creative, intelligent people and many times look for people with distinguishing characteristic, instead of another clone from an top UG business school majoring in finance. Your background shrieks of high achiever, and doing an MBA while getting a fairly difficult undergraduate degree in requiring high analytic skills (I didn’t even know they had such a major as biophysics, sounds really interesting) is going to make you stand out. The fact the Goldman is recruiting on your campus means they think enough of the school to recruit there, I can pretty much guarantee you that.,so I wouldn’t worry about that. One of the things to keep in mind is that interns are often chosen for potential as a future employee, and your background, having an MBA and a science degree, I suspect would give you a pretty good track into a job there if you in fact get chosen (that alone won’t do it, obviously, they also like most firms hire for fit with the culture and for personality types that match that)</p>
<p>In any event, give it a shot, I suspect you have a decent chance of being pleasantly surprised:)</p>
<p>Hi musicprint! Thank you so much for the encouragement - I am honestly glad to hear it. I know that GS values creative and high-achieving people, but I wasn’t sure how well i would fit into their “undergraduate” niche or their “MBA” niche since I’m somewhere in between. Thank you so much! You guys are the best! :D:D:D</p>
<p>I know a lot about this. The best advice I can give you is, have a very, VERY well-reasoned argument as to why you are doing what you do…ie, science undergrad & MBA. Not saying it won’t fly. WILL say that they will want to know what you are thinking, and what you want to do with it. IE, are you hoping to specialize in scientifically-minded venture capital start-ups? You need to convince them that there is a reason for your unusual approach, beyond a 'gee, I like both science and investment banking & couldn’t make up my mind, so…". I once got chewed out in an interview because I was interested in both sales & marketing…it was a dead cat bounce. You have to be specific, and you have to be convincing. And then, there has to be a fit with your very specific positioning, and their needs. If they don’t need someone with what you want to do, it won’t get you anywhere. Timing is everything, especially in this economy. Good luck!!</p>
<p>Goldman Sachs also offers an internship specifically for students working towards an MBA - you might also consider applying for this position.</p>
<p>They also have a nice section on their website that details the various sorts of internships and the type of credentials they’re looking for. I suggest that you make it a habit to Google every company you apply to - every internship I’ve applied to has had a page of this sort that has been extremely helpful during the application / recruiting process.</p>
<p>If you think some disclosure is needed, you can do it during the interview. Goldman is looking for people who fit its mold and if you do, you’ll get hired, and if you don’t you won’t. They want collegial team players, hard nose to the grindstone workers who have very good people skills. </p>
<p>Good luck. If you don’t get selected, you’re in good company. Its a fine screen.</p>
<p>Not sure if I agree with collegial team players part. My impression is more of how many dead body I could step over to get to where I need to be. I am sure there are some nice people working there.:)</p>
<p>2kidsnoanswers - I do have a very good and convincing reason (I know it’s convincing because I’ve other interviews and they thought it was very valid). Also, the recruiters came to my school looking for sales trading and investment banking - which is what I want to do! I just am not sure if I’ll be overqualified or not, from the answers I get here, it seems like I won’t be overqualified thanks for your advice, it made a lot of sense :)</p>
<p>k4r3n2 - I know they have that, but that’s just it. I am underqualified for the MBA internships at Goldman Sachs. 3 to 4 years work experience is a requirement I have NO work experience, so I really can’t apply there at all. Yeah every company has that page, but all MBA internships want some kind of work experience which I clearly will not and cannot have (given my situation)</p>
<p>dadx - thanks I actually believe that I fit the mold of culture’s company very well, I’m just worried whether or not I’ll be over qualified for their undergraduate internships :(</p>
<p>oldfort - there’s nice people everywhere :D:D</p>
<p>Aik: do you know any second-year MBA students in your program–perhaps they’d have some advice on how to approach GS, given your particular situation. I have a D working on an MBA and she’s received lots of information/advice on internships from second-year students and also from some of the B-school clubs (Energy Club, Women in Business) that she’s joined.</p>
<p>If you are attending a mid-tier college, and it has a joint BS/MBA program (not something that elite universities do), and you are in your second or third year of college, then you are muchmuchmuch better off approaching Goldman Sachs as an undergraduate doing interesting, ambitious things than as an MBA student, and you should present yourself as such. You are not going to get dinged as overqualified (I doubt that the term “overqualified” has meaning at Goldman); in an MBA pool you would likely look woefully underqualified.</p>
<p>Bromfield - unfortunately, none of the 2nd year MBA students have had the chance to intern at Goldman Sachs. So no one really knows about it I asked some 2nd year MBA students and lot of them only got local internships I’ll keep trying though since I probably haven’t asked all the MBA students yet - thanks a lot! </p>
<p>JHS - your words are like music to my ears!!! Thanks a lot! That’s what I thought too, that I would be more interesting as an undergrad rather than as an MBA student. “Woefully underqualified” does not even begin to say it…i’m more like “deathly-no-chance-ever underqualified” . Glad to know that there’s no such thing as “overqualified” at Goldman Sachs :') <– tears of happiness.</p>
<p>Oliver - where have YOU been accepted for internship? Why would you assume OP is getting interviewed for operations(not that there is anything wrong with it)? When you could add any value, please come back to post.</p>
<p>Haha, well I knew parents were smart, but asking my own parents would be weird because they would be biased against not hurting my feelings. They’re also immigrant software engineers so they don’t know as much as this forum. </p>
<p>I wanted to ask all of you because you are very honest and NOT immature spammers. I mean when I asked about BCG and getting an internship there, you guys told me the brutal reality…</p>
<p>Olivertwist - it’s not operations, it’s for either sales trading, investment banking or global research</p>
<p>aikomidori - my daughter went through the whole interview process last year. Many of those banks recruit at her school, and she was lucky to have many interviews. I am not sure if you would have the same option, but I told her to practice with banks that she wasn’t as interested in first. It gave her an opportunity to see what kind of questions they would ask at those interviews. She did blow her first interview because she had no idea what they were asking, as a math/econ major she didn’t know much about finance. </p>
<p>After her first bad interview, she read up on current events and did some research on the internet. We practiced her interview skills over Skype - what to say and what not to say. I think because of her math major, she did very well with brain teaser questions and GS was big on it. I would suggest for you to practice your interview skills with an adult.</p>
<p>If you haven’t done so already, make sure you have proper interview attire. For other industry it may not be as important, but for this appearance is important. Dark blue suit, plain white or blue shirt, conservative tie, matching color belt and shoes (preferrably lace shoes). Your suit should be well tailored (off the rack, but make sure sleeves and pants are the right length).</p>
Getting an undergrad degree before an MBA is still the case in most other places. </p>
I just am not sure if I’ll be overqualified or not, from the answers I get here, it seems like I won’t be overqualified 
I have NO work experience, so I really can’t apply there at all. Yeah every company has that page, but all MBA internships want some kind of work experience which I clearly will not and cannot have (given my situation)</p>
. Glad to know that there’s no such thing as “overqualified” at Goldman Sachs :') <– tears of happiness.</p>