<p>The title says top choice, not likely choice. Seems kinda stupid to be wishing for anything less, although it is a hell of a lot more reasonable.</p>
<p>true dat, no one ever got anywhere wishing to be 3rd place!
my top choice would be any global macro fund or such group in BB</p>
<p>i'd be interest to know how the whole summer application process works, such as the amount of time each company spends on each application and any filters that they use, such as minimum GPA. i know that J.P. says you gotta have at least a 3.2 for the asset management internship, but a 3.0 for other departments</p>
<p>a random question, but how do you guys know so much about banking and stuff so early on? im gonna be a freshman next year (pre med, bio major), and i dont think im headed toward IB, but ive always found it so interesting.</p>
<p>it seems that a lot of you guys are close to my age, yet you all speak in a language i dont understand.</p>
<p>anyways, what does doing an internship grant you? if you get a job offer, is it after you get a degree, or after graduate school, or what?</p>
<p>i really have no idea about anything.</p>
<p>relax bud.
Most (if not all) of us just reiterate what we have read before from the gazillion other posts on IB, S&T, etc. found on the web from CC, Wall st. oasis, etc.</p>
<p>first to zzzboy-an internship gives you advantages over other students in your particular field of study. whether its investment banking, or the sciences so you should def have an internship before you graduate, even tho ur going to med school. it makes you more marketable both to grad schools and employers.</p>
<p>oh yeah, i also got IB and credit risk management when i did the GS quiz...im def applying for their internship for next summer. anyone else applying?</p>
<p>How hard is it to land one of these internships besides having a great GPA? and does knowing an exec. improve the chances of getting in. thanks a lot</p>
<p>Very competitive and Yes, depending on how well you know them.</p>
<p>Goldman SSG</p>
<p>Guess what? Its your lucky day. I interned at Goldman Sachs S&T this past summer. I've actually been on the message board looking at the grad school forums, but for anyone with questions about GS S&T, GS in general, the application process...etc, I can help!</p>
<p>Wow okay <em>hoping you're not a troll</em> could you give a summary of your background--tier of school, major, previous experience, relevant networking, etc.? What did you like and dislike about the job? How was it different from what you were expecting? What's Goldman's culture really like? What are your future plans? I realize you don't want to give out personally identifying info, so thanks in advance for anything you feel comfortable sharing.</p>
<p>
[quote]
"Wow okay <em>hoping you're not a troll</em> could you give a summary of your background--tier of school, major, previous experience, relevant networking, etc.? What did you like and dislike about the job? How was it different from what you were expecting? What's Goldman's culture really like? What are your future plans? I realize you don't want to give out personally identifying info, so thanks in advance for anything you feel comfortable sharing."
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Haha... I'm a rising senior so I have some time on my hands.
I go to an ivy league school. I double major in economics and mathematics. I worked at a smaller asset management firm my sophomore year, and a random non-finance related gig my freshman year. I should have networked a lot more, but I was lazy and didn't do it. I guess it helped since I go to a target and schools come by... however you can bet that this coming year I am going to be networking my ass off.</p>
<p>Officially its called the Goldman Sachs Securities Division, which is comprised of two gigs, Sales & Trading Rotational and Securities Placed. The rotational consisted of 3 3-week rotations (a week of training to begin), whereas the Placed kids spend their entire summer on one desk. Placed kids tend to have more long-term focus and do the proprietary stuff (Principal Strategies, SSG...etc), whereas S&T rotational rotate among the flow desks (FX emerging markets, Commodities, Interest Rates...etc). I was in the Rotational program with around 140 others... there were around 20 kids in the Placed.</p>
<p>Best part of it would have to be the works. Salary-wise, 60k prorated is damn good for a college student. $25 dinner allowance everyday for staying past 7, which I only used occasionally because I left the office before then. A ton of networking events, senior speakers, community teamworks...etc. Open bars! They treat you well.</p>
<p>Dislike- The intense networking and pressure to get a job. Go back and reread this thread because some things were mentioned that are spot on. THere is INTENSE pressure to get a job, especially since the market is down. A bunch of ass-kissing, trying to schedule dinners with MDs, sucking up to HR. Offers don't come around until september. I'm still unclear of my status at this point =(</p>
<p>Wasn't really different from what I was expecting. Last couple of weeks were hectic as everyone was trying to figure out their likelihood of getting a job with the different groups so there was this intense game theory being used by everyone.</p>
<p>Goldman's culture is definitely intense. I know I use the word a lot, but people are all type-A personalities. They also know they're the best, so in terms of senior speakers and such, well, they like to talk about themselves.</p>
<p>Again, my futures plans are pretty hazy. I don't know if I'm getting an offer, so we'll see. I didn't really like my experience that much. It was okay. I had an offer from the banking division of Lehman Brothers and an offer from a prop shop called Jane St which some people may have heard of. I took GS mainly because of the name. there was one desk I really liked related to credit trading, so hopefully if I get an offer it'll be with that desk. However, I'm really looking towards consulting after graduation, hopefully at McK/Bain/BCG. I'm hedging my bets with studying for the GREs and going to grad school.</p>
<p>Hope that helped.</p>
<p>Yeah thanks so much. Do you think that the things you disliked are particular to Goldman, or would you expect to find them in any S&T division (or for that matter at any bank)? I'm a math major at Princeton, and I'm hoping to eventually land an IB internship that requires strong quantitative skills (though probably not a quant). I've heard of Jane St. because they sponsor our math club, but I don't know much about them. Any advice? It seems sort of strange for a math major like you to be interested in consulting. What's the draw for you?</p>
<p>Jane St.? You must be quite the shizzle (not sarcastic). They are pretty selective. One of my friends made it to 2nd round and stumbled when they asked programming questions.</p>
<p>Also, how exactly do you get a placed desk? So far, I only know of one guy from my school getting into GS SSG as an intern but his last name is Moelis. Bright guy - but I'm not sure he could do it w/o connections.</p>
<p>Also, thanks for offering us inside advice.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Yeah thanks so much. Do you think that the things you disliked are particular to Goldman, or would you expect to find them in any S&T division (or for that matter at any bank)? I'm a math major at Princeton, and I'm hoping to eventually land an IB internship that requires strong quantitative skills (though probably not a quant). I've heard of Jane St. because they sponsor our math club, but I don't know much about them. Any advice? It seems sort of strange for a math major like you to be interested in consulting. What's the draw for you?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>A lot of S&T programs are smaller, so I feel that theres a better chance to meet everyone, and a lot better chance of getting a job. I think its just Goldman alone, since they do have a pretty distinct culture. I'm pretty sure I would have enjoyed other S&T experience more, but had I accepted another offer I would've asked myself, what if I had went to Goldman? Although, don't get me wrong, I still liked my experience and am very glad I did it.</p>
<p>The thing I disliked most, and I forgot to mention this earlier, is the fact that as an intern you were constantly being tested. We have these things called "Open Meetings" where everyone gathered up in a room and a senior person came in. He would call out our names and ask us a random question (e.g. where are the fed futures and how would you arbitrage? where is USD/JPY relative to last week? how do you think china's foreign policy affects the price of oil?) This happened like 5 or 6 times, and if you got your answer wrong, the senior speaker would launch into a bitter tirade. We were expected to read barrons, wsj, economist, marketwatch, so often times when someone didn't know, the guy woudl be like, So Jim, DID YOU READ SECTION C2 of BARRONS?! And the poor kid would say, No sir, I did not. And sometimes the guy would be like, "well get out". Seriously, open meeting were the worst possible thing ever. Luckily if you did well you had a chance to shine, but most people didn't (I was one of the lucky ones!). I highly doubt other firms have this.
Also, while visiting desks, you were always constantly being tested. The first week of the program I stopped by the exotic options desk to speak with the MD and get to know them. After 2 minutes, the MD started asking me crazy questions (e.g how does your vega change as your time decay increases in a knockout ITM call?, whats vomma? You don't know?! Let's just go through the greeks one by one...) Some MDs were incredibly nice and helpful, whereas other assumed you were a Wharton grad with years of option experience. I guess visiting such a desk though, I was expected to know all the greeks (which I high recommend you learn if you want to go into trading).</p>
<p>Regarding Jane St., I interviewed 3 rounds with them. All math questions and stat questions. Some calculus was involved, though nothing past multivariable. A lot of brainteasers. One I remember getting was that, say you and your roommate are holding a party. You invite 10 other groups of roommates (so you 2, plus 10 other pairs of 2). At the party you poll everyone (except yourself) and find out that everyone shook a DIFFERENT number of hands. Assuming nobody shook their own hand, and nobody shook their roommate's hand, how many hands did your roommate shake? I remember that question specifically because i got it wrong, however I made up for it in the latter rounds. I was really happy with the JSC offer but I don't want to be a quant!</p>
<p>Wow...typing this **** is tiring. Let's keep going.</p>
<p>Regarding consulting, there are several reasons why I'd choose it over S&T.
1) S&T is by far a niche product. Very few exit opps, and after doing it, I want a broad exposure.
2) I'm interested in advisory and problem-solving. This includes investment banking as well, but I don't think many banks are hiring, and ibanking hours are insane (I'm still sending in my apps to places though).
3) I want to go to B-school. MBB is the best for that.
4) I don't want to get fired after my first year. Honestly, finance is so ****ty right now, consulting seems a lot more safe.
I guess the main reason is because I like the work, a better lifestyle, yes, there is less pay, but whatever, they pay for b-school!</p>
<p>Neutralnuke, I'll answer your question a bit later... each one takes a damn long time to type out.</p>
<p>Wow varianceswap very generous of you -
did you feel your math training helped out alot during your internship?</p>
<p>also, were there computer science majors in s&t?</p>
<p>i sent you pm, btw.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>thanks for all the info variance. Could you list the various schools all the other interns were from if that's not a problem? Also, what were the most represented majors? Were quantitative majors more represented? How many spots were available in total for the S&T intern class? once again thanks a lot</p>
<p>Thanks so much!</p>
<p>
[quote]
Jane St.? You must be quite the shizzle (not sarcastic). They are pretty selective. One of my friends made it to 2nd round and stumbled when they asked programming questions.</p>
<p>Also, how exactly do you get a placed desk? So far, I only know of one guy from my school getting into GS SSG as an intern but his last name is Moelis. Bright guy - but I'm not sure he could do it w/o connections.</p>
<p>Also, thanks for offering us inside advice.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yeah... Jane St. has some pretty cool guys. I talked a bit more about them in my previous post but if you have any other questions just ask.k
Regarding on how to get into placed desks, its a different program. On my school's website there were two postings, one for Securities- Sales & Trading, and one for Securities- Investing. I didn't really considering the investing one, but it has all the placed desks (GSPS, SSG, Distressed, Advisory, Bank Loans...etc and several more). If you apply to the investing one, you will have regular first round interviews, but second round, you will interview with each desk separately. For example, my friend got interviewed by GSPS, SSG, Commodities, and Money Markets and ended up getting one offer out of the four. Because its more prop, they expect you to have a valuation background, so many of the questions will be similar to banking.</p>
<p>Yeah, Moelis is a funny guy. I spoke to him several times. Very down to earth. Blankfein's son was also part of our class- he was in the S&T Rotational program.</p>
<p>Wow thanks
btw, did you trade variance swaps? lol</p>