Summer Analyst Review

It was a great experience. Colleagues are smart, driven and friendly. The rotational structure enabled me to get a very broad understanding of the value chain within the Securities division. I also gained lots of soft skills during the process as, by design, it forces you to reach out to/ask questions to/get feedback from different people within the firm all the time.

The role is called "Summer Analyst" for a reason. You get the same (pro-rated) salary as a regular Analyst and desks will treat you like an Analyst that has just started and thus as a regular member of the team. You will get to present your project work in front of the whole team for each rotation and get recognition/credit for it.

At my desk, the senior people invested a lot of time in the interns. There were formal catch ups of course, but also insightful informal conversations on a daily basis. You will get guidance and detailed feedback on your project work. If somebody is just too busy, they will tell you to come back later, but often they will drop what they are doing to answer your question.

The flip side of the fact that you learn incredibly much is of course that you are very very busy. As a rule, there is always more work than you can manage and you will have to put in long hours (and maybe work on the weekend too) to deliver. You will definitely be busy, but, given that the work is super interesting, never bored.

The work you are given will initially be designed for you to learn and thus tend not to carry too much responsibility. However, depending on the complexity of the desk you are on, you will be given more responsibility at later stages of the internship and might actually add value to your desk.

As opposed to most internships in the industry, Goldman won't dump mundane/tedious work on you, but rather give you work that is purely designed for you to learn. Combined with the rotational structure of the programme this means you'll learn incredibly much about the different roles (Sales, Trading, Structuring) and asset classes (Equity, FX, Credit, Commodities, Rates) in the 10 weeks.

Everybody is very friendly and the atmosphere is chilled. People do work very hard though and they will expect the same from you. However, if you put in the work, you will also have a lot of fun with your team on a daily basis. I would often send around brainteasers to other team members or just have general interesting conversations about not necessarily finance-related subjects.

The firm invests an enormous amount of resources in you. The pay you the regular analyst salary and structure the programme to basically be a ten week interview. Thus they prioritise your learning over your ability to add value doing tedious/boring work (which is what most other banks will make you do during your summer internship).

GS is a very meritocratic place that rewards talent and performance. The upside compensation-wise is very big, if you are willing to put in the effort. I don't understand the rating scale of this question unfortunately though. Yes, I "Got a Job With Them!", but I am not sure what that has to do with how appealing they are generally as an employed (which, to me, they are)?

During the internship, you' feel like you're in a bubble as the only thing you basically do is work and sleep. That naturally creates a strong bond to others who happen to be in the same situations. Although most people took the weekends off to chill or even came in to the office, we would meet with all interns from our division on Friday at the pub for a few pints. More often I would also go out with a smaller group of very good friends I made during the internship.