Finance Division Summer Analyst Review

I really enjoyed my internship in the Finance division. Everyone I worked with was very friendly, helpful and intelligent. There was a large amount of scope for learning, and my team members placed the right amount of emphasis on pushing me outside of my comfort zone day to day.

I believe my work was valued by my team and colleagues. There is an understanding that you have given up your time/summer to come work with them and make a contribution. They continually thanked me for my efforts, and provided great feedback when I asked for it. However, you have to do solid work to be valued by your team.

There was a lot of guidance throughout the internship - both coming from my team, my mentor, buddies, and HR. You are placed with a mentor and buddy from outside of your team and within your division to openly and honestly discuss your thoughts on the internship and any questions that you may have. This was very useful.

Every day was very busy, though there were some calm periods. I was given real responsibility - if I wasn't doing my work someone else on the team would have had to do it. This meant that I had to follow along with team deadlines and also had to spend time on my own to work on individual projects that would create value above and beyond my daily role.

I was given a lot of real responsibility, which was perhaps the most valuable and rewarding aspect of the internship. Once I was shown the ropes and had a sufficient understanding of the tasks I would be doing, I was very quickly given scope to work on my tasks without the constant watch over my shoulder. This independence to work in a team setting made for a rewarding experience.

I would argue that I worked harder over the 10 weeks than I have worked in all of my schooling - which is not necessarily a negative aspect. I think it has prepared me to work hard in my other activities and has given me a very solid background and introduction in the finance industry. I feel more more confident speaking with people in finance while networking and have greatly grown my network which is the most valuable asset you can have.

Everyone was very friendly and willing to help. My sub-division and floor I worked on had a good level of noise and speaking, whereas some other floors I went to were completely silent. People were always joking around, but ready to get down to work when it needed to be done.

The program was extremely well organised, both in my team and by HR. We had a ton of useful events to network and learn more about our work and the firm. My calendar was often full of events organised for the interns. Similarly, my team was well prepared to welcome an incoming intern such as myself.

I believe the firm really cared about my needs and requests as an intern, as was definitely willing to hear my input. On the other hand, both my team and HR spent massive amounts of resources and time to make sure I could have the best internship possible. This is perhaps one of the things I was most impressed by throughout the internship,

I would argue that GS has very good employment prospects. It was my understanding that if an intern performed well, regardless of space and staffing requirements they would hire the person. Having seen the outcome of myself and many other interns I would argue this to be true. Not to mention the reputation of the firm is fantastic.

The other interns were very fun to hang out with outside work and during work sponsored events. We often went to the pub for a pint after work and enjoyed nightlife in London on Friday or Saturday night. That being said, we all have different schedules and work requirements so there were some times when it was difficult to find a common time.

London is a very expensive city. This comes across in the amount of money you pay for lunch everyday, in the cost of nightlife, and the cost of living. I would recommend living slightly further out of the center in a student accommodation that opens up for the summer to save money, and then just buy a monthly tube pass. Needless to say, you do get paid decently for the summer internship to help with this.

The nightlife was decent, but again it was very expensive. For students coming from outside London at first it is rather disappointing because you might be used to cheap and fun clubs at university. However, you have to remember that London is just expensive and that you are earning more money to compensate for this.

On the whole, I would say yes. There were many organised events like team drink, a division softball game, quarter-end celebration, and team building events. Similarly there were many chances to meet up with other interns both within your division and outside of your division in your own time after work.