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The two things to study for a job at Goldman Sachs

If you want a job at Goldman Sachs when you leave university, it will help if you study one of two things: business and economics or a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) degree. 95% of the summer interns arriving at Goldman Sachs this week have studied one of these two subject areas.

In a blog post welcoming its new summer intern class, Goldman said around 50% have studied business and economics and around 45% have studied a STEM subject. Just 5% have studied liberal arts. 

Proportionately, Goldman's intake of STEM students is increasing. - Four years ago, 37% of the firm's intake were STEM majors. 

The blog post scuppers the notion that banks are genuinely interested in hiring liberal arts students. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon himself studied at Hamilton, a small liberal arts college. Solomon said in 2019 that liberal arts students have an advantage in banking because they know "how to write."

In fact, an ability to write doesn't seem to make much difference to a Goldman application. However, Goldman's blog post also observes that one of its incoming interns is an internationally ranked Scrabble player, who presumably knows a lot about how to spell.

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Photo by Amanda Jones on Unsplash

 

 

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AUTHORSarah Butcher Global Editor
  • Ni
    Nicolas Bourbaki
    17 June 2021

    "business and economics or a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics)"
    So, basically, anything but literature. :D

  • Fi
    Finance Hardo 101
    16 June 2021

    Selection pool bias also exists... those studying economics/STEM are much more likely to apply for finance jobs than someone studying art, history, etc.

    Also S&T interns & grads are dominated by mathematics & engineers now, whereas many years ago (when I started), you had random guys on the desk who had studied English or Politics... automation of the field requires quant-y gards, new generation

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