What are the odds of getting an investment banking job?
The lucrative and fast-paced career of an investment banker is a highly competitive one. For instance, in a recent year, 236,000 applicants competed for roughly 3,500 internships at Goldman Sachs. This is common across the industry where acceptance rates for programs are typically less than 2%.
Investment banking is extremely competitive with way more applicants than available positions each year. You will often be up against students from Ivy League universities, with a high GPAs and multiple internships under their belts.
Statistics indicate that acceptance rates for top investment banks, such as JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, typically range between a mere 3% to 5%. JP Morgan is renowned for its rigorous recruitment process, resulting in extremely low acceptance rates.
Yes, GPA matters! Bulge bracket banks and almost all other investment banks will look at your GPA when applying for a job and you should include it in your resume. Typically banks screen resumes based on GPA and will often remove anyone below 3.5.
Across the industry, even at the firms which saw slight year-on-year falls, the norm seems to be that the crude percentage chance of getting accepted to an investment banking graduate program is a bit more than 1%, but significantly less than 2%.
The acceptance rate of less than 1% makes JPMorgan's investment bank harder to get into than Harvard or Yale. That level of interest doesn't seem to be isolated to JPMorgan, which is a juggernaut on Wall Street across advisory and trading businesses.
The Truth About Math
You don't use it that much. The math you do use is very simple. As in, arithmetic. Therefore, you don't have to be a math genius – but you do have to be good with numbers.
Most of the investment banking target schools are Ivy League schools and top liberal arts colleges. However, you may be surprised to know senior bankers at investment banks tend to recruit candidates from the schools that they attended!
A GPA of a 3.7+ can make up for weaker experience, but is by no means a gimme. Banks prefer good experience to good GPAs (subject to a minimum in the 3.3-3.5 range).
For those seeking a career in investment banking, a bachelor's degree in finance is a prerequisite. Other potential acceptable majors include bachelors in economics or bachelors in business supplemented with a minor in finance.
What GPA does Goldman Sachs want?
Goldman Sachs does not give a specific minimum GPA requirement, though some sources suggest a GPA of at least 3.6 is preferred. Additionally, you may need to show relevant coursework and hard skills for certain programs.
Q: What are your GPA requirements? A: We value diverse degree backgrounds and experiences and while a GPA 3.2 (or equivalent) in your undergraduate degree is preferred it is not required. Our training programs are designed to allow everyone, regardless of major studied to succeed.
For example, if you attended a top 5 university, majored in engineering, and completed 2-3 finance internships, a 3.3 – 3.4 GPA is not the end of the world. But if you went to a non-target school, majored in history, and completed 0 finance internships, then a 3.3 – 3.4 GPA may be the end of the world.
Investment bankers typically earn salaries in the $200,000 to $700,000 range, with bonuses that can bring their total income up to several million dollars per year. To amass a million-dollar fortune, an investment banker would need to save and invest a large portion of their income over a period of many years.
Sure, anybody can make a good living being a doctor or a lawyer or an investment banker where you can make ~$200-500K per year a few years after you finish with your studies, but you hit a ceiling very quickly unless you start your own practice (aka start your own business).
Becoming an investment banker requires several years of higher education in addition to licensure. It also requires strong mathematical and analytical capabilities, which may be challenging for some people.
If you are advanced to the final round, you'll be invited for an in-person or virtual interview to meet more members of our team face to face.
The firm operates the largest investment bank in the world by revenue. It occupies 24th place on the Fortune 500 list of the largest U.S. corporations by revenue. In 2023, JPMorgan Chase was ranked #1 in Forbes' Global 2000 ranking.
IBankers make a stable living but won't be what is typically considered "rich" until they move onto buyside opportunities (in some circ*mstances), leverage their experience into becoming managers at companies and gaining an equity stake, or moving much further up the investment banking command change.
That said, investment banking is a highly competitive field. Because the pay is so high and the job is so prestigious, particularly in cities such as New York, applicants far outnumber job openings every year. Having the right skills and being able to display them is paramount for getting a foot in the door.
Is investment banking really that stressful?
Investment banking is one of Wall Street's most coveted roles. It is also one of the hardest. It is no surprise that the average day in an investment banker's life is long and stressful. Those who manage to survive the adjustment period often go on to have long and financially rewarding careers.
- University of Pennsylvania.
- Georgetown University.
- Harvard University.
- Columbia University.
- New York University.
- Cornell University.
- University of Notre Dame.
- University of Michigan.
University of Pennsylvania is no surprise and they are very clearly the overall best school for finance placement. UPenn dominates investment banking recruiting and even sends dozens of people directly into great private equity firms and hedge funds every year.
Master's in Finance: MIT, Princeton (more of a quant program), UT Austin, UVA, Vanderbilt, WashU, Notre Dame, USC, Claremont-McKenna, and maybe a few others (best to look at employment reports here). MBA: The M7 schools, Yale, Stern, Haas, Ross, Tuck, Fuqua, Cornell (Johnson), and possibly a few others in the top ~20.
It is very hard to get a job at JP Morgan.
JP Morgan is one of the world's largest and most prestigious banking firms, so the competition for roles is fierce. JP Morgan is also known for its rigorous, intensive, and selective hiring process.
