Do I need prior finance internships to be considered at Goldman Sachs?

Question

Hi all,

I’m currently in my ultimate year and thinking of applying for the summer analyst program at Goldman Sachs in the investment banking division. The thing is, I don’t have a traditional finance background. I’ve done one internship in consulting at a mid-sized firm and another at a startup where I worked closely with the founders on strategy and operations, but nothing like M&A, financial modeling, or anything you'd find in a typical IB internship.

I’ve been doing a lot of prep on my own (reading guides, watching valuation tutorials, even building a basic DCF), but I’m still wondering if that’s enough. Do I stand a real chance without prior finance internships on my resume, or is that basically a requirement for GS? Would really appreciate hearing from anyone who was in a similar situation or made it through from a non-finance path. Thanks so much in advance!

Answer 1

Hey, good on you for getting ahead of this and putting in the prep.

The short answer is yes, you still have a shot. Goldman looks at the full picture, not just whether you’ve done an M&A internship. What matters is how well you can show that you understand the job, have the skills to do it, and are genuinely motivated to be there.

Your consulting and startup experience can actually be a real asset if you position it right. Talk about moments where you worked under pressure, solved messy problems, or had exposure to business strategy. If you got to see how decisions were made, worked with data, or helped shape outcomes, that’s all valuable. What you want to show is that you’ve built a strong foundation, even if it wasn’t in a traditional IB setting.

That said, you’ll need to prove you’ve taken the time to build up the finance skills. Sounds like you’re already doing that with DCFs and valuation prep, which is great. Keep going with that and be ready to walk through a basic model, talk about a recent deal, and explain concepts like enterprise value or accretion/dilution. You don’t have to be perfect, but you should be confident and clear.

Hope this helps!