Challenging 10 weeks, in a bad way - Summer Associate Goldman Sachs Employee Review

1.0
Mar 13, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Some folks were great, a lot of folks were fine. The exposure to senior level meetings and decision making was truly valuable.

Cons

Naturally, the hours were bad, but presumably you know what you are signing up for. I had worked long hours before but it is much harder without the sense of teamwork, camaraderie, and gratitude from senior folks. A few people were genuinely malicious and there was no way to protect yourself from them and no recourse when you were mistreated. Before I started people told me that a lot of backstabbing goes on at Goldman. I didn't really know what that meant until a few weeks into my summer. Most people were smart enough, but they didn't seem to be anything exceptional. If anything, the experience gives you the sense that smartest guys on Wall Street really aren't that clever. The simplistic level of the financial analyses and the lack of thought that goes into the inputs to analyses was eye-opening.

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5.0
Jul 3, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

a lot to learn, and can learn fast,

Cons

MD's pretty harsh to us,

3.0
Jun 30, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The firm encourages and supports to change teams, which is helpful in expanding experience or moving away if you aren't happy with your team

Cons

The promotion has become very opaque lately. They hardly give out promotions, but make you slog and overwork the whole year in the name of it. Basically, you have worked 200% and made to look like a fool by the end of the year.

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