In 2024, JP Morgan received 493,000 applications for 4,000 intern spots. Goldman Sachs received 315,000 for 2,700.
Ten years ago, Goldman received 53,000 applications for roughly the same number of seats.
The acceptance rate was 5% then. Today it's below 1%.
That means it's 80% harder to break into a top bank than it was just a decade ago.
And the window is smaller than most students realize. Elite boutiques finish recruiting by the end of sophomore year. Bulge brackets are done by sophomore summer.
Middle market banks close out by first semester junior year.
A student who starts preparing in the fall of junior year has already been locked out of the top two tiers before they send a single application.
This is the math that most students never see until they're on the wrong side of it. They study the same guides everyone else memorizes.