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Investment Banking Analyst at Goldman Sachs

WHAT IS IN THE PDF

The Goldman Investment Banking Analyst round, end-to-end

Timeline: 2 to 4 weeks from application close to offer for full-time analyst recruiting. 6-8 weeks for summer.

Walk me through a DCF

The benchmark answer Goldman analysts grade against: "A DCF values a company as the present value of its future cash flows. Start by projecting unlevered free cash flow (EBIT × (1-tax) + D&A - capex - change in working capital) over a 5-10 year forecast period. Discount each year back at the WACC, which is the weighted cost of debt and equity. After the explicit forecast period, calculate a terminal value either using a perpetuity growth method (final-year FCF × (1+g) / (WACC-g)) or an exit multiple. Sum the discounted explicit-period FCFs plus the discounted terminal value to get enterprise value. Subtract net debt to get equity value, then divide by shares outstanding for implied share price." Common follow-ups: "Why use unlevered FCF?" (separates operating from financing decisions), "Why is the terminal value usually the largest component?" (most value sits beyond the forecast horizon), "What is the most sensitive input?" (WACC and terminal growth rate).

"Tell me about a time you had to deliver under pressure with limited information."

Built from your summer at the middle-market bank. Situation: Friday afternoon, MD asked for a comparable companies analysis for a $1.8B consumer carve-out, needed for a Monday IC. Task: build the comp set, normalize for one-time items, present a defensible valuation range, 60 hours total. Action: started with a 30-minute call to the VP to align on the comp-set criteria (sub-sector, geography, scale, growth rate), pulled financials from CapIQ Saturday morning, normalized for the Tylenol litigation charge in one comp and the divestiture gain in another, built a sensitivity table showing range with and without the outliers. Result: comp set survived the IC review, valuation range was within 0.4x of the deal that eventually closed. Personal learning: aligning on criteria upfront saves more time than fast execution.

Accretion / dilution quick math

Acquirer EPS $5.00, 100M shares outstanding. Target net income $80M, acquisition price $1.2B. Financed 50% cash (at 3% after-tax interest on freed-up cash), 50% stock at $40/share. Is the deal accretive or dilutive in year 1, and by how much? Solve in under 90 seconds. Step 1: cash side. $600M cash × 3% = $18M lost interest, after-tax. Step 2: stock side. $600M / $40 = 15M new shares. Step 3: acquirer pro-forma. Net income: ($5 × 100M) + $80M - $18M = $562M. Shares: 100M + 15M = 115M. New EPS: $562M / 115M = $4.89. Step 4: change. $4.89 vs $5.00 = $0.11 dilutive, ~2.2%. Verbalize: "Dilutive by about 2 cents, ~2%."

Goldman: what is new, what to reference

• Goldman Consumer Retail group has been active on DTC carve-outs in 2025-2026: Athletic Greens secondary, rumored Olipop strategic process. Naming one in the "why this group" pitch lands well.
• TMT group (specifically the software sub-group) is the most-recruited Goldman group at top schools in 2026; competition for the top-3 ranking is highest.
• Goldman moved to mostly virtual superdays for first-round summer in 2026; final-round full-time still onsite at 200 West Street.
• The "fit case" question on superday has become more common in 2026. Be ready to defend one deal or one investment thesis from a 5-minute brief the interviewer gives you live.
• Lead campus recruiter for Wharton and NYU Stern is reportedly Sarah Kim; she runs the analyst track and prioritizes group-fit signal over generalist breadth.