GoKawiilKey Takeaways Goldman Sachs accepted fewer than one in 100 applicants for its 2026 summer internship program.
It is the third consecutive year its intern acceptance rate has stayed below 1%.
The firm views its interns as a long-term investment in leadership; 40% of Goldman’s partners originally joined through campus recruiting.
Goldman Sachs has reached a new level of selectivity in its internship program.
The investment bank received hundreds of thousands of applications globally and accepted fewer than 1% of applicants this year, marking one of the lowest acceptance rates in its history, according to data shared with Fortune. A decade ago, the internship acceptance rate was about 5%.
“I think the selection rate speaks both to the strength of the opportunity and the caliber of talent we’re attracting globally,” Jacqueline Arthur, Goldman’s head of human capital management, told Fortune. The firm views its interns as a long-term investment in leadership, she said, adding that 40% of Goldman’s partners originally joined through campus recruiting.
The class of 2,500 interns comes from more than 500 universities, represents 90 nationalities and speaks over 70 languages. The group highlights how competitive entry into elite finance has become — this is the third consecutive year that Goldman has kept its intern acceptance rate below 1%. The internships typically start in early June and conclude in mid-August.
The composition of Goldman’s incoming class is diverse. The firm told Fortune that this year’s interns include over 30 high-level athletes, including a three-time Olympian, about 50 accomplished musicians and nearly 20 founders of nonprofit organizations. The mix shows that Goldman is moving beyond recruiting quantitatively-driven candidates from a narrow set of elite schools.
“We’re meeting individuals with a wider range of academic backgrounds, lived experiences and ways of thinking,” Arthur said. “It allows us to better understand the full person behind the application — and gives candidates a clearer view of the firm and where they might contribute.”
Other employers are also getting more selective
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