Investment banking is crowded, but not uniformly—and "crowded" does not mean closed
Yes, investment banking has more people competing for entry-level roles than it did fifteen years ago. Undergraduate recruiting at the largest firms (Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch) draws thousands of applications for a few hundred analyst positions each summer. But the field is not uniformly packed. Smaller regional banks, boutique firms, and specialized groups within large banks face real talent shortages. The crowding is real at the top of the prestige ladder; the opportunity exists elsewhere on it.
What matters more than the raw number of applicants is whether you fit what firms are actually hiring for right now. Investment banking has shifted in the last five years. Technology skills, data analysis, and ESG (environmental, social, governance) informed now move candidates forward faster than they did before. A person with a strong programming background and a finance internship at a mid-market firm may have better odds than someone with a prestigious name on their resume but no technical depth.
Key Takeaways
- Bulge-bracket banks (the largest firms) receive far more applications than they hire for, but mid-market and boutique firms often struggle to fill analyst and associate roles.
- Technical skills—Python, SQL, financial modeling software—now carry as much weight as school prestige in hiring decisions at many firms.
- Internship experience matters more than ever; firms hire 60 to 80 percent of their full-time analysts from their own summer programs, so the real competition happens before senior year.
- Lateral entry (moving into banking from another field) is more common now than it was ten years ago, and many firms actively recruit from consulting, tech, and corporate finance roles.
- Geographic location affects your odds significantly; competition is fiercest in New York and London, less intense in secondary markets like Charlotte, Chicago, and San Francisco.
Where the crowding is actually happening
The bottleneck is real at the analyst level—the entry point for undergraduates. A single bulge-bracket summer program might receive 5,000 to 10,000 applications for 50 to 100 spots. That is a 1 to 2 percent acceptance rate, which looks worse than it is because the pool includes people who applied on a whim, people with no finance background, and people who applied to five firms and got rejected by all of them.
The crowding thins out quickly as you move away from the household names. Mid-market firms (Lazard, Evercore, Centerview, Greenhill, Jefferies) hire fewer people in absolute numbers but also receive fewer applications per opening. A mid-market summer program might get 500 to 1,000 applications for 10 to 20 spots—still competitive, but a different scale. Regional banks and smaller boutiques often struggle to fill their pipelines and will interview candidates who have relevant experience but did not attend a target school.
The crowding also varies by group. Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisory is the most competitive because it is the most visible and the most lucrative. Equity research, debt capital markets, and corporate finance roles within the same firms are less crowded. A person who cannot break into M&A at Goldman Sachs might walk into a capital markets role at the same firm or move to M&A at a smaller competitor.
What has actually changed in hiring
Five years ago, the path was simpler: attend a target school, get a summer internship at a bulge-bracket bank, do well, and you had a full-time offer. That path still exists, but it is no longer the only path, and it is no longer sufficient on its own.
Firms now hire from non-target schools if you have the right skills. A person from a state school with a strong GPA, a summer at a regional bank, and demonstrable Python skills will beat someone from an Ivy League school with no technical depth. This is partly because the work itself has changed—modeling is more automated, data analysis is more central, and the ability to write code or work with large datasets matters more than it did before.
Lateral hiring has also expanded. Ten years ago, moving into banking from consulting or tech was unusual. Now it is routine. JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and others have explicit programs to hire people from outside finance—from McKinsey, from Google, from corporate strategy roles. This opens the field to people who did not plan to do banking from day one, but it also means you are competing with people who have already proven themselves in another demanding field.
How internship competition shapes your odds
The real competition happens in the summer before your senior year, not on graduation day. Most bulge-bracket banks hire 60 to 80 percent of their full-time analysts from their own summer programs. If you do not land a summer internship at a bank, you are competing for the remaining 20 to 40 percent of spots against people who already have banking experience.
This means the crowding starts earlier than you might think. Sophomore and junior summer internships are where the filtering happens. A person who interns at a bulge-bracket bank in the summer after sophomore year is on a much clearer path than someone trying to break in for the first time as a senior. Firms use these programs to identify people they want to hire full-time, and they move those people through the process faster.
If you miss the internship window, you are not locked out—but you are working against the odds. You will be competing with people who have already been vetted, and you will need something else to stand out: a technical skill, a connection, a track record in another field, or a willingness to start at a smaller firm and move up.
Geography and firm size matter more than prestige alone
If your goal is to work in investment banking, but you are flexible about where and for whom, your odds improve significantly. New York is the most competitive market because it is where the largest firms are and where the most people want to work. London is similarly crowded. But Charlotte, Chicago, San Francisco, and Boston have active banking markets with less competition for each opening.
Firm size also shifts the equation. A boutique firm with 50 people might hire one analyst per year. That is a small number, but if you know someone there or if you have done work in their specialty, you have a real shot. A bulge-bracket bank with 500 analysts might hire 50 per year, but it also receives 10,000 applications. The boutique is harder to find, but easier to get into once you know it exists.
This is why networking matters more in a crowded field. You cannot network your way past a bad resume, but you can network your way into a conversation at a firm where most people do not know to explore. Many banking roles at smaller firms are filled through referrals and informal channels, not through online applications.
What "crowded" means for your decision
If you are considering investment banking, the crowding should not scare you away if you actually want to do the work. It should, however, change how you approach it. Do not assume that a prestigious school or a single internship will carry you through. Build skills that are hard to find: learn to code, get comfortable with financial modeling software, understand data analysis. Do internships at smaller firms if you cannot land one at a bulge-bracket bank—the experience is real and the network is valuable.
Be willing to start somewhere other than New York or at a firm other than the one you have heard of. Many successful bankers spent their first two years at a regional bank or a mid-market firm, then moved to a larger firm once they had real experience. That path is slower, but it is more realistic for most people, and the work is the same.
If you are on the fence about banking, the crowding is a reason to think carefully about whether you actually want to do it. The field is crowded because it pays well and the work is visible. But it is also crowded because many people do not know what the work actually is until they are already in it. If you are drawn to banking because it sounds prestigious or lucrative, the crowding will feel like a barrier. If you are drawn to it because you want to work on complex transactions and you like the problem-solving, the crowding is just a filter that keeps out people who are not serious.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to go to a target school to get into investment banking?
No, but it makes the path easier. Target schools (Ivy League, Stanford, MIT, Chicago, Northwestern) have established recruiting relationships with banks, and banks interview more students from those schools. You can break in from a non-target school if you have strong grades, relevant internship experience, and technical skills. It requires more networking and more initiative, but it happens regularly.
Is it too late to get into banking if I did not intern at a bank in the summer after sophomore year?
Not too late, but harder. You will be competing with people who already have banking experience. Your best move is to intern at a smaller bank or a related field (corporate finance, private equity, consulting) before senior year, or to target mid-market firms and regional banks instead of bulge-bracket firms. Many people break in this way.
What skills matter most in a crowded field?
Financial modeling, Excel, and Python are the technical baseline. Beyond that, the ability to communicate clearly in writing and to work under pressure matter more than they did before. If you can code or work with data, you stand out. If you have experience in a specific industry (healthcare, technology, energy), that also helps you compete.
Should I explore to bulge-bracket banks if I know my odds are low?
Yes, but do not make it your only process. explore to bulge-bracket banks, but also explore to mid-market firms, regional banks, and boutiques in your area. Many people get their first banking job at a smaller firm, do well, and move to a larger firm two or three years later. The smaller firm is often the better entry point.
Can I get into banking if I did not study finance or economics?
Yes. Banks hire engineers, mathematicians, physicists, and people from other fields. What matters is that you can learn financial concepts quickly and that you have skills that are hard to find. If you have a technical background and you can demonstrate interest in finance, you have a real shot, especially at firms that are actively recruiting from outside finance.