Bloomberg Surveillance · Saturday, September 19, 2026
The competition for entry-level jobs on Wall Street has reached a new level of intensity, with college freshmen now preparing for internships and recruiting opportunities as early as their freshman year. Acceptance rates for some of these positions are reportedly lower than admission rates to Harvard, highlighting the extreme competitiveness of the finance job market.
“The banks want the best recruits and they want them as early as possible. So students have to prepare a lot earlier than they used to starting like freshman year, basically.”
“Which is crazy. And the acceptance rate for some of these jobs is lower than to get into Harvard, right? It's like 0.01 percent.”
“Yeah, it's harder to get into those clubs than to get into the school in the first place.”