Summer Internship Spotlight: Tom Warring (MBA‘25), Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs

Each year, Georgetown McDonough students spend their summers in Washington, D.C., across the nation, and around the world working in corporate, nonprofit, and government organizations. Meet a few of our graduate and undergraduate students in our 2024 Summer Internship Spotlight series.

Tell us about your summer internship.

Upon transitioning out of the Marine Corps in summer of 2023, I decided to attend the McDonough School of Business with the intention of working in finance. My goal was to work in investment banking, ideally in the technology and media industry groups. Luckily, with the help of many others, I accomplished this goal and am now interning as a summer associate at Goldman Sachs in their Technology, Media, and Telecom group. Every day, I learn more than I thought possible in a variety of areas. 

On a weekly basis, the group weaves in useful training sessions, panels with senior bankers and clients, and case studies. I have met fantastic people – both fellow interns as well as full-time colleagues – and received mentorship and coaching from junior and senior leaders in the group. The culture at Goldman Sachs is truly a differentiator and everyone in the group offers help, advice, and is invested in the success of the intern class. I am grateful for this opportunity this summer!

How did your internship relate to your professional or personal interests?

Professionally, I learned every day about companies in the industries I was interested in, developed my business acumen, and refined my communication style. Personally, I met and interacted with countless people and learned about their stories and career journeys. The opportunity to work with mission-driven companies to accomplish their goals and make an impact, while doing it alongside welcoming and talented individuals, is everything I hoped for in a summer internship.

How did you find your internship?

Georgetown McDonough was instrumental in helping me find my summer internship. The McDonough Career Center and the MBA Finance Club provided me the opportunity to engage with Goldman Sachs early in the fall during “Finance Week” in New York City. Throughout the rest of the fall, second-year MBA students and personal mentors helped me prepare and study for my first-round interview and follow-up “super day” interview. Finally, networking with full-time colleagues at Goldman Sachs over the remainder of the fall helped me navigate the process and find the specific group that I am happy to be a part of this summer.

What’s the most interesting or impactful thing you worked on during your internship?

I found the opportunity to participate as an intern in meetings with clients to be the most interesting part of every day. Learning about how they understand their business today, where they see it in the future, and the conversation about how to get there continuously sparked my curiosity. Additionally, the variety of work between different deal teams continues to promote intellectual curiosity. Every day there is a new task or project I don’t know how to do and by the end of the day, I have figured it out. I have had the opportunity to utilize analytical problem-solving skills as well as my creativity, which makes every day exciting.

What did a typical day look like?

One of the most exciting parts of the job is that no single day looks the same. On any given day there are calls with clients, internal team syncs, company and market research, financial analyses, training, and mentorship sessions. On a typical day, I always have an opportunity to interact with a senior banker, interact with plenty of full-time colleagues, critically think, problem-solve, and actively contribute to my teams.

What advice do you have for other students when it comes to internships?

Find a way to contribute and don’t be afraid to fail. From the start, try to be someone that is known as the person that gets things done, no matter what it is. If that task is as simple as taking notes or scheduling a meeting, jump at the opportunity and do it well. Additionally, being an intern is about throwing yourself into new experiences and learning. A natural part of this process is failure. Embrace it, don’t be frustrated by it. Fail early, learn from every failure, and try not to make the same mistake twice. Every full-time employee was an intern at some point. In my experience this summer, If you bring a good attitude and positive energy toward your work, people are willing to work with you through your mistakes.