[Your Name]
[Your Full Name]
[Sex/Age]
[Date]
[Name of Investment Bank]
[Hiring Manager’s Address]
Dear Hiring Manager,
My name is Joan Torch, and I am a junior Finance, Economics and Mathematics triple-major at both New
York University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I am writing to express my interest in the
summer Investment Banking internship that I learned of at the Goldman Sachs booth at the campus career
fair in January. After learning more about your company’s values and its reputation as a world-class
financial institution, I became convinced that I wanted to be a part of your organization. I believe my
qualifications meet all of your candidacy requirements and then some, if I may.
Although my academic history may seem like that of a whiz kid, I can assure that I am not and never have
been. I am so awe-inspiringly humble that my status as a sextuple-threat candidate pales in comparison to
how brutally honest I really am. Sure, I may have left kindergarten to tutor fourth grade children in
English and math, but those experiences are by no means my strongest asset. I will not waste my time
telling you about how I became the honorary valedictorian at all three of the high schools in my county,
or about how I turned down a computer science teaching assistant position at Fordham University because
I know that my biggest personal weakness is to work too hard and bite off more than I can chew, but I
will tell you this: I am a hard worker, and I am willing to do whatever it takes to become a successful
Goldman Sachs investment banking intern. I am also a great team leader.
Because the employees at Goldman Sachs are undoubtedly the most excellent and diligent traders in the
world, I feel I need to discuss my results-oriented professional history. My first job was operating a
lemonade stand outside my home. After diversifying to wristwatches and life insurance, I sold my
company to Trump Organization for $5 million in 2009. Last summer, I was hired by Morgan Stanley to
fill all ten of their Summer Investment Banking Analyst internships simultaneously. My personal stock
portfolio has outperformed the Dow Jones Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Long/Short Equity Index by over 18
percent since I began investing in 2003, for whatever that is worth. I would also like to add that I once
met and shook hands with Rajat Gupta – I have not washed my right hand since. If you would like, I
could show it to you during the interview. This right here is an example of my superior networking skills.
I understand that it is quite uncommon for corporations like yours to hire highly inexperienced
undergraduate applicants from average universities, but I was hoping you would make an exception for
my friends who are also applying to this internship but have not enrolled in two first-class colleges like I
have. In my closet, I have built a shrine to Ayn Rand using only quarters and the coagulated sweat
collected from beneath my Bowflex, so this may also be a factor to my success.
After seeing my résumé and cover letter, I hope you see the potential in me, the way I see the potential in
you.
Feel free to call me at x-(xxx)-xxx-xxx or email me at xxx@xxx.xxx. Thank you very much for your time.
I look forward to receiving your prompt reply.
Best Wishes,
Joan Torch
[Your Name]