Business Insider reports that Bank of America received about 240,000 applications for fewer than 2,000 internship slots this year, producing an acceptance rate near 0.8%, Josh Bronstein, the bank's global head of talent, told Business Insider. Bronstein said the bank hired nearly 4,000 summer interns and full-time campus recruits this year, split roughly evenly, and described campus hiring as an "important pipeline." He added that applications ticked up this year, which he attributed in part to AI tools making it easier to apply. Reporting from Financial News and eFinancialCareers shows similar industry-level competitiveness at major banks, with JPMorgan receiving 630,000 internship applications in 2025 and Morgan Stanley posting very low acceptance rates in previous years.
What happened
Business Insider reports that Bank of America attracted roughly 240,000 applicants for fewer than 2,000 internship openings this year, producing an acceptance rate near 0.8%, Josh Bronstein, the bank's global head of talent, told Business Insider. Per Business Insider, Bronstein said the firm hired nearly 4,000 summer interns and full-time campus recruits this year, split roughly evenly between the two cohorts. Bronstein said the "vast majority" of interns typically receive return offers and stated, "We are being very intentional and thoughtful about the investments that we're making for the long term through hiring." He also said applications ticked upward this year and suggested that AI tools have made it easier for candidates to apply.
Editorial analysis - technical context
Industry-pattern observations: reporting from Financial News indicates comparable volume at peers, with JPMorgan receiving 630,000 internship applications in 2025 for roughly 4,100 intern slots, a success rate near 0.6%. Coverage compiled by eFinancialCareers shows historically low acceptance rates at firms such as Morgan Stanley, with prior reporting citing acceptance rates below 0.5% in some regions. These data points together illustrate that highly selective entry-level recruiting remains an industry-wide phenomenon rather than a Bank of America-specific outlier.
Context and significance
for data scientists and AI practitioners this story highlights two simultaneous forces: a rising applicant pool aided by automation and application tools, and sustained demand from large financial employers for early-career talent. Business Insider attributes the rise in applications in part to AI-enabled convenience for applicants, per Bronstein. The continued scale of campus hiring at major banks preserves a major recruiting funnel for quantitative, analytics, and engineering roles that feed into trading desks, risk teams, and technology groups.
What to watch
observers should monitor published intake numbers and return-offer rates from banks over the next 12 months to see whether class sizes hold, expand, or contract as automation and workflow tooling evolve. Public reporting from other large banks and yearly campus recruiting statistics will indicate whether the application surge is a temporary effect of easier applications or a structural shift in candidate interest. For practitioners tracking talent supply, note whether banks broaden role types within internship programs, for example, increasing spots in technology, data, or cybersecurity versus traditional analyst pipelines, as that will affect hiring demand for specific skill sets.
Scoring Rationale #
The story matters to AI/DS/ML practitioners because it affects talent supply and hiring pipelines into quantitative and tech roles, but it is primarily a recruitment trend rather than a technical or policy development. The impact is moderate for practitioners tracking hiring and labor-market signals.
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