Calc 2 vs. Chinese

<p>I am a freshman economics major and I am trying to figure out my schedule for next semester. My goal is IB and I was just wondering if I should take Calc 2 or not?? I'm taking Calc 1 now (I passed the AP Calc exam but wanted to retake class). If I don't take calc 2 next semester, I will have enough room in my schedule to take Beginning Chinese 1 and work up from there in the years following. Is it worth it to drop calc 2 and start Chinese next semester or would IB firms rather see more of a calculus background? I am for sure taking Statistics next year</p>

<p>I would take the Calculus class. Chinese won’t help you in finance (especially IB) if you can’t speak it fluently. And I mean fluently enough to read the financial section or describe EBITDA in Chinese.</p>

<p>I remember I was interviewing for an internship once and on my resume, I stated that I had taken Chinese in high school (three years). The interviewer started speaking Chinese to me, and I was lost. I took it off my resume and don’t plan on adding another language to it.</p>

<p>Thus, don’t take it unless you need it for your core curriculum, you have room for it in your schedule along with the Calculus or it is just something you are interested in.</p>

<p>Shea pretty much nailed it. Unless you’re mastering the language which is pretty hard to do even with the college courses, it’s useless. Take some calc courses/stats courses/ get a stronger mathematical background.</p>

<p>I guarantee that no bank will care about something as small an insignificant as choosing one class over another. Most interviewers never look at your transcript</p>

<p>If you are planning to become conversation in Chinese and head over to work IB in China, then get a jump start on it. Otherwise, take the math course.</p>

<p>That said, it really doesn’t matter which course you take - recruiters aren’t going to care about that detail. In short, take whichever course will give you the best grade, as GPA counts for much more.</p>

<p>PM me if you have other questions</p>

<p>IBanker</p>

<p>Take whatever you want because there is very small chance your chinese will get good enough to help you in the recruiting process. And you don’t use that much “calculus” for IB anyways. “IB firms” might want to see “more calculus background,” but taking up to calc 2 as opposed to calc 1 doesn’t make any difference, esp. if your “calc 2” class is equivalent to the AP Calc BC material and doesn’t involve multivariable calc. That’s sth that you should have taken in hs anyways.</p>