<p>Hello guys. I am a high school sophomore and I am going to take the IBDP for my junior and senior years. The problemis that I plan to go in in the field of finance/economics but my parents want me to keep a back up for engineering/computer science and take chemistry. But I am really interested in psychology and want to take it up as a whim even though I have no idea about it as a subject. Is there any practical advantage of me taking chemistry such as more preference in colloges? This is how my subjects look at the moment..</p>
<p>HL
Economics
Math
Physics</p>
<p>SL
Psychology/Chemistry
English L&L
French B</p>
<p>So the decision is between Psych or chemistry..</p>
<p>I’m sure your finance/economics pursuit will be better served by the option to take IB Chem. Chemistry problems will help develop those critical thinking skills fundamental to complex financial analysis. “Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.” Finally, you’ll sharpen your applied math skills. Do it! </p>
<p>@KnightOne Neither of them are particularly important for finance/economics. But I asked my dad who works in finance which would be more useful and he said psychology. This is because it will help you understand clients better and many college require you to take psychology if you want to major in finance (my dad had to). </p>
<p>Regarding engineering/computer science, chemistry will only be helpful with some engineering disciplines but it more useful than useless. </p>
<p>I advise you to take the subject your more interested in (psychology) as you’ll be more willing to put the effort in to do the work which will inherently lead to you getting a higher grade. I don’t understand why a college would prefer chemistry over psychology for the DP considering they don’t even pay much attention to your subject selection. Just doing the IB diploma is impressive as it is! </p>
<p>Thank you for your answers guys @pink997 @Sohoist. I am sure colleges don’t make chemistry compulsory for computer science right? </p>
<p>@KnightOne Nope it certainly isn’t <em>required</em></p>
<p>@knightone let me say that exceptional quantitative analysis skills are necessary to evaluate investment fund, and portfolio performance. Basic chemistry class does include fundamental quantitative analysis, the intro psychology does not, it is typically a weak statistical data analysis model instead. </p>
<p>Quantitative analysis regarding this discussion is the examination of the concentration of a elements in chemical compounds, or the concentration of assets in a financial investments. </p>
<p>Major at college in chemistry you will be taking a class called quantitative analysis in your junior year. Major in finance and you will be taking Security Analysis and Portfolio Management (quantitative analysis) in your junior year.</p>
<p><a href=“Quantitative analysis (finance) - Wikipedia”>http://■■■■■■■.com/2wlemn</a> (Finance)</p>
<p><a href=“Quantitative analysis (chemistry) - Wikipedia”>http://■■■■■■■.com/ar2bdl</a> (Chemistry)</p>
<p>You are cynical saying " I am sure colleges don’t make chemistry compulsory for computer science right?" Well don’t think short term. Image the value of a chemistry class to a computer programmer who is writing code that compares concentrations of chemical at a major pharmaceutical company, or currency concentrations at the World Bank. It is the applied mathematics that you will learn in chemistry early that you will not learn until much later in other subjects. Boom!</p>
<p>The way I see it there’s only five possible outcomes:</p>
<ol>
<li>Take Chemistry. Do Finance. Use Chemistry credit as an elective if possible.</li>
<li>Take Psychology. Do Finance. Use Psychology credit as an elective if possible.</li>
<li>Take Chemistry. Do Engineering. Use Chemistry credit to fulfill chemistry requirement if possible.</li>
<li>Take Psychology. Do Engineering. Use Psychology credit as an elective if possible.
BONUS OUTCOME: Take Chemistry. Do Chemical Engineering. Your IB chemistry gives you background knowledge but no credit because you’ll be doing advanced advanced chemistry and you want to retake the basic chemistry for which you earned IB credit for.</li>
</ol>
<p>No matter which you choose, your college career will be relatively unaffected. Colleges are unlikely to care what your IB elective was admissions/preference wise, and you’d be lucky to get significant/useful credit from an Standard Level course. Choose the course for which you are passionate about.</p>
<p>Do you happen to have an idea of which college(s)n you’re interested in yet?</p>
<p>Well currently im looking at UCBerkeley,UCDavis, Penn, Duke and NYU. @Marisa790</p>
<p>Looks like none of those colleges give any credit for SL courses, so it literally comes down to which course will best prepare you for college and which course you will enjoy more. Sounds like Psychology wins in both of these categories.</p>
<p>P.S. I wanted to be a vet since I was little and when I recently decided that maybe medicine wasn’t for me (I hate the sterile atmosphere of veterinary clinics, doctor’s offices, and hospitals) I kind of went into a tailspin. Since I’m good at math I led myself to believe that engineering might be a good fit for me if I gave it a try. I took a list of all the majors that I was interested in and they were all consistently biology and chemistry based except for engineering and I was going to have to choose which area to take classes in for my first year. Luckily, an adviser for A&M steered me away from engineering before it was too late when she saw how excited I was about the science majors and how apprehensive I was about engineering. She could tell where my heart was.</p>
<p>I’m not saying that your parents are pushing you into engineering and maybe you’re not even that into finance, but DO NOT let anyone, especially your parents because I know the feeling of wanting them to agree with your choices, lead you astray from your true passion. If you decide that economics isn’t right for you like I did with medicine, then by all means switch to engineering or psychology or something that’s a better fit. But find what you love and then do it. Period.</p>
<p>Thanks @Marisa790 for your personal insight. I’m gonna go ahead with psychology! PS Did you take veterinary medicine ultimately?</p>
<p>My orientation for A&M is July 1st and I’m still thinking about what science majors I might want to go for, so I haven’t ultimately chosen anything yet. Luckily they all start pretty much the same so I don’t really have to pick until sophomore year. To best answer your question though, as a matter of fact I have started to reconsider veterinary medicine after ogling over some study abroad veterinary science programs in Africa. Perhaps I can avoid the sterile atmosphere that I don’t like, especially since I want to be a missionary anyways… I might try to tailor in the vet school prerequisites so that I at least leave myself the option of going to vet school later if I so choose.</p>
<p>SL Chem is so easy and interesting. It also balances your courses. But I see you’ve already made your decision. </p>