mathwizard111

sophomore at Georgetown, Finance major/Chinese minor with a possible Asian Studies concentration

3.218 overall GPA--> I know this is low, it is mostly due to Chinese which is extremely difficult. B 1st semester and B- 2nd semester, with more effort next year I think I can pull of at least a B+ and possibly an A-.

also intern as a Finance department member at my school's credit union which has a nice networking connections (supposedly great connection to credit suisse)

also plan on studying abroad in China the fall of my junior year and hopefully interning there (if possible)

just a few questions for my IB track:

1. CHINESE: Is learning mandarin worth it? I love the class and want to become as close to fluent as possible, but I dont know if killing my GPA is worth it. Ive heard banks appreciate it during application/recruiting/interviewing time as a sign of diligence and dedication, but I dont want to keep taking it if it wont be recognized so is this true?

2. CLASS SCHEDULE TIMING: I dont know when I should take my actual major courses. Right now Im just completing the gen. eds for both the university and the business school. I probably wont start taking my finance courses until spring of my sophomore year. Should I take gen. eds now and boost up my GPA for interviewing for internships (spring of junior) and save finance courses for senior year? Or should I take finance courses now so Im more knowledgable but risk a lower GPA and save gen eds for later?

3. HOW TO SPLIT GPA: Does my major GPA include JUST finance courses? or does this include the business courses im required to take as a business school student? (like intro to marketing, intro to accounting, ect.)

4. CHINA: Is studying abroad fall of my junior year a bad idea? I know this is when recruiting events occurs and I dont want to miss out, but I think actually going to china and using my language skills will set me apart from everyone else.

terenc

GPA is the most important factor for getting an IB interview. (and it's total GPA, not just business GPA)
Once you get the interview, raw intelligence and technical knowledge of finance is going to be the most important.

Unfortunately, your GPA is very, very low for IB.
Knowing Chinese is not going to give your resume much of a boost at all, unless you are applying for a position that actually requires Chinese knowledge (for example, a foreign position).

If your ultimate #1 goal is to break into IB, then your #1 priority is bringing up the GPA, and your #2 priority is having technical finance knowledge.

If dropping Chinese is what it takes to bring up the GPA, then so be it.
If you think you can get A's in Chinese in the future, then you can stick with it.
I personally think Chinese is a very useful language, but if you are 100% committed to being fluent, it is going to be useless since a Chinese businessman is going to have better English than your mere proficiency in Chinese.

I was also under the impression that language classes are a lot of work but that it's an easy A.

DrGoogle

There are a lot of Chinese who can speak Chinese and English fluently. It won't give you an edge. I would focus on your GPA.