Can I get into Investment Banking with a C in calculus?

Ranked 690/870 wow. Must have been a very competitive high school!

I think you need a reality check.

You mean a C in Pre-Calculus?  

I'm wishing you nothing but the best and normally I'd say don't give up but if you're getting a C in Pre-Calculus, I think you may ask yourself why you think you'd be good at/a fit for finance?  I think as others noted you need to temper your expectations which hopefully helps with the stress also.  There isn't a ton of difficult math involved in most front office finance roles but I venture a guess most of my colleagues got As and Bs in harder math courses than that.  There is still a certain level of quantitative aptitude that is required of the job.  Congrats on finding some direction in life but don't forget that most of us have had this since Freshman Year of high school.  

No, you cannot. Must have a D not a C

Yeah those four schools you listed are probably beyond your reach if you can't handle a precalculus course

sorry but those schools are reaches 

Try to venture into Tech while you still can....

If u can’t handle basic precalc, odds are you’re never gonna make it into the good undergrad B Schools

Takes a lot more than grades to break in. You're late on the connections/networking as a transfer, esp from community college. Not to step on your dreams but you need to be more realistic with yourself about what you can achieve right out of undergrad.

Though I’m sure they had their best intentions, don’t let the negative commenters above screw with your head. Don’t have any feelings that you’re inferior. It’ll blow your self esteem and impact your confidence during interviews and networking. Stay calm and self-assured and keep working hard, I’m sure you’ll go far. One positive thing I can say is that many top schools look specifically for people from your background when they review transfer apps, meaning someone who goes to community college, messed up in high school, is in the military etc. so that might help you out a little. Make sure you also check the WSO post on transfer friendly targets and semi targets. Remember, keeping working hard to keep that GPA up and really “sell” your unique story to the admissions committee. At the end of the day, if IB doesn’t work out, there are still plenty of other roles you can get that can set you up for a good b-school to land an associate role in IB. Even still, IB is not the end-all-be-all, so you might decide to do something else altogether. Just stay optimistic and work hard. And thank you for your service.

A guy serving in the army, taking his education seriously, looking for advice, this is what he gets in return. You guys are fucking pathetic.

OP I would craft your overall essays to your personal story like you listed in the post but utilize all the resources you can to have your teachers proofread it and help you so it flows nicely. Just keep the GPA where it is, talk about your involvement (starting the investment club, passion for finance), how you realized education was important when serving, etc etc and I'm sure a t50 school will gladly take you in with a scholarship. Third Year transfers that are from a community college with a story like this appeals the most to the application board instead of another student with a rod up his ass that already goes to a good school and wants to transfer into a better one, lol. The only thing is IB recruiting happens insanely early now but if you just transfer into a good school doors will open regardless. The schools you listed are very difficult to transfer into, but just expand everywhere and something good will stick.

Hope that helps!

One or two Cs do not matter at all as long as your GPA is still a 3.7. Banks don't look at your transcript to see how many easy classes you took (this means you should take as many as possible). 

The colleges will care 10 times more about the C, make sure you apply to semi targets too.

You need to reach out to people from the military in networking. Target 200-300 emails to former service members once you're starting your sophomore year, this is a group that will push hard for you in recruiting.

Hey OP,

We have similar stories. Graduated near bottom of my class in high school with a 2.0. Did a few years in the Army, earned some discipline that wasn’t instilled in me in my youth, yada yada yada.

Transfer to Columbia GS. That is your best bet. From there you can start networking.

In high school I was a terrible student graduated maybe with a 2.0 GPA ranked 690 out of 870 students. However, once I got into community college I turned my life around. Now, I have nearly a perfect GPA in all my classes. This semester I am taking precalculus 1 and next semester precalculus 2 then regular calculus. Being out of high school now for nearly 4 years I have become wiser,smarter and matured a lot realizing how important my education is. As I am getting ready to transfer I want to hopefully get into a top tier school like Wharton, Cornell, NYU, Dartmouth and so on. I have a lot of extra curriculars with leader ship positions, started my own investment club at my school, and I’m in the army serving at the moment. Math has always been my weak subject and this semester I feel like I’m screwed... If I get C’s on my transcript is it possible to even have a career in investment banking or getting into an Ivy or top tier school? Are there others like me who are really motivated to get there but have a class or something else that is in the way? This will lower my gpa to a 3.7 or lower if I get C’s from here until I transfer. I have been losing sleep, getting anxiety, stress from trying to get A’s on my tests. I keep having the thought that I’m not good enough for Wall Street. I feel like if I’m stressing over this class think about the complicated models and things they will throw at me as a first year if I some how do make it.

Relax. There are 99 obstacles getting in the way between you and investment banking but calculus is not one of them. Get yourself a tutor if you haven't already. Go to every single office hours (or is it "virtual office hours" on Zoom due to Covid?). In addition to regularly assigned homework problems, do additional problems for practice. Relentlessly review your problem areas.

Also, I don't intend to denigrate you OP, but isn't getting a 4.0 in community college trivially easy? I have zero experience with community college aside from watching Netflix's Last Chance U, but if the academic scenes in Last Chance U are any indication, the competition you are facing is so weak that you should be able to just waltz your way to a 4.0? I have a smart but somewhat lazy 16 year old cousin who just started his junior year of high school, and I bet he could pull a 4.0 in community college (right now, at his current age 16) if he took it seriously and put his nose to the grindstone.

I think hearing my background may help some. In high school I failed calculus and statistics. In my freshman year I got a C- in calculus and a B- in accounting. Since then I obviously stepped it up. Got an internship at a start up then F500 and now will intern at a BB next year. I do go to a target/semi-target which does help. But networking will be key. Coming from your background you likely have some imposter syndrome, I know I did. Important to read as much as you can so you feel over prepared for networking + interviews and can easily talk about macro economic events, current events, and recent deals. Once I was able to do that I impressed everyone I talked with and that got me interviews and from there it is generally an even playing field (only 1/5 got asked about anything grade related). Basically keep your head up, network like crazy (prep for it by learning). It will help if you can transfer into one of these schools or a semi-target. Keep believing in yourself and don't listen to those who say you can't. Better to try and fail then to give up now cuz you really could achieve what you want.

You have a 1000x better chance of getting into banking than transferring from CC to an Ivy, etc. Focus on getting into a decent school and network your ass off — you’ll be fine. Banking isn’t rocket science — there’s little to no calculus and Excel does 95% of the math for you. 
 

Trust me, you’re good enough. 

The same ones telling you it's impossible will be the same ones telling you you're stupid and it's your fault that you're poor and you should've pulled yourself up by your bootstraps. That's why you have to realize that majority of people are pretty narrow-minded, even the ones that seem so very worldly and educated. OP, it's on you to keep expanding your mind and grind it out to where you can compete with these tools, because at the end of the day, they're going to be the ones pulling the strings. But it's possible. Just make sure you do every can with every opportunity to make up for your shortfalls and show humility when it comes to your weaknesses. I think you're already doing it, so just push forward.

I will say, transferring into Wharton or another top program is likely going to be incredibly difficult from community college, especially with a C in math courses. However, you do not have to be at a target to break into IB. You already have a great story that shows you can work hard and show leadership, and I'm sure that hustle will benefit you once you transfer to wherever you end up. If I were you, I'd expand my focus to semi-targets and good state schools, while also networking my ass off.

Good luck!

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