Is CFA improve my chance to enroll in an MBA/MSc Finance&Management program?

Hi guys, I want to ask about my chance to be accepted into an MBA/ MSc finance&management program in Europe. My profile:

1.Passed CFA Lv 1 in Dec1, will do the lv 2 in June.

2.Passed FRM part 1&2.

3.GPA:3,51/4 from the best uni in my country

4.Ethnicity: Indonesia

5.Job experience: 1 year 10 Months as an equity research analyst, 1 year 6 months in PWC as an associate (capital project&infrastructure advisory).

6.I have not taken GMAT and IELSTS.

  1. My target universities: (UK): Edinburgh, Exeter, Warwick, Newcastle, Strathclyde, Lancaster. (German):Mannheim, Koln.

For a masters, I’m not sure if CFA or work experience make that much of a difference but can’t hurt at least. For the courses you are looking at, do they not usually require either GMAT or GRE? If so, you should probably take one or both. Also take the language proficiency test too.

European universities don’t use the GPA system, but quick googling tells me that 3.5 counts as a 2.1 which is fine for almost all masters programmes. If your degree is in a relevant area and you have solid references (and pass GMAT/IELSTS) then I think you will be fine.

Your grades might make it difficult to get a scholarship, however. So you will likely pay full fees.

I think your target list looks realistic and well researched. For UK, also look at Cranfield, Cass, Manchester, Durham, Leeds and Reading. Good schools that I think you would have a chance to get into. Plenty of other good colleges in Euroland also. FT rankings will give you a full list.

If you can write a coherent application, you will probably get into at least one of those. Have someone with good English review your essays though (not an insult - just how it is).

Why not work for another year or two and do a MBA instead? Master’s is pretty hacksaw unless its from LBS, Oxford or LSE.

In Europe, Masters is standard and MBA unusual. Its the opposite in the US. Not sure about Asia. So I’d say it depends on where you want to work. Certainly a good masters is not of a lower academic standard than a good MBA. Arguably the opposite in fact depending on how technical the masters programme is.