I know there are already numerous posts on this, so even more stupid of me for not paying attention… Make sure you take the ‘work experience’ description serious when applying for membership. Don’t assume your work title (PM, Financial advisor, trader… etc) is sufficient… or you end up with the same mess I am in: Work experience was too brief. Got declined by CFAI for regular membership and only got considered for affiliate (which does not grant use of CFA letters). I cannot make any changes to it until I am first also approved by my local society for affiliate membership (called them yesterday, could take another 30 days). Then and only then do I have to submit an upgrade status to CFAI and go through the whole process again of having them approve before submitting to local chapter for approval as well. By the time I can put CFA after my name I’ll probaby be retired and won’t need it anymore. Just my 2 cents…
Very helpful!!! Thanks and good luck, hang in there
hey crablegs. i’ve seen on the forum that you can have them cancel your application and reapply for regular membership immediately with a better description. i think the downside is that you have to ask your sponsors to fill out forms again, because it nukes whatever was attached to your old application. good luck.
Thx for the tip. Might consider that option.
Crablegs - thanks so much for this - I literally put down “blah blah blah” in my work description because I thought I could edit it later! I just called CFA and cancelled my membership - you are the man!
Crablegs, When you say application for membership - what is that? Is it the online stuff you filled out when you registered for level 3, or is it something else?
Nope, actuall application for membership is not the same as the initial registration. From what I understand, you can apply for either an affiliate membership (minimal requirements) or a regular membership. The regular membership is the one that allows you to use the designation and also gets you the charter to put on the wall (if you care about that…). I don’t have it right in front of me, but regular membership entails: -5 years of valid work experience -At least completion of Level I -2 sponsors vouching for you (1 direct supervisor & 1 regular member of your local CFA chapter) -Dues $$$ What makes it ‘tricky’ and definitevely lengthy is that two parties are involved here in order to be approved: 1. CFAI institute 2. Your local CFA chapter BOTH have to approve you. This link summarizes it better than I do: https://www.cfainstitute.org/cfaprog/charterholder/membership/member_types.html
cfasf1 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > hey crablegs. > > i’ve seen on the forum that you can have them > cancel your application and reapply for regular > membership immediately with a better description. > i think the downside is that you have to ask your > sponsors to fill out forms again, because it nukes > whatever was attached to your old application. > good luck. cfasf1 - I’m actually the one who posted on this and I did it. Here’s how it works: 1) You contact CFAI and they will cancel your application. 2) You update your work experience. (Copy and paste your description to a separate file frequently to prevent losing everything in a time-out.) 3) You DO NOT have to resubmit sponsor forms, they will use what is already submitted. Best of luck!
Note: not 5 years but 4 years.
cfasf1. Best advice I ever got. I didn’t want to cancel because I was afraid I would have to go through the sponsor thing again and didn’t want to bug my supervisor. But just called CFAI and confirmed you don’t have to. Thx a bunch. Besides they just told me that an upgrade could take just as long as a first time application, so no point on waiting here.
Did the same thing as you guys. Ended up cancelling my application (takes 2 business days usually to see it come through in your account) and will reapply with the accurate info in the work experience tab (mine was WAY to brief). I too thought you could always go back and edit your work experience…But from what the CFAI said just now on the phone, they take a snap shot of what was in your account the second you apply.
Dang. I screwed this one up as well. I just called and cancelled my application.
How does the job description really has to be? Mine was probably 3 lines max… in the examples CFAI provides online this is not much more than that…
Yeah, I used their examples but it didn’t really work the first time. Plus, they we looking for much more of a description for the position I was in for 10 years versus the one I was in for 1 year. The data field won’t let you put in obscene amounts of info, so you’ll know what too much is, just not what too little is. You all made it through L3, you’ll make it through this!
crablegs Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > cfasf1. Best advice I ever got. I didn’t want to > cancel because I was afraid I would have to go > through the sponsor thing again and didn’t want to > bug my supervisor. But just called CFAI and > confirmed you don’t have to. Thx a bunch. Besides > they just told me that an upgrade could take just > as long as a first time application, so no point > on waiting here. No prob. The advice was all Sterling76’s, anyway. I hadn’t seen his post on cancelling until i was already approved for affiliate membership and awaiting approval of upgrade. this cancelling thing would have saved me at least 25 days. oh well. i’m a regular member now so all there is to do is wait for that ridiculously big charter to come… congrats to all you guys who passed this year… and you crablegs, i know it took a couple of tries at level 2 but you stuck with it and kicked l3’s butt this year on the first go. awesome.
bumb this is good info
ohh good info indeed. thanks