FRM after CFA or some finance job/internship ??

I have completed CFA level 3. Will start MBA in 2-3 months. Have 3.5 years of non-finance work experience. recently resigned from last job am free for next five weeks. Is it good to do some finance job/internship or do FRM ? Which one will help me in getting summer internship in finance area ? I have one day left to decide and register for FRM Level I

At this point, if you start studying for the FRM, it would be a waste of time. Relax and try to do well on your MBA. I am in the same situation. I will clear level 3 in 2 months, quitting my job in 2 weeks and starting MBA in August. I have 4 years of experience in finance. Where are you going for MBA?

If you are motivated you would probably have a good shot at passing Part I if you start now; I would think passing both would be tough. Passing Part I would put you halfway there obviously. I don’t understand what you mean about the time period for the job/internship - if you’re talking about what to do in the next five weeks then that’s probably not an option unless you find a job or internship in the next 18 hours. If you are talking about doing it this summer, then I don’t see why you couldn’t look for one while you are studying for Part I of the PRM (although your odds might be better if you focused on job hunting). As far as whether a job/internship this summer would help you much (I doubt one over only the next five weeks would), obviously it depends on the job/internship but I can’t really say. I would tend to doubt it would help you materially, but maybe you feel every little bit would help. It would also depend on the reputation of your MBA program of course. If you’re interested and can swing it financially, there’s also something to be said for spending the summer doing something you’ll likely have limited opportunities to do, like traveling for instance.

Also, have you considered the PRM as an alternative to the FRM? For the former you get exempted from 2 of the 4 exams for having passed the CFA exams (you don’t need the charter, just to have passed the exams) and you can take the exams at your convenience. I have read that the FRM is more widely recognized but the content of the PRM is better, though I don’t know whether that’s true.

There are about 5 weeks until the May FRM exam. If you studied like it was a fulltime job (ie. 40hrs/wk), that would add up to 200 hours: More than enough study hours to easily pass FRM Part I, especially if you use third-party study materials rather than the long FRM official readings. If you wanted to make a solid attempt at FRM Part II as well, you would really need to buckle down for the next several weeks – and even then you might not clear both parts.

Screw it dude. Go on a road trip or something.