You people amaze me. CFA will take ~750 hours to complete in an ideal scenario. To do it for the benefit of having a CFA on your business card and the knowledge you gain is a bit far fetched (though the latter is more understandable). I think it makes sense if it’s desirable in the field you operate in (i.e. investment management), but otherwise you’re giving up a year and a half of your life to studying. A top 5 MBA will do you wonders, and you’ll become a product/industry expert in whatever field you eventually work in post graduation. You don’t see many I-bankers and PE guys with CFA’s for a very good reason. The amount of value added work knowledge you gain from the studies relative to the amount of time you must dedicate is not commensurate.
The OP is not asking about the advisability of doing the whole program knowing that he or she is going into investment banking or private equity; he or she is asking about whether to do the first level before business school, at a time when his or her career path is undetermined and he or she presumably has some time and energy to spare.
PhillyBanker Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > You people amaze me. CFA will take ~750 hours to > complete in an ideal scenario. To do it for the > benefit of having a CFA on your business card and > the knowledge you gain is a bit far fetched > (though the latter is more understandable). I > think it makes sense if it’s desirable in the > field you operate in (i.e. investment management), > but otherwise you’re giving up a year and a half > of your life to studying. A top 5 MBA will do you > wonders, and you’ll become a product/industry > expert in whatever field you eventually work in > post graduation. > > You don’t see many I-bankers and PE guys with > CFA’s for a very good reason. The amount of value > added work knowledge you gain from the studies > relative to the amount of time you must dedicate > is not commensurate. 1) 750 hours is a pretty small investment if you’re talking about a 30 year career. The OP is about to shell out $100k for tuition (not commenting on the relative value, just commenting on the sacrifice people take to further their career) 2) The OP is talking about level 1, not 2 & 3. If the OP is going into finance after business school, then I’d estimate at least a 50% chance that the CFA will help. If he spends 150 hours studying and fails, then I’m still sure he picked up knowledge that will be useful for anything finace related, including management in a non-financial firm. The amazing part is how difficult people make these exams out to be. Yes, they’re tough, but it’s not like youre sacrificing your first born to take the first exam. Chances are it will be a good investment of his time and few hundred $$.
Well, just for the sake of arguing : ) The op is considering all levels, but specifically LI for the time being to improve his resume before entering grad school. We’re all entitled to our opinions of course so I’ll clarify. I think getting an MBA from a top 5 school is impressive in of itself. If your primary motive is to take LI in order to improve your job prospects out of grad school, I think your time could be better spent doing other things. I think graduating out of one of those programs will be adequate to secure a job, and I don’t see much value from spending 250 hours studying merely to improve your job prospects, given the backdrop of your grad school pedigree. Now if your circumstances were different, e.g. from a 10+ grad school, then I’d pause for thought. Whatever you want to do though, if you have time to burn and have a desire to learn the material, then go for it, but not purely to improve your job prospects. This is a pro CFA board so you wont be getting unbiased recommendations.
We reject a decent percentage (greater than 30%) of new MBAs we interview from HBS, Wharton and Stanford. If you think a top-5 or top-3 MBA is a ticket in to any shop you want, you’re wrong. Every little bit helps. I’m not suggesting that CFA I will open up doors everywhere, but at my buyside shop you’ll be competing with other fresh top MBAs who already have the charter (not to mention it shows additional interest in the field).
Dude, anyone facing the prospects of a ~70% success rate in interviews is doing pretty darn well! Anyways, best of luck and congrats on getting into a top 5!
In addition to taking the Level I CFA exam, I think the OP should read “Fooled by Randomness” several times if he or she hasn’t already.
My opinion is biased toward learning something. Having said that I don’t even understand why this thread even draw a controversy. It’s not like the OP has a better alternative for spending free time. Maybe part-y everyday? BTW, May I add “The Black Swan” and “Freakonomics” to the should read list?
First, I want to said that I am surprised and very thankful for all the responses!! Thank you all for reading and answering to my post! A lot of great opinions and suggestions that I was looking for @Wendy I am going to school located in New York (Ivy league). to all: is he I apologize if I didn’t explain well in my first post. The idea is to do (or not) the first level of CFA. Not sure if am going to do the level II and III. @Captain Windjammer I haven’t read “Fooled by Randomness” but I have been reading: “Liar’s Poker”, “when genius failed” and now starting with “to big to fail”. And thanks for clarifying my point. @Wendy: I am planning to join the finances clubs but only after I start the MBA (I can’t do it before). Right now I am only doing some network chat with current students in these clubs. @PhillyBanker ver clear your point, I thought that doing level I (and pass it) will reinforce my resume when looking for a summer job (then for the full time), but I apparently I was wrong. @skycfa thanks for the book suggestions As mentioned by @Captain Windjammer @Palantir @LBriscoe , one of the pro of doing the level I is that a lot of material will help me with my MBA classes In fact I want to exempt some basic subject of the core curriculum in order to learn more advance concepts. If I didn’t have to pay for the exam right now, I will start preparing it and then decide to take it or not. However and since it is a lot money is why I am in this big dilemma. My options right now are: prepare for the CFA Level I exam or do nothing (=read book and enjoy the free time, traveling, etc). I confess that been accepted for the MBA was not easy and I´ve spent a lot of time and effort with the GMAT and essays. However, if I don’t do the exam, I will also prepare for the classes that I want to exempt to take others. Thanks again to all that have contribute to the post! I am learning A LOT!! Please keep posting.
hmmm… Ivy League school in NY means either Columbia or Cornell. If it’s Cornell then I disagree it’s a top MBA program. I’m guessing it is Cornell because otherwise you’d just say Columbia and be done with it (after giving that many hints)
What you could do is…just nab the books from someone and study them over the summer to get a head start. It is a tad late to start studying for L1, and this way you can learn the material without the pressure of taking an exam, and own your classes.
By looking at what you’ve been reading, I think “Monkey Business” and “Against the Gods” might incite your interest, especially “Money Business”. The book is written by two authors who got their MBA’s from Harvard and Warton; it’ll give you a sneak peek at MBA recruiting process to life of an investment banker. Try it if you haven’t. Anyway, it’s getting late to take the exam this June. Whatever you decided to do, wish you the best.
Congratulations on being accepted into top 5 MBA program in the country. That must have took so much effort, time, and hard work… Great GPA, stellar GMAT, and strong work experience. If I were you, I would never take the CFA haha. Good luck!!
Danny Boy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > hmmm… Ivy League school in NY means either > Columbia or Cornell. If it’s Cornell then I > disagree it’s a top MBA program. I’m guessing it > is Cornell because otherwise you’d just say > Columbia and be done with it (after giving that > many hints) it’s columbia, sorry for the confusion thanks @skycfa I have already read “Monkey business” excellent book!
dont do it brah, you gots into Columbia
Great school, you’ll have lots of opportunities. Great in finance, having level one of the CFA complete will be an asset (unless you go in to marketing or something). You have the free time - that could be rare in the future - take the exam.
Nah brah, not a good use of your time. You have a solid background with your trading experience and you’ll have a top mba. Why the hell bother with cee eff ay ?
malbec Wrote: > it’s columbia, sorry for the confusion Nice work! Are you from Argentina? I love Malbec.
malbec – Hey man, I recognize you from another forum. If you don’t plan on doing ER and you don’t think you’ll be completing the program (which if you’re in PE or IB, I can’t see why you would), then I don’t think it makes sense to take L1. See you this fall bro.
5Dang! I am jealous of you Malbec. Well done. Columbia would be my dream school in 5 years… Dream school… Don’t study CFA. It would be a waste of time.