brag after you get the equity research analyst /investment management assistant job. They don’t exactly grow on trees, you know? Doing an undergraduate degree significantly improves one’s ability to write, analyze, and learn at a higher level, even if the major that was chosen was not particularly prudent one. Pulling a random odd example of the successful college dropout (yeah, we all know one or two) won’t cut out how many years of your life, maybe a decade, you may end up wasting. By the way, do you know that you can’t take the level 2 CFA without proof of a bachelor’s degree? Or else you have to get four years of related work experience (and they are pretty stringent on this) before you can even sit for level 2. You’ll have problems even getting the low level related experience… One of my father’s friend runs his own little investment management shop. He’s in his late 50s. It took him a tear inducing nine years of being a retail stockbroker before he was finally able to break out and get an entry level back office financial analyst position…something that an undergraduate could get right out of college. He’s a CFA.
Dude, it’s really hard getting finance jobs as a graduate of top business programs and universities in general. I wish you the best, but don’t be surprised if the task is taller than it appears.
A decade or two ago was different times. It was a lot more likely that one could break into finance without a degree then. Trying it today is far too risky. Unless you really are brilliant, and know some serious hitters, I would bet that your chances of ever making the front office are minimal. Of course, anything is possible. So you can use these posts as fuel for the fire.
No one intended to insult your intelligence or ability to complete undergrad or the CFA curriculum. Just most believe that the institute requires a degree. Keep in mind that the CFA institute will let anyone with a credit card sit for the exams, but they are strict about who gets a charter. The definition of “qualified, professional work experience” is fairly strict and it is hard to obtain a position that qualifies without a degree. Ultimately it is your life and your decision. You have nothing to prove to a bunch of people in a forum. But there are a lot of successful people in this forum and most will say that one is better off with a degree then without. Yes, there is a point when your undergrad doesn’t matter but that is late in your career. This is a frustrating industry with a degree, I could not imagine how hard it would be without one.
Hmm I wasn’t aware of this as a requirement to sit for level 2 (can you find me a link that states this?). If that’s the case, then I guess I’ll think about pursuing the rest of my degree, but as it stands I’ll be getting a job first and then getting a consensus within the industry and with people that I’ll be working with about just how important it is. So far, I’ve had a university professor say it’s probably not worth it, and I’ll stick with that for now until I’m told otherwise by other industry experts (now it may be premature for me to say this, but I don’t know how many of you can stake that claim). So for now, the degree aspirations are on hold. sternwolf Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > brag after you get the equity research analyst > /investment management assistant job. They don’t > exactly grow on trees, you know? > > Doing an undergraduate degree significantly > improves one’s ability to write, analyze, and > learn at a higher level, even if the major that > was chosen was not particularly prudent one. > > Pulling a random odd example of the successful > college dropout (yeah, we all know one or two) > won’t cut out how many years of your life, maybe a > decade, you may end up wasting. > > By the way, do you know that you can’t take the > level 2 CFA without proof of a bachelor’s degree? > Or else you have to get four years of related work > experience (and they are pretty stringent on this) > before you can even sit for level 2. You’ll > have problems even getting the low level related > experience… > > > One of my father’s friend runs his own little > investment management shop. He’s in his late 50s. > It took him a tear inducing nine years of being a > retail stockbroker before he was finally able to > break out and get an entry level back office > financial analyst position…something that an > undergraduate could get right out of college. > He’s a CFA.
marco636 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > No one intended to insult your intelligence or > ability to complete undergrad or the CFA > curriculum. Just most believe that the institute > requires a degree. Keep in mind that the CFA > institute will let anyone with a credit card sit > for the exams, but they are strict about who gets > a charter. The definition of “qualified, > professional work experience” is fairly strict and > it is hard to obtain a position that qualifies > without a degree. > > Ultimately it is your life and your decision. You > have nothing to prove to a bunch of people in a > forum. But there are a lot of successful people > in this forum and most will say that one is better > off with a degree then without. Yes, there is a > point when your undergrad doesn’t matter but that > is late in your career. This is a frustrating > industry with a degree, I could not imagine how > hard it would be without one. Oh I’m not doubting the fact that having a degree is more important than not having one, but again, life has given me a bit of a different path, such that taking the extra 4-5+ years it will take for me to get the degree (I will be working full time and completing courses and designations) may not be worth it, especially if I’m able to obtain the charter. I would think that the charter in itself shows a high degree of dedication and commitment, perhaps moreso than a degree does. Again I don’t doubt that a degree would strengthen my resume, but the amount of time it will take, while sacrificing more pertinent education to further my career, just doesn’t seem like a reasonable option at this point.
Oh and for the chap stating that a degree is REQUIRED to write the level 2 exam, you are wrong. "Student candidates can take the CFA Level I exam and receive results, but will not be allowed to enroll for the Level II exam until confirmation of a degree has been provided. " I didnt qualify as a student candidate, thus this requirement doesn’t apply to me. Nice try though.
hey guys, does anyone know what the average age is of the guys who complete their CFA?
I think 29 is the average age for an L1 candidate. I THINK.
geez, that is old… but not surprising. I noticed when I was sitting for level 1 at the ripe old age of 21 that there were middle aged and old farts all over the place…even a grandmother… Yeah, yeah you’re superman. Seriously, listen to people on this forum and go back and finish your undergrad. Your resume will look like a joke if it didn’t. I go to a top 5 undergrad Business school in finance. Most seniors, with two or three related internships failed to get a front office position, and ended up rotting in back or middle. The finance job market is small, dude. You’re competing against people like them. SomewhatDamaged Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Oh and for the chap stating that a degree is > REQUIRED to write the level 2 exam, you are > wrong. > > "Student candidates can take the CFA Level I exam > and receive results, but will not be allowed to > enroll for the Level II exam until confirmation of > a degree has been provided. " > > I didnt qualify as a student candidate, thus this > requirement doesn’t apply to me. > > Nice try though.
Ok cool. I’ll just pay someone a few dollars to complete an online degree for me at some 3rd tier university while I complete the CFA exams and other important industry designations and call it a day. 
I like to multi task.
Hmm, this thread seems to have drifted away from the original topic =)
Rambozo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hmm, this thread seems to have drifted away from > the original topic =) To answer your OP, I’m in accordance with others in saying that it’s not important at all. But hey what do I know?
Sigh, dude, you have an extremely naive vision of the job market…keep deluding yourself, you’ll get far…
this thread is sad.
Right, and had I listened to you to begin with I never would have enrolled for the CFA. But hey, it means nothing without a degree right? The funny thing is, is that I would have enrolled for it a while ago but a friend told me that you needed your bachelors. I wrongly took his word as gospel and just mused to myself that I would be eligible in another 2-3 years. Here I am.
If you are confident you can go far without a college degree, using just the CFA, then go for it, but I’d like to believe that college is not a complete waste. I work at a fund of funds, and I see a lot of information on a lot of different fund managers, and the VAST majority of them have degrees from top schools. It makes me think about the competition and what I can bring to the table in comparison to someone who just got done with their program at Harvard, Chicago, Stanford, etc. College may be overrated, but tagging it as strictly an “expensive piece of paper” is certainly not accurate, either. It is very possible that you can succeed without your degree, and if you manage to pull it off, well done. However, I think getting the degree makes things a bit easier, and I think most people here would agree. Good luck with whatever path you decide to go down.
Well, I just wanted to tell everyone reading this board since I am fully capable of enrolling for the CFA and most likely completing it, you should all just drop any endeavors of completing it. My sheer presence in the program has completely watered down the value of said charter and I think you should all drop out. Thanks and g’day.
Rambozo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If you are confident you can go far without a > college degree, using just the CFA, then go for > it, but I’d like to believe that college is not a > complete waste. I work at a fund of funds, and I > see a lot of information on a lot of different > fund managers, and the VAST majority of them have > degrees from top schools. It makes me think about > the competition and what I can bring to the table > in comparison to someone who just got done with > their program at Harvard, Chicago, Stanford, etc. > College may be overrated, but tagging it as > strictly an “expensive piece of paper” is > certainly not accurate, either. > > It is very possible that you can succeed without > your degree, and if you manage to pull it off, > well done. However, I think getting the degree > makes things a bit easier, and I think most people > here would agree. Good luck with whatever path you > decide to go down. I totally agree that having a degree from a top school is definitely worth it. If I do eventually decide to complete my degree, I’ll do whatever I can to get into the U of T commerce program and go at it part time. I just don’t see the value of me busting my butt for 5-6 years (part time) at a 3rd tier university (ie: ryerson) while foregoing all other important designations as really being worth it. Thanks for the well wishes, btw. Drunken posting (my previous) sucks without the edit function. How embarassing.