Interesting article on that perspective: http://www.mbamission.com/blog/2010/06/15/mba-admissions-myths-destroyed-the-cfa-is-a-liability/ ------------------------------------------------------------------- MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: The CFA is a Liability June 15th, 2010 The Chartered Financial Analyst designation – a grueling three year, financial self-study program that 200,000 study for each year – covers many of the subjects contained in a “typical” first year MBA curriculum. During a CFA aspirant’s first year, he/she will study basic economics, accounting, finance and quantitative analysis, echoing aspects of many first year core curricula. So, does the CFA program actually harm the MBA applicant by suggesting that he/she already has MBA tools and that additional studies may be superfluous? Instead of our typical response, “In short, no,” we will be even more emphatic: definitely not! Completion of the CFA is not a negative, but is in fact a positive in that the CFA candidate emphasizes his/her abilities to manage a rigorous MBA curriculum and establishes him/herself as a self-starter and disciplined individual (as CFA study is intense and usually completed over several months). Furthermore, from an admissions perspective, especially amid a tough economy, admissions officers want to know that they are admitting those who are employable; the CFA charter holder has an advantage in the post-MBA recruiting world, as employers can point to the designation as a differentiator among indistinguishable applicants. Beyond the fact that the CFA can be a useful marketing tool for candidates to help them during the admissions process , it is also important to note that the CFA does not, in fact, usurp the MBA from a practical/educational point of view. The CFA narrowly focuses on financial tools and does not address a myriad of other subjects that the MBA does address and that are still useful to financial professionals: marketing, operations, international business, human resource management, entrepreneurship and more. The CFA is an independent and largely quantitative program and thus cannot provide the elements that the MBA offers through discussion, debate and measuring qualitative information in decision making. So, the CFA is hardly a liability and certainly does not render an MBA moot. Together, the designation and degree are a powerful one-two punch that can be advantageous in gaining admissions and finding that coveted post-MBA position.
it depends on what you want to do. If you are going towards portfolio management, the MBA is useless. If you have to get stamped with an MBA, so be it, but the CFA is sufficient. banking? then yes, go MBA.
And that article is hosted on a website called “mbamission” A site that you pay $$ for help to get into a good MBA program. There’s certainly some bias here…
This is just my experience, so please don’t take this as a blanket statement. I completed all three levels of the CFA prior to business school and found that the MBA curriculum wasn’t all that challenging comparatively speaking. I am attending a “top 20” school (without sounding arrogant here). I wanted to state that since many hold the belief that higher ranked programs are more challenging, all else equal. I am just collecting a piece of paper at this point. Another thing to note is that I had higher expectations on entering the program. My opinion of my peers and the program sort of changed my perspective from one of “learning as much as I can while also taking advantage of networking opportunities” to “putting in minimal effort for a decent gpa, while focusing 100% on the things that really matter to my long-term success (aka not busy work assigned in class).” If you attended a great u-grad school, skip the whole MBA route. I didn’t attend an ivy u-grad, so it was a chance for me to change that.
Why did you give up on the value investing program in Columbia ? I advised you to reach for the stars and not settle for less. this is what you get by settling for less: “putting in minimal effort for a decent gpa, while focusing 100% on the things that really matter to my long-term success (aka not busy work assigned in class).” this is sad.
Hey mo34. I agree with you on this in principle. Thanks for the support. But I didn’t have the luxury of waiting another year, so I accepted an offer from another school. Was I disappointed, you bet – but life goes on and you sometimes have to make difficult choices. I have been making a good deal of progress outside the classroom. I know where I want to get so its just of a function of marketing myself well and taking advantage of any opportunity that will help me get one step closer to the end game. The unfortunate part is that the program I am in doesn’t complement my efforts – instead it makes the effort a more challenging undertaking. How are you doing? I’m out of the AF loop nowadays.
my experience from ivy league MBA is it’s one big networking event, which is really the key for most careers. the classes are easy, the grades are given to you and the professors know this, they aren’t designed to be extremely difficult but are to encourage team work but leave plenty of time for social networking with fellow classmates. When you get out, keep in touch with everyone classmates and professors, especially if you are any type of sales (from investment banking S&T to hedge fund startups trying to raise capital). The hardest part of top MBA is getting in. The MBA also serve as a conduit for career change,(ie investment banking to executive path at a fortune 100, for engineering to finance, for military officers to business world) CFA: CFA path is completely different. it’s 99% studying by yourself. (at least for me). Networking: well I typically avoid all the events, as I found the only people that attend are charterholders looking for a job. The combination makes sense.
an MBA for networking is lame. i wouldn’t be able to live with myself knowing I spent my two future kids’ tuition on camp. though i am a learn for knowledge guy rather than a learn for dollars guy. these make sense: engineering to finance (anything to finance really) and military officers to business world anyone who needs to prove that they have an ounce of business knowledge might as well get an mba instead of a bba if you already have a bachelors, mostly to save time. maybe i’m just tired of idiots getting the mba because they either don’t want to specialize in anything or they’re too moronic to learn anything to the point where they can think and hypothesize for themselves. i think the common perception of an mba degree holder these days is the quarterback of the high school football team who had a 2.8-3.4 average in college and can’t find a job outside of sell-side sales w/o tricking his future employer with a master’s degree, and an mba is the only degree that he can attain due to his lack of intelligence. i feel comfortable saying this here as almost all AFers are in the process or have already specialized more than 95% of the population. but to AFers here, beware perception, its changing.
iteracom Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > And that article is hosted on a website called > “mbamission” > A site that you pay $$ for help to get into a good > MBA program. There’s certainly some bias here… The point of the article is that the CFA could help you get into business school. What is the bias?
> these make sense: engineering to finance (anything > to finance really) and military officers to > business world > Couldn’t agree more…if I were to do it all over again, I would choose one of these routes. Best, TheChad
I have a masters in Engineering, hopefully I’ll be a CFA Charterholder someday and I’m currently studying for the GMAT. At some point, I hope b-school will help me narrow my focus on a specific area, Tech + Finance + Biz = VC?
TheChad Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > these make sense: engineering to finance > (anything > > to finance really) and military officers to > > business world > > > > > Couldn’t agree more…if I were to do it all over > again, I would choose one of these routes. > +1 For the military officer to MBA route
Black Swan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > TheChad Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > > these make sense: engineering to finance > > (anything > > > to finance really) and military officers to > > > business world > > > > > > > > > Couldn’t agree more…if I were to do it all > over > > again, I would choose one of these routes. > > > > +1 For the military officer to MBA route My dad wanted me to do this, but I didn’t get it at the time. I should have gone this route too.