I’m looking for some insight here. I’m a senior at University of Missouri – St. Louis with a double major, accounting and finance. I’ll graduate December 2010. I want to take L1 June 2010, maintain a decent GPA, and work 25 hours per week. Do you guys think this is too farfetched? I know I won’t have much free time, but I’m willing to make the sacrifice. I plan on ordering one of the self-study guides from Stalla or somewhere. What do you guys think?
I think it is too much to be going to school full time, working 25 hours per week, and studying for the CFA. I would shoot for June '11—but why not pick up a Secret Sauce and start glancing at the material now? Or you could shoot for Dec. '11. Maybe a year’s worth of part-time studying will be the same as 6 months of full time studying. Don’t underestimate the amount of studying necessary for L1–it is not rocket science but the amount of material is vast and it goes into more topics than your college courses. It really does take months of studying. Either way its great that you want to get a jump on the CFA so soon out of college. Definitley start looking at the material now and with enough studying you’ll surely pass.
Depends on your job and your course load. If you do something where there is a lot of down time, and you could study, then I’d say go for it. Also, if you’re only taking 12 hours, or have a lot of classes that won’t take much time, go for it. There will be a lot of overlap with your courses, but it is going to take some serious hours of studying to get it done. My final semester, I was pretty burnt out, especially in April/May when you need to step your CFA game way up.
I’m currently in my 4th year of university (Canadian) and will be writing L1 this Saturday. I also have a specialization in finance and another one in economics. The studying was very time intensive but the actual content was not difficult to master. The tough part is just keeping that content in your head all at one time. Your undergrad accounting and finance knowledge will be a HUGE help as it was for me. I found that I already knew about 30% of the material and there was another 20% that I only needed to learn once to permanently understand it. Having said that it still took me about 4 months to study for this thing. Three months to go through all the material using Schweser and this month has been devoted to reviewing everything the 2nd time and going through a million practice questions. I should add that I don’t have a part time job. If I was working I don’t think I would have been able to prepare properly. If you have the discipline to create a study schedule and stick to it (and miss a bunch of weekends of partying with friends) then you should go for it but be warned that studying for this thing is definitely a sacrifice. All the best!
talk to the head of your economics department and see if you can register for Independent Study. Not only are you able to knock off a courseload, but you get credit for it. That’s what I did and I got an A for a grade (upon passing a sample exam) and then took L1 2 weeks after graduating
Lots of good feedback here. I didn’t study for CFA L1 while I was in college, but in hindsight I wish I just sucked it up and did. As already stated, if your job is flexible or has downtime and you can kill two birds with one stone for class credit, I say go for it. It’s not going to be easy, though.
My courseload next semester definitely is going to be a decent amount. I’m taking 15 credit hours, and all of the classes are either finance or accounting. The finance ones are usually easier than accounting. From talking to other students and reading ratemyprofessors.com, I’d probably rate next semester at 7/10 – 10 being the hardest. Can I register for the the June 2010 exam, and if I’m not feeling prepared by about mid-May I can withdrawl with a refund? For some reason I really just want to graduate with L1 completed and the two degrees. Will having L1 completed really make me that much more marketable? I know it depends exactly where I’m hoping to end up, but in general will it help my resume out? And I’m looking to stay in the Midwest area, like St. Louis or Kansas City. I really like the idea of independent study though. That would knock out a class. I’m definitely calling at lunch at about that.
in addition, CFAI offers sponsoring for students, so you wont have to fork over registration and first year exam fees if you do it now. I forget the hoops I had to jump through for this one but its available. Worth a call to the institute.
XSellSide Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Lots of good feedback here. I didn’t study for > CFA L1 while I was in college, but in hindsight I > wish I just sucked it up and did. As already > stated, if your job is flexible or has downtime > and you can kill two birds with one stone for > class credit, I say go for it. It’s not going to > be easy, though. That’s what I was thinking. I feel like it would be worth the hassle. And I know in the end I have to decide whether or not this is something I think I can handle. My job is extremely flexible, so that helps a lot. The class credit thing is an awesome idea for sure!
KevinSTL Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- Will having > L1 completed really make me that much more > marketable? I know it depends exactly where I’m > hoping to end up, but in general will it help my > resume out? And I’m looking to stay in the Midwest > area, like St. Louis or Kansas City. As an entry-level absolutely, it proves you have dedication/thirst for knowledge and are willing to go above and beyond an already heavy courseload.
Jscott24 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > in addition, CFAI offers sponsoring for students, > so you wont have to fork over registration and > first year exam fees if you do it now. I forget > the hoops I had to jump through for this one but > its available. Worth a call to the institute. This is awesome news. Not to mention the fact that I’m trying to decide if I want to go through with this, I’m trying to figure out how I’ll pay for it. Sounds like I have some leg work to do.
Jscott24 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > KevinSTL Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > Will having > > L1 completed really make me that much more > > marketable? I know it depends exactly where I’m > > hoping to end up, but in general will it help > my > > resume out? And I’m looking to stay in the > Midwest > > area, like St. Louis or Kansas City. > > > > > As an entry-level absolutely, it proves you have > dedication/thirst for knowledge and are willing to > go above and beyond an already heavy courseload. That’s what I was thinking. I feel like having this would give me a competitive advantage over other applicants.
I think it’ll be an advantage to you in getting a job since so few new grads also has L1 under their belt. It is very rare simply because many just aren’t willing to put in the time or are unaware of the importance.