CFA® Question - Junior at Baruch
Hello all,
I am a junior at Baruch College. I am currently a Accounting major.
When I graduate, I would like to work in the financial sector. Due to the poor job market for finance majors, I felt that choosing accounting would not only be smart, but beneficial because of the skills I would obtain.
CFA®
My goal is to get the CFA®
done (or at least a part of it) as quickly as possible, so I can broaden my resume. What are your recommendations?
Thanks
I am not sure if your goal is to get into investment banking, but if it is CFA is not going to "broaden your resume" a whole lot.
The earliest you can take level 1 is December; you can take 2 or 3 any May after that if you pass.
Ummm...the CFA is not offered in May for any level. Dec or June for Level 1 and only June for level 2 and 3.
You are correct my friend. Level 1 is always in June/December, while Level 2 and Level 3 are only in June.
That said, CFA can give you a solid base for developing good modeling skills, since it covers corporate finance to a great extent.
Cheers
I've been repeatedly told CFA is not going to help you get into IB, and all the time put in is much better spent on other activities. That said, if you're not looking at just IB, CFA will be useful at any fund management.
Yeah, the CFA certainly shows initiative and interest in finance, but it's no substitute for school prestige and networking, both of which are much more valuable when it comes to high finance (IB/PE/HF/VC) recruitment.
If you fear getting stuck with an accounting job after graduation, why are you an accounting major? Major in something like finance if you're interested in a finance job.
Dedicate a lot of time to networking; I can't say this enough. While your school isn't necessarily as prestigious as an Emory or a Vanderbilt, you have an IMMENSE advantage when it comes to networking, simply because your school is located in the heart of Manhattan. Find bankers/investment professionals, develop a contact network, keep your grades up, get an internship (perhaps at a boutique firm) and see where things go from there. You're much better off investing time towards those types of things than you are trying to get a CFA.
cfainstitute.org - There's no better resource than the actual resource. The earliest you can take the CFA level 1 is Dec of your senior year. Good luck getting out of that hole!
In my opinion the CFA is an excellent education in finance and has wide applicability. It is well respected withing the AM community - even internationally. Comparing CFA to MBA is futile - they are very different and complimentary to each other.
I have a related question - of course I have heard numerous times that the skills learned in the CFA are of little use in IB...
But does anyone know how the topics learned in CFA relates to S&T?
x
The CFA is Comprehensive so when people say its not at all related to IB they are wrong. Sure the CFA program does not teach you how to compile pitch books or create power point presentations but a decent portion of the test is corporate finance.
I'd also be interested in the relevance of the CFA to an S&T career. Either from actual on the job skills or the interest it shows in finance in general.
The earliest you can take the CFA would be the Dec of your senior year, or the summer after graduation. good luck
on the sell side, the CFA is valued most in fixed income and equity research and BB fundamental prop desks (which have mostly been shut down but may reappear sometime in the future)...
quite a few MDs in sales and trading have the CFA, either because they spent some time in research or they didn't want to be pigeonholed into one product their entire careers (especially true for traders)
I just passed my level this June and on my way to level 2. I have to say that i agree with some ppl above. cfa WILL NOT teach you how to make pitch books. it does show that you are motivated and provides a good opening statement for your interviews. it could help you in modeling bc it help you to understand some of the finance concepts. there's also the heavy emphasis on equity, portfolio management, and fixed income later on if that's what you are into. if you want to be on the corpfin for the sell side like industry group for IBD, it's probably not worth it. you can always just sign up the exam and have it on your resume. there's scholarships if you need financial aid. the scholarships cover all your first time expense except for the books which is $220. the whole thing costs around $1-1.3k depending on when you sign up.
For level 1, the material is a mile wide and an inch deep. you get to learn about everything. however, level 1 mostly focuses on fsa which is required to pass if you want pass level 1. i mean cfa will take so much time off your hand its ridiculous. 250 hrs recommended for level 1, i think the same number for level 2. if you want to take it in December and want to pass, you should start now. fyi, to get the charter, you need 4 yrs of experience, not 2.
honestly, if you are in accounting and wants to break into finance, just get a finance concentration whatever. it's much easier than getting the cfa. i have accounting friends interned at big 4 and got into ibanking beating out the finance guys. i think the banks really like accountants for some reason.
If you want to do ibanking, as others have said here, you would probably be better off trying to get school year internships, having a high GPA, and networking like crazy. But the CFA is very useful for research and asset management. You don't need to necessarily have the charter in hand to make the exams worthwhile -- just having passed level 1 or 2 can help you transfer into a better finance job.
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