Start the CFA in school or after I graduate

Do L1 before you graduate if you have the time to put into it. It will show your employers that you are serious about the career and are taking the necessary steps, but I don't think you will get too much preferential treatment for having L1 done. At least this is the consensus I have seen over at AF.

I got my L1, and people on my desk don't give a damn. ER is different though, you usually need your CFA, so you might as well get it now.

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Remember, you will always be a salesman, no matter how fancy your title is.
- My ex girlfriend

Yeah getting L1 out of the way would help me along but my biggest concern is that it costs a lot. Just the registration fee and becoming a candidate is a serious dent to my budget. My firm won't reimburse any expenses until I start working FT.

If you're a finance major, level1 shouldn't be very tough. I would say that it does differentiate you from your peers to an extent, it shows committment and interest.

Take it in school.

Definitely do it when you are still at school. You will be out of study mode as you enter the job force and research isn't exactly a 9-5 job...

Those are all valid points but after getting the FT offer I was expecting to just coast and party my senior year. Guess no rest for the weary.

You've got the job offer, your firm will pay for you to do CFA (if it is even a half-respectable place). Why would you pay to do this off your own bat? The only reason to is because you think the rest of your resume is too weak to stand out from the crowd to get you an interview.

Worse, if you fail at level 1 for any reason, it may cause your future employer to reconsider whether they want to take you on.

You aren't pooled in research - you will be a junior analyst/associate for one specific team - so you're not trying to differentiate yourself from the other first years. You are trying to impress the hell out of your team head so he thinks its worth keeping you on for the second year onwards.

look at what you're writing...you're going to sign off your last yr of uni for level 1 of the cfa?! Time is precious when we're young, you'll never get that time back again so think hard on whether you want to enjoy some uni experience or get prepared for the grind of the next 30 odd yrs of your life.

Unfortunately the analysts at my firm are pooled together so we are judged against each other just like everyone else. I already registered for level one this December so no crying over spilt milk. A few of my buddies gave me all their old schweser materials so that saved a good chunk of change. All the material aside from ethics are topics that I have gone into great detail during school because of my majors (finance and Math with an econ minor) so I should have an easier time as this is just one big review. Only positive is two of my friends are also taking the level one in December so studying should be easier as we already have planned out sessions.

I'm taking it in December, will graduate in '09.

Let me know if you want the 2008 Schweser materials and Qbank(free).

If you already had planned to do it, why did you bother asking us then?

Well if you noticed the OP was made about 3 weeks ago. So I was just giving an update as I just registered last week.

you only think that you are pooled together. Reality and perception are two different things.

and this thread further proves the point that free internet advice is often worth less than what you pay for it.