Studying for CFA® L1 or Internship

Cheers guys,

I'm about to graduate College with an Undergraduate in Finance and Psychology. I also just got accepted into Business School in London, Kingston. I'm wondering how crucial an internship is to get into Trading/I-Banking. I already had two internship at a Commodity trading internship and I'm now wondering if I should use my summer break , June-September, studying for the CFA® L1 exam in December or if I should try to get an internship instead. What do you guys think?

12 Comments
 

Internship.

"After you work on Wall Street it’s a choice, would you rather work at McDonalds or on the sell-side? I would choose McDonalds over the sell-side.” - David Tepper
 
hdavid57Are the two mutually exclusive? Maybe you can do both.

I would agree here. You should be able to do both.

It's all manipulated with junk bonds. You can't win.
 
Best Response

If you are unable to do both, take the internship. It may lead to a job and it will definitely help you stand out with FT applications.

Also consider the value of the CFA for your prospective employer. I am under the impression that the CFA carries more weight in the US than in the UK but I could be wrong. If you are looking to move into commodity trading, there will be very little benefit from the CFA. If you are considering AM or ER as well, the CFA might be valuable. In general though, experience trumps CFA in my opinion

 
CaliforniaAnalystdef. internship and cfa lv1 is ez shit as long as u put in some work... if u cant do both, i doubt ur intelligence and dedication...

Have you taken CFA L1? The exam itself is easy, but given the amount of material to learn the process is very time consuming.

 
Amphipathic
CaliforniaAnalystdef. internship and cfa lv1 is ez shit as long as u put in some work... if u cant do both, i doubt ur intelligence and dedication...

Have you taken CFA L1? The exam itself is easy, but given the amount of material to learn the process is very time consuming.

i did and passed it like a champ with minimum effort (1.5 hour/day of studying for 2months)
 

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