Do I take CFA as undergrad?

Hi everyone, I’m a junior at a non-target university studying finance, aiming to break into sell-side equity research. Last summer, I interned in a research role at a small asset manager. This coming summer, I’ll be interning in a middle-office role at a large bank (higher pay and additional experience). I’m debating whether I should take the CFA Level 1 exam in August before my senior year to stand out during recruiting while also networking, or if I should focus entirely on networking and forgo the CFA to maximize my chances of breaking into equity research. What would you recommend?

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Hey. Similar background, non target top 50 school with good work experience. Taking level 1 in undergrad was super helpful for me. Couldn’t recommend more. Probably only differentiation from other good students at noon targets. Hope that helps

 

common Wall Street wisdom is that networking yields higher returns (c.f. blogs from BIWS). but if you could pass and get the charter before graduation, that won’t hurt. lvl 1 probably won’t mean much (I’ve one myself) so you might as well do all three levels while in school — kids in Asia colleges these days seem to finish lvl 3 / I’ve seen similar counterparts in America as well.

 
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