Am I Well Positioned for a Credit Rating Agency Associate Job?

Hi Everyone,

I am currently coming to the end of my first year as an audit associate at a Big 4 firm. I work in Banking Audit. I'll have the CPA in a few weeks (just waiting for the one year of work experience to kick in), and I will be taking CFA Level 2 on June 4th (don't worry, I am going back to studying after this). I received good grades both in Undergrad and my Masters of Accounting (3.7+), and I went to the best public school in my state (decent, not great public school system).

My plan right now is to take CFA Level 2 then start looking for another job. I don't feel like I am fulfilled doing audit, and I don't think I am learning the skills necessary to reach my intermediate and long term career goals. My intermediate goal is to go to a top 10 MBA program, and my long term goal is to move to the buy side.

I think that working at a Big 3 credit rating agency would help me meet both of those goals. I believe this because: all three big 3 credit ratings agencies have strong brand equity (MBA), and credit analysis would be helpful in investments (Buy side). I have considered trying to get into Equity Research as well, but I believe that this is a longer shot to the point where I don't want to focus my time on it.

I was wondering if anyone had any experience or knew if someone with my background would be considered at a CRA, or if there was any incremental work I could be doing after the CFA to boost my chances of getting in.

Thanks in advance.