If you are planning to take up a investment management career post-MBA, CFA can help you. Moreover, if you don't have any pre-MBA experience in finance, CFA can give you many more tools before you go for your internship. Good luck!

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I feel you should totally go for CFA L1 , even if you are not planning a IM/Trading profile post MBA , mainly because L1 gives you a solid fundamentals on Financial statement analysis, economics and a bit of stats . L2 is even more rigorous and you will get a taste of finance courses at bschool .

I am an L3 candidate and a FRM holder I wish to clear L3 before I head to b school

Here's my view...

I am currently a CFA Level III Candidate (June 2011), and my post-MBA career path will be investment management. If you are indeed planning on going into investment management/research, you will likely be studying alongside many in your classes who will have passed one or more of the CFA Levels (especially if you are considering schools that are traditionally strong in finance). So bottom-line, it couldn't hurt to take it, although if you don't pass it, it's not the end of the world either.

The best prep book you will find is Schewser note books. They are 5 books that cover all of the matiral. I passed level one studying only from these books plus the Schewser and CFA institute mock Exams.
Good luck for you

Guys, I appreciate your feedbacks very much. The thing is that I’m not 100% sure that I want IB. Currently, my break is 60% IB, 20% consulting and 20% remaining on the tech industry.

That’s why I’m struggling to take this decision. If IB were my certain destiny, I’d study for the exam.

Furthermore, I’m 33 and some people say that it’s going to be an uphill battle to get an IB gig at that age. Such kind of advice hasn’t encouraged me to start studying. Instead, it has kept me from purchasing the Schewser pack and devoting this 25 hours/week to the cause.

I’d appreciate if people with working experience within the finance world tell me how IB recruiters view a guy who entered bschool at 33. Only solid (positive) prospects regarding my chances of getting, at least, a summer internship in a decent bank can tilt me back towards the CFA path.

@secondtime: Man, I don’t know what CMA is. Please enlighten me

2011
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Hanover, Hear My Train a Comin' !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I met a Wells Fargo IB recruiter who had a CFA (or at least completed level 1) and was working in TMT. I asked him about it and he said it definitely helped him better understand the financial statements within his own work.

I'm a college student, who's also considering the CFA, so I don't have first hand experience but I have spoken to a lot of IB recruiters. From what I gathered, the CFA shows that you're able to handle the quantitative aspects of IB work but it doesn't pull as much weight as a brand name undergrad/bschool would. In some cases, they might think you're not committed to IB since the CFA is more geared toward investment management.

And with consulting, the CFA is nice but also doesn't do too much with your chances of entry.

Now, please note that this was advice given to me. However, you're 33 so there is an age gap and experience gap. (which is already very rare for IB entrance) This could mean that the above advice is totally useless but I just wanted to share what I learned.

From your post, I can tell that you might be a little hesitant so I'm not sure if it is a good idea since the CFA does require devotion. (and I'm just going to assume it's been a while since you were in a study mode) But, if you have the time and the money then I would definitely go for it. Again, you have to compare the time studying the CFA (and this doesn't even mean that you're guaranteed to pass but let's just be optimistic) to what you otherwise would have done.

Do you guys even recommend buying additional materials? or does signing up for the exam already provide you with study materials and practice tests?

Schweser notes are very effective.. but as you move from L1 to L2 to L3, the effectiveness decreases

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