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How much weight does the CFA charter carry

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staind
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Re: How much weight does the CFA charter carry [#permalink] New post   03 Oct 2010, 17:39
Jeanette wrote:
I take nothing away from the hard work and intelligence required for a charter, but this thread smacks of misplaced entitlement.


Totally agree.

In 2009, the pass rate for CA exams was 7.86% across all of India. Makes the CFA look like a cake-walk in comparison.
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Re: How much weight does the CFA charter carry [#permalink] New post   04 Oct 2010, 05:39
I think you guys will find that CFAs are a lot more realistic and humble about what the charter means and what it doesn't mean than this thread lets on. The people who probably respect the CFA the most are those who failed level 1 and quit the program. Anyone who hasn't taken the test or isn't in finance couldn’t probably care less about it. Anyone who has the charter respects those with it, but doesn't worship them by any stretch. The fact of the matter is that the CFA is a very rigorous serious of exams that pretty much proves an individual with one knows the first thing about finance. It should be enough to at least get your foot in the door of a lot of places, but doesn’t mean you’re suddenly a money-making machine just because you could pass a few tests. It just means you’re generally aware of the myriad concepts and tools present in the narrow finance field of investment management.

I think to the extent that a CFA will help you in MBA admissions is the extent to which it will help you in post-MBA recruiting, or rather more accurately how much the adcoms perceive it to help you. If the adcoms think that you’ll be better positioned to get a job and therefore help their career statistics over someone else without a CFA, it may help. If they think that the particular field or post-MBA goal you have is such that it won’t really help, then the adcoms probably won’t care. So basically a CFA’s worth is how much the adcoms think that your potential employers will value the charter in the industry you say you’re going to attend (which may be different in actuality once you get to b-school) – clearly a lot of variables to consider and why the CFA is not an automatic ticket-puncher to anywhere.
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Re: How much weight does the CFA charter carry [#permalink] New post   19 Dec 2011, 11:03
I have passed a CFA level 1 in June 2011, and am in dilemma to take CFA level-2 or give GMAT this year

Which helps better in MBA admissions?? - to do GMAT with CFA level 1 or to pass CFA level 2 and then give GMAT???

Ppl kindly provide your inputs on this.
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Re: How much weight does the CFA charter carry [#permalink] New post   19 Dec 2011, 11:11
GMATCFAAspirant wrote:
I have passed a CFA level 1 in June 2011, and am in dilemma to take CFA level-2 or give GMAT this year

Which helps better in MBA admissions?? - to do GMAT with CFA level 1 or to pass CFA level 2 and then give GMAT???

Ppl kindly provide your inputs on this.


Adequately preparing and receiving a high GMAT score should do way more for your MBA admissions process than going from CFA 1 to 2.
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Re: How much weight does the CFA charter carry [#permalink] New post   20 Dec 2011, 06:02
Thanks for your inputs. Also would like to know about the following:
1. Have heard of Scholarships available for MBA abroad. I was interested in knowing any cutoff marks/ criteria /rules there are for getting those scholarships. Could someone provide me this info if they know?
2. Also wanted to the Loans we could avail for doing MBA. If someone could give me the average payback period for a MBA student getting in top-30 schools, it would be really helpful.

Thanks in Advance for your inputs/thoughts.
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Re: How much weight does the CFA charter carry [#permalink] New post   24 Dec 2011, 23:09
GMATCFAAspirant wrote:
I have passed a CFA level 1 in June 2011, and am in dilemma to take CFA level-2 or give GMAT this year

Which helps better in MBA admissions?? - to do GMAT with CFA level 1 or to pass CFA level 2 and then give GMAT???

Ppl kindly provide your inputs on this.


You could do both. Obviously you need to at least take the GMAT, but its definitely possible to take the GMAT and a CFA test in the same year. I took the GMAT twice and CFA LIII successfully in the same year, and managed to get my R1 apps out with an admit. Its doable, you just gotta bust your butt hard.

These binary decisions of CFA LII vs. higher GMAT are silly. Figure out what your limitations are and if you can do both without failing, then go for it. Obviously if you can only do one successfully, the GMAT is clearly more important to getting into business school.

_________________________________________________________________

As a side note to anyone reading this considering the CFA program, I'm doing banking recruiting and have found an unexpectedly high number of people in the field have their CFA -- probably like 20-30% of the people I spoke with, which is higher than my expectation of <5%. Those that don't have it are generally aware of the designation and have respect for its rigorousness. I haven't had problems convincing people that I'll be able to handle the technical nature of the job thanks in large part to my CFA progress.
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Re: How much weight does the CFA charter carry [#permalink] New post   03 Jan 2012, 01:12
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Hi everyone,

Hope these thoughts are of help. Although admissions teams understand how difficult a CFA can be to attain, it is important to understand that business schools are aiming to cultivate future leaders. For this reason, a CFA certification will be weighed with less emphasis than your work experience, etc. A CFA will be of help if you are addressing a low quant score, however you should not expect the impact to be significant.

Hope this was of help.


Cheers,

Conrad and the Stacy Blackman Team
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Re: How much weight does the CFA charter carry [#permalink] New post   03 Mar 2012, 22:44
This one of the best discussions i have come across on gmat club..Thanks to every 1 for such useful info...
I am preparing for my gmat and plan to do CFA level 1 by december and then would apply in a b-school.My question is that by clearing just the CFA level 1 is going to help in the recruitment process post MBA. ??
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Re: How much weight does the CFA charter carry [#permalink] New post   04 Mar 2012, 13:14
sudden wrote:
terp06 wrote:
IHateTheGMAT wrote:
I believe it's given much less weight than it deserves. Ryguy knows a lot more about this though, I'm sure he'll post something on this thread in a bit.


Agreed. I don't believe that many Adcom members realize the dedication and amount of work it takes to get a CFA. They almost seem to equate it to be similar to getting a CPA.


That's exactly right. With all do respect to folks pursuing the CPA, it's not even comparable. The CFA exams are more difficult by a mile. In fact, they are significantly more difficult than:

1) Any test you will ever take as an undergrad
2) GMAT
3) Anything you are likely to do in business school
4) I've heard several lawyers say it's harder than the bar

I don't want to exaggerate here, because the exams are definitely passable, but it is a huge commitment to get through the three levels. Imagine studying for 300-400 (if not more) hours, walking into a six hour beast of a test, and then, statistically speaking, probably failing. CFA Institute just released the level one pass results -- 35% made the cut. Most of the people taking the exam have BBAs and MBAs already, so that gives you a sense of the difficulty.

Please don't exaggerate. I did all three levels only because it was required by my employer. The exams were quite easy for someone with a bachelor's in math/physics/computer science.

Honestly, I consider the whole CFA thing a waste of time.

Quote:
(no to mention that it doesn't teach you leadership, team work or how to suck up to your boss prior to asking for a good recommendation).

On this I agree.
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Re: How much weight does the CFA charter carry [#permalink] New post   04 Mar 2012, 14:05
cougarblue wrote:
I apologize if my post came across as abrasive or degrading, sudden. I'm just calling it like I see it, after hearing these arguments for the 1000th time. (btw, I'm equally as qualified as you are to talk to the difficulty of the exams.)

Obviously your feedback is a good data point(s). But I've also heard other Charterholders' feedback from M7 schools which was essentially what I represented in my post, so I take that data and combine it with yours. I understand that you will want to overweight your own experience, but I'm just trying to draw a generalization here.

Just so we're clear, I never said the Charter wasn't respected in industry. Indeed, I recognized that it shows both a level of commitment to the IM industry and a propensity for setting and achieving a desired goal. When I talk about "glorifying" it, I'm talking about all those statements you hear like, "probably at least 1,000 hours of study." Now, I know they recently revised the 250 hours to 350 hours, but can you say with a straight face that you actually studied 350 hours or more for each exam?

There are many professional exams, both more and less difficult than the CFA exams, yet we never hear about how difficult they are or how they are better than an MBA. My main point is to provide a tempered viewpoint, as an insider, on the matter and that maybe, just maybe, CFA Candidates and Charterholders, myself included, are a little guilty of self-aggrandizement.

I remember that I spent about 8 hours a week and passed all three levels on the first try. In total it took me 2 years.

I worked at the largest asset management firm in the Netherlands. Few of my colleagues took CFA seriously. Many of them had a PhD and some were part-time professors. A recommendor of mine said "Probably only people outside asset management would have much respect for CFA." I tend to agree.

CFA shows how good you are at memorizing things and not how intellectually curious or creative you are. The latter is much more important to be a good analyst/researcher.

After passing three levels' exams, I did not even bother to send the CFA Institution the formal application for the title.

BTW, I was dinged by HBS and CBS. Obviously CFA did not help much.
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Re: How much weight does the CFA charter carry [#permalink] New post   29 Mar 2012, 17:04
wow that's crazy. i'm spending easily 10-15 hours a week on the CFA right now. doesn't look too promising but I think I will continue with it.
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Re: How much weight does the CFA charter carry [#permalink] New post   06 Oct 2023, 14:18
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Re: How much weight does the CFA charter carry [#permalink]
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