CFA without Work Experience

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hakucha

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Hi,
I am currently an MBA student in the US. I am an international student and am doing my MBA with a concentration in Finance . I am in course to complete my MBA in May 2011 and I am considering my career paths.
I graduated undergrad in 2009 as an Accounting major- Economics minor and was unable to secure a job so decided to pursue an MBA degree.
I wanted to know if it would be advisable to sit for the CFA exam without any job experience. Would doing so make my resume heavy on academics and would employee see it as a negative sign?
Also what would the value of the CFA be without any prior work experience?
As of now, I am thinking of taking the Level I exam in December and taking Level II in June.
 
I think the CFA with no work experience would have added more value than the MBA with no work experience.
Taking the CFA will not hurt you, but you have to realize all these letters will not get you a job.
PS: I was planning on taking level 1 in december, and 2 in june, but it didnt work out for me.
 
I’m doing an M.Sc. in Econ and Finance right after undergrad and decided against writing the CFA while I’m in school. In my opinion someone with a masters and 1 or 2 levels of CFA with no work experience is not a good sign to employers.
 
I don’t think it’s a bad sign, I am sure it adds some academic value and shows your interest.
 
Brian, I don’t think it would be a bad sign if 1 year after undergrad you had 1-2 levels of CFA complete and a degree, vs just having completed the degree..
Doesn’t make any sense to me why they would take it as a bad sign if you complete two things at once instead of only 1.
Another thing to remember is that even if you pass all three levels, you still need 4 years of work experience to become a charterholder instead of just “Passed level 3 of CFA program on June 201X.” Having said that, I think it’s easier to pass the tests while you are still in school/study mode vs having been working for awhile.
 
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