Senior looking to start CFA

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I just became a senior and now qualify to attempt Level 1. Is it recommended that I start studying while I’m in school?Or after I graduate? Will the study load be too much? I don’t plan on going for a master’s after graduation.
 
depends how full your plate is with schoolwork. depends what your major is. Alot of it might be overlap, kind of.
If you are going to do it, don’t plan on having much of a social life come March/April/May.
 
Personally, I think it’s more important to concentrate on your classes than knocking off L1 of the CFA exam. Your GPA is going to be more relevant for more employment possibilities and follow you around far longer and more often than the question of whether you had L1 out of the way the year you graduated vs one or two years later.
L1 takes a lot of study, pretty much no matter what. If you were a finance major and did a fair amount of accounting, a good portion of it will be review of undergrad, but you still have to learn the types of questions they ask and how to keep yourself mentally alert for the 6 hours of exam and some material such as ethics is still likely to be new. You don’t want that prep time to come at the expense of your GPA, and it may also be silly to spend what time remains on CFA studies instead of enjoying what may be your last year to hang out and party with your college buddies (which, realistically, you are likely going to end up doing whether or not you sign up for CFA - you’ll just feel less bad about it if you don’t have the spectre of the exam bugging you).
 
Greenman72 wrote:
At 65, it might be a little late to start a new career path.
Click to expand...
LOL
I also agree with bchad, I’d really push for the highest GPA. No lower than 4.0. This will be the ONLY chance you get to work on your GPA. Don’t be like me and not push hard enough and fall just under a 3.0 and screened out by every basically every employer.
 
hpracing007 wrote:
Greenman72 wrote:
At 65, it might be a little late to start a new career path.
Click to expand...
LOL
I also agree with bchad, I’d really push for the highest GPA. No lower than 4.0. This will be the ONLY chance you get to work on your GPA. Don’t be like me and not push hard enough and fall just under a 3.0 and screened out by every basically every employer.
Click to expand...
Agreed. A lot of firms are using arbitrary cut offs at GPA. Even 3.3 is low enough to be dinged.
 
lxwarr30 wrote:
hpracing007 wrote:
Greenman72 wrote:
At 65, it might be a little late to start a new career path.
Click to expand...
LOL
I also agree with bchad, I’d really push for the highest GPA. No lower than 4.0. This will be the ONLY chance you get to work on your GPA. Don’t be like me and not push hard enough and fall just under a 3.0 and screened out by every basically every employer.
Click to expand...
Agreed. A lot of firms are using arbitrary cut offs at GPA. Even 3.3 is low enough to be dinged.
Click to expand...
Which is silly when you’re an engineer…but whatever.
 
Thanks for all of the responses. I should have mentioned that my major is Finance.
I think I’ll just wait then, my gpa would probably suffer and I don’t want to get ‘screened out’.
 
Greenman72 wrote:
At 65, it might be a little late to start a new career path.
Click to expand...
That’s my initial thought too when he said “senior” ^_^
it’s never too late to start i suppose, but is it ever too early? hmm… i don’t know, personally i think one CAN do it while in school but i don’t recommend it.
 
Take one step at a time.
1) Graduate with honors
2) Get a good job that provides you good exit opportunities and skillset
Once you accomplish the first 2, study for any designation you want.
 
Take one step at a time.
1) Graduate with honors
2) Get a good job that provides you good exit opportunities and skillset
Once you accomplish the first 2, study for any designation you want.
 
Here’s what i think…
Realistically speaking, taking level 1 at this time probably doesn’t benefit you that much, but if you are interested in finance, i can see there are potential benefits:
1) connect with other CFA candidates in the area and see what they do and their career paths
2) believe it or not, if you don’t have the time now to study, you probably won’t have the time when you have a full time job, so the saying of “focusing one thing at a time” doesn’t really make sense unless you plan to take the exams when you are jobless
3) studying CFA may help you with your undergrad classes especially if you are studying finance
I personally do not think grades in university is that important (as long as you pass and can graduate), but there are also other things you may want to do, such as getting an internship or going on exchange, both of which would be more benefitial for you than CFA L1 (IMHO of course!)
BEST OF LUCK
NANA
 
NANA Hachiko wrote:
3) studying CFA may help you with your undergrad classes especially if you are studying finance
Click to expand...
It’s not important once you have great experience but coming out of school grades are important. That’s what employers mainly look at in IB and sales and trading internships.
 
former trader wrote:
NANA Hachiko wrote:
3) studying CFA may help you with your undergrad classes especially if you are studying finance
Click to expand...
It’s not important once you have great experience but coming out of school grades are important. That’s what employers mainly look at in IB and sales and trading internships.
Click to expand...
Or Big4 or F100s or Consulting or etc. Do yourself justice and focus on getting a good GPA because it will even follow you to grad school if you choose to do that down the line.
 
Focus on your grades. Land an internship. Build your network. Land a job. Pursue a Masters if you need it to advance.
 
lxwarr30 wrote:
former trader wrote:
NANA Hachiko wrote:
3) studying CFA may help you with your undergrad classes especially if you are studying finance
Click to expand...
It’s not important once you have great experience but coming out of school grades are important. That’s what employers mainly look at in IB and sales and trading internships.
Click to expand...
Or Big4 or F100s or Consulting or etc. Do yourself justice and focus on getting a good GPA because it will even follow you to grad school if you choose to do that down the line.
Click to expand...
True, if you want to apply to grad school eventually…
But gneerally speaking i wouldn’t say grades is the #1 thing, especially the trend is to have experience PRIOR to graduation.
 
NANA Hachiko wrote:
lxwarr30 wrote:
former trader wrote:
NANA Hachiko wrote:
3) studying CFA may help you with your undergrad classes especially if you are studying finance
Click to expand...
It’s not important once you have great experience but coming out of school grades are important. That’s what employers mainly look at in IB and sales and trading internships.
Click to expand...
Or Big4 or F100s or Consulting or etc. Do yourself justice and focus on getting a good GPA because it will even follow you to grad school if you choose to do that down the line.
Click to expand...
True, if you want to apply to grad school eventually…
But gneerally speaking i wouldn’t say grades is the #1 thing, especially the trend is to have experience PRIOR to graduation.
Click to expand...
Yea, but I think the main thing is grades help determine who gets those internship roles to get that experience
 
lxwarr30 wrote:
Yea, but I think the main thing is grades help determine who gets those internship roles to get that experience
Click to expand...
But usually they only take into consideration your grades in your first 2nd years because people are doing internships in 3rd and 4th year.
Also a good idea to volunteer and do part time jobs… get some experience working with people and making contacts and building up a good work ethics is important.
Not to say grades are completely irrelevant, but not my number 1 thing to focus on that’s all… i am also assuming that if you are smart enough to major in finance, you are not that stupid to begin with!?
 
Too many employers care about grades and it would be a mistake to not care about grades.
 
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