share your 'cfa > mba?' stories

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starbuk

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walk into top 5 mba info session
great convo for about an hour
future leaders of america in the room
person in front raises hand and asks
so are you saying mba > cfa
(facepalm)
 
Poor way to bring that up. should have instead asked how valuable people think the cfa is.
In reality, you see people with mba’s asked to get a cfa, but never the other way around.
 
A top 5 MBA is WAY more valuable than a CFA in terms of career opportunities. It’s not even close.
 
ksc1940 Wrote:
——————————————————-
> A top 5 MBA is WAY more valuable than a CFA in
> terms of career opportunities. It’s not even
> close.
Gotcha, so MBA > CFA? Nice, all my problems are solved. Crap, I already have a top 5 MBA. Do you think it makes sense to get another top 5 MBA, or is the value diluted a la pursuing the FRM, CAIA, etc after already attaining the CFA?
 
ksc1940 Wrote:
——————————————————-
> A top 5 MBA is WAY more valuable than a CFA in
> terms of career opportunities. It’s not even
> close.
hear that everyone? drop your CFA study right this instant. take the GMAT, quit your job, and get ready to take on $250k in debt right now, even though you might not have a job at graduation after 2 years.
Never mind that the CFA only lands you $5k in debt, versus the MBA $250k in debt. Clearly the MBA is 50X more valuable.
 
ksc1940 Wrote:
——————————————————-
> A top 5 MBA is WAY more valuable than a CFA in
> terms of career opportunities. It’s not even
> close.
KSC man, keep an open mind.
Most folks at least pass CFA Level I, or get accepted to an MBA school, before confidently proclaiming one designation to be far superior to the other.
 
Palantir Wrote:
——————————————————-
> Which is better for MBA, Schweser or Stalla?
i used the cfai textbooks
 
ksc1940 Wrote:
——————————————————-
> A top 5 MBA is WAY more valuable than a CFA in
> terms of career opportunities. It’s not even
> close.
Everyone who just read this, note that this guy has NOT passed any CFA exams and does NOT have an MBA either. This is exactly the problem with forums, you have people who have no clue what they are saying trying to sound like they’ve been through it all and seen it all.
bullcrap
 
Columbia admissions chick said to the Indian guy who asked that at the admissions session, “CFA Yeah, we don’t care that much about that.”
In any case, I’ve finally solved it:
Being Born Wealthy > Being Jewish or WASPY > Born Pretty > Top 5 MBA > CFA > Avg MBA > Born middle class > Born lower class > Born in crack house > Born middleclass in Asia and working in IT but looking to switch to buyside
 
ChickenTikka Wrote:
——————————————————-
> Columbia admissions chick said to the Indian guy
> who asked that at the admissions session, “CFA
> Yeah, we don’t care that much about that.”
>
> In any case, I’ve finally solved it:
>
> Being Born Wealthy > Being Jewish or WASPY > Born
> Pretty > Top 5 MBA > CFA > Avg MBA > Born middle
> class > Born lower class > Born in crack house >
> Born middleclass in Asia and working in IT but
> looking to switch to buyside
genius.
 
ChickenTikka Wrote:
——————————————————-
> Columbia admissions chick said to the Indian guy
> who asked that at the admissions session, “CFA
> Yeah, we don’t care that much about that.”
>
> In any case, I’ve finally solved it:
>
> Being Born Wealthy > Being Jewish or WASPY > Born
> Pretty > Top 5 MBA > CFA > Avg MBA > Born middle
> class > Born lower class > Born in crack house >
> Born middleclass in Asia and working in IT but
> looking to switch to buyside
game over.
 
ChickenTikka Wrote:
——————————————————-
> Columbia admissions chick said to the Indian guy
> who asked that at the admissions session, “CFA
> Yeah, we don’t care that much about that.”
>
> In any case, I’ve finally solved it:
>
> Being Born Wealthy > Being Jewish or WASPY > Born
> Pretty > Top 5 MBA > CFA > Avg MBA > Born middle
> class > Born lower class > Born in crack house >
> Born middleclass in Asia and working in IT but
> looking to switch to buyside
spot on.
 
Wendy Wrote:
——————————————————-
> ksc1940 Wrote:
> ————————————————–
> —–
> > A top 5 MBA is WAY more valuable than a CFA in
> > terms of career opportunities. It’s not even
> > close.
>
>
> KSC man, keep an open mind.
>
> Most folks at least pass CFA Level I, or get
> accepted to an MBA school, before confidently
> proclaiming one designation to be far superior to
> the other.
But he read it on the internetz? It must be true!
Anyway, let’s cut the kid some slack, he obviously doesn’t work in the industry or know anything yet.
 
I would say 75% of this thread goes in the classic CFA>MBA stories.. somehow sharing your stories of CFA>MBA failure turned into another story of… oh fuck it
 
iteracom Wrote:
——————————————————-
> ksc1940 Wrote:
> ————————————————–
> —–
> > A top 5 MBA is WAY more valuable than a CFA in
> > terms of career opportunities. It’s not even
> > close.
>
>
> hear that everyone? drop your CFA study right this
> instant. take the GMAT, quit your job, and get
> ready to take on $250k in debt right now, even
> though you might not have a job at graduation
> after 2 years.
>
> Never mind that the CFA only lands you $5k in
> debt, versus the MBA $250k in debt. Clearly the
> MBA is 50X more valuable.
iteracom if you are implying that you wouldn’t go to HBS or Stanford because you would rack up some debt, I call bullsh!t on you, kind sir.
 
There are few points to mention here:
1-To have the honor, yes, the honor to put the “three letters” after one’s name takes 3-4 years on average however MBA would usually take 2 years max.
2-When you sit for a CFA exam, you need to prepare for 5-7 months 3 hrs a day. (on average). However you sit for 2 exams and a final or a midterm and a final in an MBA single course.
3-You either pass or fail the CFA however you can fail the midterm and pass the final and still manage to score a B on the course and pass it.
4-If you fail a cfa exam, you would have NO clue what questions you flunked however if you flunk an exam while doing an MBA, you can still know WHY and Where you messed up.
5-Compare the number of people having MBA to those holding the CFA charter..
6-If I fail a course in the MBA program, i can definitely sit again for it next semester! you have fall/spring/summer .. but you’re definitely getting a 1 shot a year for a CFA exam.
The problem is MBA applies to all business majors even non-business majors (engineers). So when you go for an interview, you’d mention that you have an MBA and the HR manager is definitely knowledgeable about it; what about a CFA? I bet that >50% of finance related managers heard of CFA charter but what about Human Resource manager? I mean some are familiar with it if they have employees holding the charter on board..
If any manager knows the pain it takes to get done with the three exams, get the work experience approved and then the final approval to use the three letters then they would definitely appreciate the candidate more than someone holding an MBA; even if its from a top business school …
that’s my personal opinion and i would definitely prefer a candidate who passed three exams over someone who finished an MBA because i know the pain it takes to get done with it..
 
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