ChaseDream

标题: Sorry, CFAs. An MBA Will Get That Investment Banking Job You Want [打印本页]

作者: JonFrank 时间: 2015-4-17 11:05
标题: Sorry, CFAs. An MBA Will Get That Investment Banking Job You Want
Hey guys, I know a lot of people want to work in investment banking after graduation, but they wonder about doing other degrees programs VS MBA, so I want to share this article with you and I think this would apply well to you if you want to know the answer.

If you want to land a top slot in investment banking, get an MBA over a Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Spending four years and hundreds of hours studying for a finance certification may not be worth it. A much larger share of managing directors at banks worldwide have master’s of business administration degrees than Chartered Financial Analyst designations, a recent study shows.

[attach]160070[/attach]

Efinancial Careers, a London-based financial-services website, analyzed résumés from their database of 17,000 people with 10 years of experience. In addition to the prevalence of MBAs among managing directors, the study noted that just 13 percent of people with CFAs are managing directors, compared with 18 percent of those with MBAs.

The study gets at the heart of a fierce debate about which set of letters people should pursue to make themselves eligible for a top slot at an investment bank: MBA or CFA. Two years at business school leads to the first, and about four years and a total of 900 hours of preparation for three exams leads to the second, a Chartered Financial Analyst credential. While to some, two years away from work seems like more of a sacrifice than taking a handful of tests while on the job, it is notoriously difficult to become a so-called charterholder.

Most people fail the exams, even after sinking whatever precious hours they have away from their cubes into studying. Just 44 percent of the 47,000 financial professionals who took the first level of the exam in December passed it, which was actually an increase from the depressing 42 percent who passed in June. Business school is more expensive, but also a surer bet for people intent on adding a new acronym to their e-mail signatures. Two years at a top MBA program can cost more than $100,000, vs. the $3,000 that people generally pay to take the CFA exams, but the majority of people admitted to business school finish with a degree in hand.

If you have a question about your applications, feel free to leave a comment here or send me a Private Message. I'm happy to help!

作者: cheesechan 时间: 2015-4-17 11:23
提示: 作者被禁止或删除内容自动屏蔽

作者: spotty 时间: 2015-4-17 14:49
Thanks for sharing Jon!

But imho the proper way should be to compare the percentage of people who become MDs after getting their CFAs with the percentage of people who become MDs after an MBA, not the way the article shows.
Another concern of mine is that, CFA is a globally standardized test, whereas MBA has top, mid or low tiers... So in general I would say that Top MBA > CFA > Mid/Low Tier MBA (for launching into IB insudtry).

作者: Sekki 时间: 2015-4-17 17:04
CFA holders are mostly investment managers (mutual fund/hedge fund managers, etc), not investment bankers. You really got to know the different between these two career paths.

作者: 我系大P 时间: 2015-4-17 21:39
I might agree because MBA provides a better platform for career transforming. Assuming you are not in IB after undergrad and want to get into IB after completing the CFA exams, the possibility is much lower than for a MBA grads.

However, to someone who want to go well in the IB path, i believe CFA is a plus and you should pursue it before or after your MBA. Even a student with straight business/finance background can't understand the capital market thoroughly. What do you think the MBA can teach you in 2 years. In fact, increasing number of ppl simply take the CFA level 1 to at least have a big picture about the financial world.

作者: zsyks 时间: 2015-4-18 17:19
ppl who work for deals like ib don't need cfa, only who do investing are typical cfa candidates, also you should consider overlays
if the poll is limited in equity research analysts or fund managers you'll get a completely opposite result
both cfa and mba are big commitments, as far as i reached, most firms weigh mba and cfa (holders, not candidates) equally
the shortcoming of cfa is you need relevant work experience, but your exam costs are usually covered by the banks, it's a tradeoff

作者: fw227 时间: 2015-4-18 17:47
that's just a pointless comparison dude

作者: 小厨子 时间: 2015-4-18 22:04
感谢分享！

作者: shower1102 时间: 2015-4-20 23:19
We could not take income as the only character in measuring MBA experience. Of course, ROI, of after MBA income matters to everyone, including me, but there are much more pushed me to pursuing a MBA degree. CFA only makes you competitive if you are in financial industry/function (especially in quantitative research). Meanwhile, a MBA degree could help you knock the doors of nearly all industries.

作者: cheesechan 时间: 2015-4-20 23:22
提示: 作者被禁止或删除内容自动屏蔽

作者: shower1102 时间: 2015-4-20 23:34

cheesechan 发表于 2015-4-20 23:22
except it is a joke that CFA is useful for quantitative financial research, I will 100% agree to t ...

师兄是业内人士么？听来感觉比较了解。正好有关于CFA的问题，师兄了解么？

作者: SZ吃猫的鱼 时间: 2017-11-5 22:38

欢迎光临 ChaseDream (https://forum.chasedream.com/)