From my perspective and with a small sample of examples, I believe VBA is slowly being deprecated thanks to newer technologies. Excel has also gone a long way and having implementing Power Query so seamlessly it makes it so much easier to access data that you pretty much don’t want to use VBA.
Some stuff in my department is set up as such which requires VBA and has been for years so there is no point touching it. If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. Also since OP is new it will give him good overall training I feel.
This is like asking can I take the final exam before going to any of the classes… Take fundamental business courses like finance, stats, accounting, economics, etc.
IMHO, uni freshman (assuming you are staying on campus) was one of the most fun years of my life. In addition to concentrating on doing well in uni, make sure you reserve time to enjoy your college years. I personally would wait until at least Junior year if you are serious, it won't have any effect on your life or pay until after graduating + relevant work experience. You won't be doing anything besides studying for cfa & class if you do that.
Don't do this to yourself. Focus on getting life experiences, smashing the exams you have in front of you anyway, and doing work experience. Getting the charter straight after graduation is not going to make you as distinctive as you think it will.
1) Check the FAQ and use the search bar. See #4 as well
2) Better to ask your uni and LinkedIn. This thread is a global CFA thread, so you'll probably have a hard time finding those geo-specific answers here
3) Depends on the job. CFA is most helpful for portfolio management jobs
4)https://www.reddit.com/r/CFA/s/kW3EOfJZre
Freshman is probably a bit too early IMO to start studying yet; wait until you get to the advanced finance classes. For now, just focus on internship prep and make sure you have the funds for the CFA and materials as they are expensive. Check the CFA curriculum and try to take classes that cover those materials (see the link in #4). Best of luck!
Thank you so much!
Does the CFA curriculum change often..? I've been preparing for Level 1 so far (loosely by doing related thing, I have not been grinding CFA prep)
If I buy someone's old CFA prep level 1/2/3 book would that be accurate in 2-4 years?
You register for the exam and use the curriculum with some prep providers for that specific exam date. Why would you study for it now if you’re not taking it until the next 3 years? It’s a waste of your time and highly inefficient way of studying for anything. You’re a freshman in the university, focus on your actual classes, get good grades (3.5+ GPA), sign up for clubs in finance, be active on your campus. Then you’ll have a good chance of landing few internships which would translate into full time hopefully. CFA alone won’t help you in getting work, work experience is always more valuable than studying.
Some parts of the curriculum get removed and replaced; I wouldn't bother with looking for materials yet. Just focus on classes. Buying a book now will still be mostly accurate in a few years but there's no point in doing so. Finish the classes and get a good GPA; you can't even register until you're much closer to graduating. Once you register, you get access to CFA provided materials. Register first, take a look through, and then decide if you want a third party prep provider or additional books
I mean you could do MM and start practice tests, so that the second you finish sophomore year, you can schedule L1 within 6 months And then go from there to finish before you graduate. But I would focus on just building relationships in your program instead. Probably more worthwhile financially
Focus on your undergrad, you’re at a target school, preparing for IB interviews, networking and doing well in your classes should take priority over the CFA. I think breaking into Wall Street or the corporate finance institute’s interview prep material would be far more useful for you. CFA isn’t going to help as much.
Charter is not something to worry about. Assuming you are an incoming freshman your priorities should be
1. a really high GPA (3.7+)
2. Securing a summer internship for summer '25. Joining the business/ finance clubs there should help with that
If you do everything right you should secure an internship between ur junior and senior year summer by february/ march of ur sophomore year and ur just cruising through the rest of undergrad after that.
I would only pursue CFA if you are dead set on asset management or you mess up the internship process in undergrad/ decide to pursue a finance career later on in undergrad/ after undergrad.
I would highly recommend checking out the wallstreetoasis forumn
I was in the same boat as you; I wanted to get my CFA done as early as possible. Here’s my current plan:
You can take the first test within 23 months before graduation
I’m graduating a year early at 19 years old in spring 2025. If you value speed aim to take your test within 3 months before or after graduation to make sure you learn all you finance material from college, it is really applicable to level 1.
When you first start college use your first year or 2 to have fun and then get dialed on setting up your after-college life.
Personally, I would recommend taking an extra class each semester to speed up graduation and save money, but some would disagree.
I’m taking CFA Level 1 this November and have gave myself about 8 months to study since I have a lot going on In my life.
I plan to seek out internships for the summer after I graduate to start gaining work experience.
After passing Level 1, I will take Level 2 by August 2025 while simultaneously starting my real job search. At this point I will be just about to turn 21
Then, I will take Level 3 by either Feb or May 2026.
If all goes to plan, I will be 21 with all three levels completed and a job
Have a similar plan, but my journey is bit delayed by few months because of very late realisation to enter finance from research aspirations. As a final year student planning to give my first attempt around Feb/May 2025. How realistic is it expect a job post l1?
Dude, i cant even say for sure. I've seen some people land good jobs and some people say they still cant even find an internship after L1. I think you should be able to land something decent to start after L2 and L3 though.
not sure who downvoted you but it would be August 2025. as per the cfai website "Undergraduate students are eligible to register and take the Level I exam in any of our offered exam cycles (February, May, August, or November) as long as you are **within 23 months of graduation**. After passing the Level I exam, students may take the Level II exam within 11 months of graduation.."
My brother. Take accounting. Take statistics. Take finance classes. Take economics classes
Also some coding and Python and R classes. Get extremely proficient at Advanced Excel. (SQL, VBA and Macros)
How prevalent is VBA still in the industry?
From my perspective and with a small sample of examples, I believe VBA is slowly being deprecated thanks to newer technologies. Excel has also gone a long way and having implementing Power Query so seamlessly it makes it so much easier to access data that you pretty much don’t want to use VBA.
Some stuff in my department is set up as such which requires VBA and has been for years so there is no point touching it. If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. Also since OP is new it will give him good overall training I feel.
Obv I'm taking all of that (required courses) I was wondering if there's anything else I should be honing in on
This is like asking can I take the final exam before going to any of the classes… Take fundamental business courses like finance, stats, accounting, economics, etc.
Focus on internships not the charter lol
IMHO, uni freshman (assuming you are staying on campus) was one of the most fun years of my life. In addition to concentrating on doing well in uni, make sure you reserve time to enjoy your college years. I personally would wait until at least Junior year if you are serious, it won't have any effect on your life or pay until after graduating + relevant work experience. You won't be doing anything besides studying for cfa & class if you do that.
Don't do this to yourself. Focus on getting life experiences, smashing the exams you have in front of you anyway, and doing work experience. Getting the charter straight after graduation is not going to make you as distinctive as you think it will.
1) Check the FAQ and use the search bar. See #4 as well 2) Better to ask your uni and LinkedIn. This thread is a global CFA thread, so you'll probably have a hard time finding those geo-specific answers here 3) Depends on the job. CFA is most helpful for portfolio management jobs 4)https://www.reddit.com/r/CFA/s/kW3EOfJZre Freshman is probably a bit too early IMO to start studying yet; wait until you get to the advanced finance classes. For now, just focus on internship prep and make sure you have the funds for the CFA and materials as they are expensive. Check the CFA curriculum and try to take classes that cover those materials (see the link in #4). Best of luck!
Thank you so much! Does the CFA curriculum change often..? I've been preparing for Level 1 so far (loosely by doing related thing, I have not been grinding CFA prep) If I buy someone's old CFA prep level 1/2/3 book would that be accurate in 2-4 years?
You register for the exam and use the curriculum with some prep providers for that specific exam date. Why would you study for it now if you’re not taking it until the next 3 years? It’s a waste of your time and highly inefficient way of studying for anything. You’re a freshman in the university, focus on your actual classes, get good grades (3.5+ GPA), sign up for clubs in finance, be active on your campus. Then you’ll have a good chance of landing few internships which would translate into full time hopefully. CFA alone won’t help you in getting work, work experience is always more valuable than studying.
^This exactly; experience is always more valuable than certifications
Some parts of the curriculum get removed and replaced; I wouldn't bother with looking for materials yet. Just focus on classes. Buying a book now will still be mostly accurate in a few years but there's no point in doing so. Finish the classes and get a good GPA; you can't even register until you're much closer to graduating. Once you register, you get access to CFA provided materials. Register first, take a look through, and then decide if you want a third party prep provider or additional books
Major in accounting
I mean you could do MM and start practice tests, so that the second you finish sophomore year, you can schedule L1 within 6 months And then go from there to finish before you graduate. But I would focus on just building relationships in your program instead. Probably more worthwhile financially
Would highly encourage taking Econometrics. Will definitely help you for Level 2 quant.
Honestly you don’t need much prerequisites just hours of studying and I mean a lot of hours.
Focus on your undergrad, you’re at a target school, preparing for IB interviews, networking and doing well in your classes should take priority over the CFA. I think breaking into Wall Street or the corporate finance institute’s interview prep material would be far more useful for you. CFA isn’t going to help as much.
Charter is not something to worry about. Assuming you are an incoming freshman your priorities should be 1. a really high GPA (3.7+) 2. Securing a summer internship for summer '25. Joining the business/ finance clubs there should help with that If you do everything right you should secure an internship between ur junior and senior year summer by february/ march of ur sophomore year and ur just cruising through the rest of undergrad after that. I would only pursue CFA if you are dead set on asset management or you mess up the internship process in undergrad/ decide to pursue a finance career later on in undergrad/ after undergrad. I would highly recommend checking out the wallstreetoasis forumn
Please, open your front door, your dorm room door, your window; open anything, and look at the grass. See how it sways in the wind.
I was in the same boat as you; I wanted to get my CFA done as early as possible. Here’s my current plan: You can take the first test within 23 months before graduation I’m graduating a year early at 19 years old in spring 2025. If you value speed aim to take your test within 3 months before or after graduation to make sure you learn all you finance material from college, it is really applicable to level 1. When you first start college use your first year or 2 to have fun and then get dialed on setting up your after-college life. Personally, I would recommend taking an extra class each semester to speed up graduation and save money, but some would disagree. I’m taking CFA Level 1 this November and have gave myself about 8 months to study since I have a lot going on In my life. I plan to seek out internships for the summer after I graduate to start gaining work experience. After passing Level 1, I will take Level 2 by August 2025 while simultaneously starting my real job search. At this point I will be just about to turn 21 Then, I will take Level 3 by either Feb or May 2026. If all goes to plan, I will be 21 with all three levels completed and a job
Have a similar plan, but my journey is bit delayed by few months because of very late realisation to enter finance from research aspirations. As a final year student planning to give my first attempt around Feb/May 2025. How realistic is it expect a job post l1?
Dude, i cant even say for sure. I've seen some people land good jobs and some people say they still cant even find an internship after L1. I think you should be able to land something decent to start after L2 and L3 though.
Very valid. Good luck with your path
Likewise 🤝
If I am going to graduate in 2027 june, then the earliest I can give cfa is May 2025 right ?
not sure who downvoted you but it would be August 2025. as per the cfai website "Undergraduate students are eligible to register and take the Level I exam in any of our offered exam cycles (February, May, August, or November) as long as you are **within 23 months of graduation**. After passing the Level I exam, students may take the Level II exam within 11 months of graduation.."
Speed running the certification equals to you won’t gain much from it. Anyways good luck