Advice

[#1]

Good evening all. I am just wondering if anyone has any advice for me. At the end of this year I will finish my undergraduate Investment management degree at Stellenbosch University. My marks are high enough for me to be accepted into honours but I am wondering whether or not getting my CFA level 1 next year would be more beneficial? Does anyone have any idea if companies would prefer to hire someone with honours or CFA level 1? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[Longshot]

Definately honours, you can do CFA anytime, and for most of the positions I presume you want to apply for, honours will be a prerequisite. CFA will help you advance your career when you are in the industry, but with only the level one exam passed it wont help you to much in getting your first job.

[Longshot]

Definately honours, you can do CFA anytime, and for most of the positions I presume you want to apply for, honours will be a prerequisite. CFA will help you advance your career when you are in the industry, but with only the level one exam passed it wont help you to much in getting your first job.

[#4]

Thanks Longshot. My dad says the same thing, I was just looking for confirmation (I'm sure you know how parents can be...) haha. So thanks for the confirmation.

[#5]

Just to add a lot of what you do in your honours and some in undergraduate degree you will cover again in CFA Level 1 (dont think so much for 2 & 3). Theres nothing stopping you from doing both.

[#6]

Get some work experience before doing CFA - you will get more out of it that way. If you do it now you will study to pass the exam and not to internalise the course content. I had more than 15 years work experience before I started CFA (I finished it in June this year). You don't have to wait quite that long but I certainly found it much more useful than I would have straight out of varcity. Good luck.

[wattleido]

Definitely agree with the others... most institutions require honours as a minimum requirement these days. Very importantly though its not just about having honours but also how well you do. I made the mistake of being a lazy student for 4 years although I am A¢A_A~fairly brightA¢A_AT. Now I have honours but am stuck with average marks and paying for it adding to our delightful unemployment rate in SA . Also I am doing CFA level 1 now and a lot of the material you will have covered in your undergrad and more will be covered in your honours so plenty of time to get CFA once you are in the industry. Best of luck.