Currently I am in my first year undergraduate majoring in IT and would like to go into investment banking for my career. I understand that investment banking accept all sort of majors but should I take up either CFA or MBA to score a better chance of going into IB ?

Should I take CFA Level 1 exam in my final year to have a higher chance of going into investment banking upon graduation ?
Or should I focus completely on my undergraduate studies (e.g. : CGPA & Co-curricular activities) ?
Or should I work for a few years upon graduation and then go for MBA after that ?

My main goal is to go into investment banking once I graduate but am afraid IT graduate would have a lower chance.

Thank you in advance for your advice.

Just work first and then decide, but my bet is with CFA as there are too many MBAs right now which has become a worthless piece of paper

Hehe. Read this;
http://www.businessinsider.my/mba-vs-cfa-2013-4

Typically CFA more money than MBA, and got both more money than either one, but CFA is more specialized, so if no job then no job lo. Though MBA pay a little less, but wider option..

Also have to see you punya career sekarang.
Nak switch oath dari IT gi finance, better MBA. career switches easier with MBA.
http://www.lifeonthebuyside.com/mba-vs-cfa/

So, ideally, CFA + MBA for better salary. Read both the links.
Salary wise, CFA but so much tougher, lesser breadth for you to lari and not sure if IB reject you then CFA lesser options.
Option wise, MBA but slightly lesser pay. From the article, best advice if switching fields better MBA.

Extra fun read: http://www.forbes.com/sites/investopedia/2...fa-mba-or-both/

Investment bank in western countries prefer non economic major. This is because economic or finance major are everywhere. IT graduates will be much sought after due to their high problem solving skills and knowledge in IT.
But I strongly suggest you to break in to IB straight away after you graduate from university. Don't waste your time on postgraduate. NO ONE will hire postgraduate with zero working experience in investment banking field.
You could work as analyst in an investment bank for 1 to 2 years first. Then only study for MBA if you wanna move up the ladder to associate position OR exit to the buy-side career (I'd suggest this one).
You are so wrong. CFA cost more than MBA to study but its function is not as great as the MBA. After obtaining the MBA, your job scope will not be limited whereas CFA will only limit you in certain career that act as specialist.

Hey there, are you currently working in an investment bank ? Does local bank hire IT fresh graduate for their analyst position ? I have made a simple search in JobStreet, it seems that out of the 3 banks that I have searched RHB,Maybank and CIMB, only RHB is hiring analyst but it requires some working experience as well as post grad qualifications.

http://www.jobstreet.com.my/jobs/2014/5/r/...&src=16&srcr=12

That is Senior Analyst. Junior analyst is the bottom of the hierarchy of investment bank. So try searching them again. If they say looking for Junior investment bankers/banker. that also mean junior analyst.

Answer: None of the two.
Better you take the money and invest it in expanding your network and buy Investment Bankers drink/dinner every now and then and cultivate a strong relationship while demonstrating your ability, willingness and eagerness to enter investment banking sector. That will give you a chance of being selected as an intern which is a ticket towards an investment banking career.

Always remember: people will be more inclined to hire others they know and trust. Dosen't matter what qualifications you hold (although basic ones need to be there). You have to be in the right "camp" with the right people.

Otherwise you are one of thousands of other applicants who flood the in-tray of Ibankers with their resume.

This post has been edited by robertchoo: May 21 2014, 11:10 PM

lol.. finish ur undergrad first then return here n ask... u r 3 years too early

wrong... mbas yes, mba holders from top schools are hard to come by... in fact it is the cfa holders that are too many

this is d biggest bs ever... are u working in a IB? local IB or .... dude, ppl that are bent on entering IB knows u hv to undergo internships while u r in school... who says freshies dont get positions... in fact at tops IBs, most entry pos goes to freshies postgrad or not

CFA cost more than MBA? i guess u must be comparing with those unranked msian schools right?

and CFA as a specialist? you gotta be kidding me...

Good advice, in fact nowadays higher qualifications don't count as much and what you say is right. Don't waste time on an MBA or CFA.

Some wanna break into Wall Street ba..

I think Wall Street realised what MBA and PhD did with Lehman Brothers, it went bust.

I wanna plan everything properly in advance so that I can go into investment banking the moment I graduate. I do not wanna regret not doing anything that could have gotten me into IB.

All the more reason you should take up my advice. Afterall an internship with investment banks will do you good. Alot of the times young people get too sucked in by the glamour of the job without realising its another reality when it comes to the actual work. Hours are long and gruelling and the environment is highly stressful while you are doing monotonous and boring work, spending endless hours working around 30 excel spreadsheets checking and rechecking calculations and formula, tweaking the numbers over and over again while your boss screams at you coz you have a figure wrong on spreadsheet no. 15 which means you have to spend more time reworking spreadsheet no. 16 to no 30 coz the figures are interlinked. Or the boss thinks spreadsheet no. 5 is too bullish and wants you to rework the entire 30 spreadsheet and hand it first thing in the morning to him at his desk so he can present it to clients which means working through the night and god forbid if one of the figures is wrong. And then imagine doing the same thing day in day out for 16 hours a day, day after day, including weekends for 5 years.

This post has been edited by robertchoo: May 22 2014, 01:15 AM

why then go down d IT path?

You need to finish your bachelor's first. Taking an MBA without work experience is bullshit IMO.

If you're doing your degree in Malaysia then your chances of getting into IB is slim, but as someone already mentioned networking can do wonders.

With a few years of real work experience under your belt, you can apply and get accepted to a top b-school and increase your chances of getting an IB significantly. I personally know several people who went to Harvard, INSEAD, Columbia, Oxford b-schools straight from Malaysia. A top b-school is where their career services help you get a job. IB recruiters come and recruit on campus etc.

I also know people who went straight into IB soon after graduating their undergrad but far fewer of them.

Good luck and work hard

I'm talking about ivy leagues. When you get CFA, you're only limited to your current career or maybe something that's related. But for sure it wouldn't make you jump to other different jobs. CFA specialises in a certain field dude, don't ya understand? An employer would rather hire a MBA than a CFA, true story.
And yes, no one will will recruit fresh postgraduates. If you think investment bank will hire fresh postgraduates, than either the investment bank is new/lack of employees or you're being plain lucky.

This post has been edited by Y.J.S: May 22 2014, 06:53 AM

This post has been edited by alaskanbunny: May 22 2014, 09:07 AM

TS, I got offer from IBs with only BBA. You should focus on your degree now, put some colours in the cert, medals, some letters like 1st class, awards, gold medalist and so on. I got CFA soon after grad and then MBA recently. If you want IB or more prestige cert, CFA. But CFA is not easy. If you flung your IT degree, you may have hard time passing.

Wah didn't know my fresh bachelor degree better than fresh postgrads degree. My department just hire a fresh phd analyst, I should suggest to my boss to fire him and hire a 2-3 years degree holder from mangala university or some 20 years exp janitor.

But you have a business degree. Does IT graduate stand an equal chance as business graduate to get into IB ? If it doesn't, should I take CFA Level 1 during my final year to cover up my disadvantages as an IT graduate ?

You are asking a question ahead of your time. Not necessarily a bad thing if you can stay focus on your priorities. I concur with Fiona, focus on your degree first. You never know if your interests might change as you progress to your final year. For now, you can pick up some financial reading to beef up your general knowledge (i.e. business or finance sections of the newspapers; or how the Government budget affects you?)

Focus on getting high grades and curricular activities.
Cfa without working experience doesn't add much value especially recruitment.
Only when you have extensive number if practical experience + technical knowledge from cfa, yes it will be.

MBA depends which school you enter. If you are talking about FT100 yes it will make a difference. For example CEO of Goldman Sachs is MBA background. Difference is MBA requirement for entry is much harder than cfa especially the prestigious ones.

Btw, isn't there good career prospect for our background? Oracle expert engineers in mys also can earn 20-30k per month after 10 years experience.

Dude, isit possible to enter top b-school from as a "non" famous uni grad? Ie. Must u be a undergrad grad from top unis to break into top b school?

What about doing CFA Level 1 in final year ? For example, I can state it in my resume as CFA Level 1 candidate. Do you think I stand a higher chance ?

Somehow my interests have been shifted to IB the corporate finance side.

Yep definitely possible. They look more at the few years of work you did before rather than your undergraduate degree which is why that 3-8 years of work experience is crucial

get extremely well gmat scores ^^

Business or not I think it doesn't matter, you need to go through a training course anyway if you got hired. Ask the boss below. I did not take the job.

PROVIDED you have a very good grade in your degree, whatever degree it is. If you get a bad degree, your CFA level 1 make your resume look worse. Deviate from your responsibility as a student to put in effort on what you should be doing, impression of you doing the same if you get the job. CFA level 1 is common, it won't make you stand out, a.k.a. many people are doing what you are planning to do.

Sorry to necro and reviving old thread.

Any additional inputs for this topic? Currently unable to decide whether to choose CFA or MBA (currently working as junior analyst in business conglomerate in Malaysia).

I'm leaning towards being a fund manager/investment banker by having CFA, but not very sure about the availability of opportunities (attractive ones) in Malaysia yet.

Any inputs will be much appreciated.

Think you have to drill down on what you want first, AM and IB are 2 entirely different things.

In general, CFA without experience is worse off than someone with MBA from reputable school (ivy leagues). Reason, good MBA have very high filter requirement like 7 years working experience with MNC, managerial or consultancy background, good GMAT scores and recommendation from alumni. If the MBA schools don't have these criteria, it's just a normal MBA that won't really make a huge adjustment to your career prospects.

CFA is just an exam paper so experience is more important. CFA member will be good as you have 4 year relevant experience. Finishing the exam just prove you can learn to apply, not many large company will hire you on that basis without proper experience.

Assume by the time i complete CFA, i will have a working experience of around 6 years. Is this usually a good time?

Separately, what are the prospects of continuing with a MBA say at the 8th working year? (assuming CFA obtained at 6th)

Thank you!

You mention working in a conglomerate so would you acquire any experience related to corporate finance? Financial due diligence, asset pricing, portfolio optimisation are some of the use cases you face in a job from the IB / AM sector. My take is that CFA just proves you are a diligent learner, but if you have to start in the industry from scratch, few would want to assume the risk of absorbing a newcomer at the age of 28 / 29 when burnout is frequent in the industry (less so in Malaysia but general in IB)

What I just said relates only to the job seeking, but to actually pass CFA, your working experience needs to be 'relevant' as defined here: https://www.cfainstitute.org/en/membership/...work-experience. Whether or not you have worked for 6 years is irrelevant since you may have cleared the duration requirement (48 months) but not the technical requirement.

Finally, doing an MBA would be an icing on the cake once you have already landed a job in the industry. But if you are not intending to start a venture yourself, IMO there is much less value in it (since your goal is to enter the industry, which should have been be achieved by CFA alone).

Ultimately you have to weigh the pros and cons of either program (CFA requires longer time investment, but can start immediately; while good MBA schools might not admit you with your current credentials), as well as your career goals (seems a bit over the place tbh).

Hi bursageek, thank you for your reply which I find it very detail and informative!

To answer your question (hopefully to also open up new/further opinions if you may have), my current jobscope does involve the nature of investment holding business, i.e. Financial due diligence, project financing, asset pricing/valuation, return analysis (not so much of portfolio optimisation/managing).

You are pretty spot on with your deduction, I do wish to land in the Investment Banking industry (did thought of venturing overseas but this may be over-ambitious at current point of discussion), or along the line of stock brokerage/managing fund.

Any takes on this? Or perhaps I should look for other professional papers/masters apart from CFA and MBA?

Thank you in advance!

Hello, I’m also just a young professional working in the finance industry so do refer to other sources haha.

From my friends’ experiences (we all graduated from a top 3 UK uni), CFA requires tremendous time investment – many online would suggest dedicating 300 hours per level, i.e. averaging 1 hour a day of study. At a minimum, I figure even a smart learner has to put down half an hour everyday to it, which can be a solitary process if you don’t have friends doing it together. Many started it because of peer pressure, and end up completing it because of the sunk cost, which made me question CFA’s value whose payoff is uncertain (AFAIK no workplaces have introduced bonus associated with completing CFA) and is only a soft barrier of entry for IBs (on the other hand, you still have to take PKMC exams before trading professionally).

I have lots of interest in investment, but don’t see it as more of a career beyond a personal hobby (I am invested in equities in NA, EU and MYS and would have to give up these holdings if I work as traders). Between CFA and MBA I would have chosen the latter since I value the business connections from a good school (think Ivy League / top business schools in the UK) and have plans to launch own businesses in the future, but at the moment I’m not keen of pausing my career to further study.