The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, a grueling, three-part financial program that hundreds of thousands of people pursue each year covers many of the subjects included in a typical first-year MBA curriculum. A CFA aspirant must study basic economics, accounting, finance, and quantitative analysis areas that echo aspects of many first-year MBA core curricula. So, could working toward the CFA designation negatively<\/em>\u00a0affect an MBA applicant\u2019s candidacy by suggesting that they already have the tools an MBA education would provide and that additional studies would therefore be superfluous? Definitely not!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
In fact, pursuing the CFA designation reflects positively<\/em> on an applicant in that the effort emphasizes their ability to manage a rigorous MBA curriculum and establishes the candidate as a self-starter and a disciplined individual, given that CFA exam preparation is intense and requires several months of sustained and extensive study for each level. Furthermore, from an admissions perspective, admissions officers want to know that they are admitting individuals who are employable; the CFA charter holder has an advantage in the post-MBA recruiting world, because employers can point to the designation as a differentiator among otherwise comparable applicants.<\/p>\nThe CFA exam\/program can also be a useful marketing tool for candidates to help them during the admissions process. Because the CFA narrowly focuses on financial tools, it does not cover a myriad of other subjects the MBA does<\/em> address and that are useful to financial professionals, including marketing, operations, international business, human resource management, and entrepreneurship. The CFA is an independent and largely quantitative program and thus cannot provide the elements a business school program offers through discussion, debate, and measuring qualitative information in decision making.<\/p>\nTogether, the CFA designation and the MBA degree constitute a powerful one-two punch that can be advantageous in landing that coveted post-MBA position.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, a grueling, three-part financial program that hundreds of thousands of people pursue each year covers many of the subjects included in a typical first-year MBA curriculum. A CFA aspirant must study basic economics, accounting, finance, and quantitative analysis areas that echo aspects of many first-year MBA core curricula. … Read More <\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":37201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-admissions-myths-destroyed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: The CFA Is a Liability | mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Does pursuing the CFA hurt MBA admissions? Learn how the CFA strengthens your MBA candidacy and complements business school study.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mba-admissions-myths-destroyed-the-cfa-is-a-liability\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: The CFA Is a Liability | mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Does pursuing the CFA hurt MBA admissions? Learn how the CFA strengthens your MBA candidacy and complements business school study.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mba-admissions-myths-destroyed-the-cfa-is-a-liability\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-04T13:48:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-01T01:16:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/MBA-Admissions-Myths-Destroyed-The-CFA-Is-a-Liability.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Erika V\u00e4\u00e4t\u00e4inen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Erika V\u00e4\u00e4t\u00e4inen\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: The CFA Is a Liability | mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting","description":"Does pursuing the CFA hurt MBA admissions? Learn how the CFA strengthens your MBA candidacy and complements business school study.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mba-admissions-myths-destroyed-the-cfa-is-a-liability\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: The CFA Is a Liability | mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting","og_description":"Does pursuing the CFA hurt MBA admissions? Learn how the CFA strengthens your MBA candidacy and complements business school study.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mba-admissions-myths-destroyed-the-cfa-is-a-liability\/","og_site_name":"mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting","article_published_time":"2026-02-04T13:48:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-01T01:16:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":360,"url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/MBA-Admissions-Myths-Destroyed-The-CFA-Is-a-Liability.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Erika V\u00e4\u00e4t\u00e4inen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Erika V\u00e4\u00e4t\u00e4inen"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":["Article","BlogPosting"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mba-admissions-myths-destroyed-the-cfa-is-a-liability\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mba-admissions-myths-destroyed-the-cfa-is-a-liability\/"},"author":{"name":"Erika V\u00e4\u00e4t\u00e4inen","@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8239bb74f0e5086e58417043b2ff94c6"},"headline":"MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: The CFA Is a Liability","datePublished":"2026-02-04T13:48:48+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-01T01:16:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mba-admissions-myths-destroyed-the-cfa-is-a-liability\/"},"wordCount":9,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mba-admissions-myths-destroyed-the-cfa-is-a-liability\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/MBA-Admissions-Myths-Destroyed-The-CFA-Is-a-Liability.png","articleSection":["Admissions Myths Destroyed"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mba-admissions-myths-destroyed-the-cfa-is-a-liability\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mba-admissions-myths-destroyed-the-cfa-is-a-liability\/","url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mba-admissions-myths-destroyed-the-cfa-is-a-liability\/","name":"MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: The CFA Is a Liability | mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mba-admissions-myths-destroyed-the-cfa-is-a-liability\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mba-admissions-myths-destroyed-the-cfa-is-a-liability\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/MBA-Admissions-Myths-Destroyed-The-CFA-Is-a-Liability.png","datePublished":"2026-02-04T13:48:48+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-01T01:16:37+00:00","description":"Does pursuing the CFA hurt MBA admissions? Learn how the CFA strengthens your MBA candidacy and complements business school study.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mba-admissions-myths-destroyed-the-cfa-is-a-liability\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mba-admissions-myths-destroyed-the-cfa-is-a-liability\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mba-admissions-myths-destroyed-the-cfa-is-a-liability\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/MBA-Admissions-Myths-Destroyed-The-CFA-Is-a-Liability.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/MBA-Admissions-Myths-Destroyed-The-CFA-Is-a-Liability.png","width":640,"height":360,"caption":"MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed The CFA Is a Liability"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/mba-admissions-myths-destroyed-the-cfa-is-a-liability\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: The CFA Is a Liability"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/","name":"mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting","description":"World's Leading MBA Admissions Consulting Firm","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"mbaMission","url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mbam-yoast-organization-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mbam-yoast-organization-logo.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"mbaMission"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8239bb74f0e5086e58417043b2ff94c6","name":"Erika V\u00e4\u00e4t\u00e4inen","description":"Erika V\u00e4\u00e4t\u00e4inen has been mbaMission\u2019s Writer\/Researcher since 2015. She is in charge of updating and revamping most of our publication materials, ranging from the extensive Insider\u2019s Guides series, the Interview Guides, and the International Program Guides to our shorter publications, including the HBS 2+2 and Deferred Admissions Guide and numerous blog posts.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/who-we-are\/team\/erika-vaatainen\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/erikavaatainen\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/author\/erika\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/MBA-Admissions-Myths-Destroyed-The-CFA-Is-a-Liability.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38515"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41794,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38515\/revisions\/41794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"](\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/MBA-Admissions-Myths-Destroyed-The-CFA-Is-a-Liability.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n