Last year, four Montana State University (MSU) students in finance and economics started
pursuing their Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certification. Three of four graduates
had passed the first level and the College of Business (CoB) is pleased to announce
that two of the three graduates who passed Level I have passed Level II of the CFA
exam.
Cairn Clark and Austin Owens, both CoB finance option graduates, were notified of
their success at the end of July. They have only one more level to pass before attaining
their CFA certification.
According to the CFA Institute’s website, the pass rate for the June Level I exam
was 42%, while the pass rate for Level II was 39%.The CoB students passing the exam
are testaments to the high quality education they’ve received in the CoB, at MSU,
and the hands-on nature of the faculty.
Clark said it best when he was preparing for the first of the grueling three-level
exam: “While other schools boast name recognition, we had access to something different.
We had five finance professors that were willing to develop personal relationships
with their students outside of the classroom and simultaneously create an excitement
and passion for finance. There is no better motivator than knowing you have a great
set of mentors behind you every step of the way, especially when you are devoting
a large chunk of your life to studying for exams that many people consider life ruining.’
I’m hoping that the obsession with finance that I picked up on the fourth floor of
Reid will take me a lot farther in my career than having an Ivy League stamp on my
resume.”
The CFA Program, a graduate-level self-study program, combines a broad-based curriculum
of investment principles with professional conduct requirements. It is designed to
prepare CFA students for a wide range of investment specialties that apply in every
market all over the world. Investment industry employers around the world recognize
the CFA designation as the gold standard for professional excellence. Completing the
CFA Program places our graduates in elite company, confirming their mastery of the
program’s rigorous curriculum and their commitment to the formidable challenge of
passing all three examination levels.