To those who know about it, the CFA is very impressive. I would say you could definitely count it among your assets when putting your best foot foward for consideration. Keep in mind that you will likely not get too much more mileage out of being level II certified than you will out of Level one only---it's really the fact that you are pursuing it and have accomplished one of the levels which is enough to have the desired effect. Especially given the amount of study required to get level II, your time may be better spent on your applications. From the perspective of preparation for b-school, however, if you do go forward with passing level II, you will be very well prepared for the MBA---some would say CFA L2 is harder than b-school academically even. Hope this gives you some things to consider....good luck and congratulations on your big brain.

Thanks so much for the reply

Please let me know if there is anything else I can pursue to make my app more impressive.

I'm glad I saw this thread. As a guy with a 750 gmat (homerun!) and 3.0 GPA (blech), I want to work on an "alternate transcript"

Now I know that the general way of accomplishing this is taking some courses online or at a community college (business related courses) and achieving A's.

However, a CFA greatly interests me, and I was wondering if studying for and passing the CFA Level I Exam would work as an alternate transcript for me. Any thoughts?

The CFA designation is considered one of if not the most difficult professional designations to achieve and takes an enormous amount of study to pass all levels. The amount of finance knowledge required is on par or beyond what you will learn in b-school. Rarely do folks get the CFA before b-school, so it could definitely make you stand out, but don't underestimate the amount of work that must go into getting it. By far it's much easier to take a finance or accounting or statistics course. The short answer is 'yes,' a CFA designation can definitely help cover the sin of a poor GPA if that is what you are looking to do. If it's any encouragement, however, so can work experience. I only had a 2.9 GPA in undergrad and got into a top 5 program back in 2000, but I had almost 10 years of rather unique work experience with a track record of promotions and increased responsibility. Hope this helps.

The NYU Student finance club resumebook is online. Most people were CFA Candidates and a few were charterholders. It seems that Stern at least values the charter.