More college students are signing up for the tests to get a leg up in competing for internships and jobs, according to the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute, which administers the tests.
The CFA is a three-exam qualification, often regarded as the industry's most rigorous and prestigious certification. It's a prerequisite for certain roles in banking or private equity. Only 46% of those who took the first level in May passed the test.
About one in five people who start the CFA process are students, Rob Langrick, chief product advocate at the CFA Institute, told Business Insider. Recently, the average age of candidates fell from 24 to about 23 as the number of undergraduates enrolling for the program increased, he said.
Langrick said that more people prefer to start the process while they are still used to studying and are not yet tied to a full-time work schedule. And for students coming from less-known schools, the CFA designation stands out for employers, Langrick said.
The increase in college students starting the CFA process comes as fewer people overall are taking the exams.
CFA Level I sign-ups first dropped in late 2020, given pandemic-induced cancellations and exam deferments. But the numbers have dropped significantly since then.
In 2018 and 2019, an average of about 162,000 people took the Level I exam each year. But in 2022 and 2023, that annual average dropped to about 87,000, according to the CFA Institute.
Helpful for portfolio managers but not for bankers
Eric Wye, who graduated last year from the National University of Singapore, prepared for the Level I and II exams as a student. He thought his economics degree didn't cover enough applied finance for the kinds of jobs he wanted to do.
But getting partway through the CFA didn't change his trajectory, Wye said.
"I felt that it did not explicitly give me an advantage in searching for finance internships, as I believe prior experience in related roles might be more valued," he said.
Wye is now working at a multinational bank while preparing for the Level III exam.
While the certification may be important for roles like portfolio managers and securities analysts, Wye does not think its value applies to all finance careers, including investment banking or sales and trading. On the job for a year now, he hasn't found many peers who passed all three CFA levels, nor that there is an implicit expectation of holding the designation.
Another candidate, who is in his third year of school at Singapore Management University and is preparing for Level I, agreed that the exam is more helpful for those outside finance looking to break in.
The student spoke to BI on the condition of anonymity, because he is a summer intern not authorized to speak with the media. His identity is known to BI.
"I think it's important if I didn't have access to finance at all. But if you're already in a finance major, then maybe it's not as necessary," he said.
Do you have a story to share about your career in finance? Email this reporter: shubhangigoel@insider.com
Lola Méndez has found Chiang Mai to be an affordable city for her lifestyle.
Lola Méndez
Lola Méndez has been traveling full-time for nine years and has visited 90 countries.
Chiang Mai kept drawing her back, so after her dad died, she decided to move to Thailand.
Now, she pays $355 per month for rent and $35 for therapy sessions.
At 25, after bouncing between California and New York, I left the US with no regrets and no plans to return. I traveled around the world, living in cities across Spain, Italy, India, Vietnam, Uruguay, and Mexico — and visited 90 countries. Eventually I realized that Chiang Mai, Thailand, was the only place I wanted to live.
My first trip to Thailand, in December 2015, came a few months after leaving America. It was also my first time in Asia. I had started following the teachings of Buddha and was eager to visit a country where they were practiced. On my first visit, I spoke with monks, meditated in temples, and visited countless golden statues.
I became obsessed with Thai massages and was happily introduced to what became my favorite dish, Khao Soi — egg noodles in a coconut curry soup. When my monthlong vacation came to an end, I sobbed. I was determined to return.
As a freelance journalist, my job continued to lead me around the world over the next few years, including another three-month stint in Chiang Mai. But when my family needed help at home, I returned to Latin America to be close to my parents.
Missing Chiang Mai over the years
Over the next five years — spent between Uruguay and Mexico — I felt an ache in my heart for Chiang Mai. I'd tell everyone who would listen about my experiences in northern Thailand. At the time, my father was sick, and living that far away was not an option. The day he died, a close friend told me to follow my heart and move to Thailand.
A year and a half later, when I was invited on a press trip to Bangkok, it felt like the universe was permitting me to move back to Chiang Mai and I took the opportunity. As the plane descended into Thailand, and I spotted the first pagoda, I knew I had made the right choice.
Lola Méndez was eager to visit Thailand after she started following the teachings of Buddha.
I'm only comfortable living in places where I don't face legal repercussions for being queer.
In Chiang Mai I pay $355 per month for rent, $300 less than what I was paying in Puerto Vallarta and four times cheaper than my New York City rent.
I make an effort to rent from locals to ensure my tourist dollars stay in local hands. Motorbike taxis cost less than $2 within a 15-minute radius. I've built a community by attending events that align with my interests including yoga classes, pottery workshops, coworking meetups, and dance lessons.
I can buy over six pounds of mangoes, dragon fruit, and mangosteen for less than $5. Thai massages cost between $3 and $30 an hour, and I've found an English-speaking therapist who charges $35 for in-person sessions.
Most importantly, I feel welcomed by the Thai people. I plan to keep traveling, but want Chiang Mai to be my base. Hopefully, I'll be one of the first to receive the new five-year digital nomad visa.
Got a personal essay about living abroad that you want to share? Get in touch with the editor: akarplus@businessinsider.com.
A former Secret Service agent says authorities should have had a comprehensive "site plan" of the event space and surrounding buildings for the rally where a shooter fired at Donald Trump.
Gene J. Puskar
Former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally.
A former Secret Service agent says counter-snipers would usually have "360-degree coverage" for similar events.
Investigators will likely look into the event's "site plan."
A former Secret Service agent said counter-snipers at the Pennsylvania rally where a would-be assassin wounded former President Donald Trump should have had "360-degree coverage" of the event and surrounding buildings.
"I don't know how many they had, but they usually always look for 360-degree coverage," former Secret Service agent Anthony Cangelosi told Business Insider. "So that's one thing that's going to be considered."
Cangelosi, who is now an adjunct professor at the John Jay School of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York, said the primary question law enforcement would likely be asking is how the suspect could have made it to the top of a nearby building undetected.
Butler Township Sheriff Michael Slupe told The Washington Post that a local officer encountered the suspect before the shooting but dropped to the ground because he did not have his weapon.
For a large event where the president or former president is speaking, the Secret Service on the scene would typically work with law enforcement to design a "site plan" with a mock-up of the event space and all surrounding buildings, Cangelosi said.
This plan will be paramount for investigators in determining what possible failures occurred during the rally, according to Cangelosi.
"All the posts — meaning personnel, Secret Service or uniformed police officers, where they were positioned, what their duties were to secure that post, what considerations were given to the outer perimeter, in this case, the other building," will be included in the site plan, Cangelosi said.
Cangelosi said the Secret Service would sometimes use "counter-sniper response units," which are posted on the ground and can quickly move into position if they notice a threat.
"However, time could also be of the essence, right?" Cangelosi said. "You might not have the ability to send a counter-sniper response team up to the location"
Snipers often quickly have to make a decision when they notice a potential threat like an open window or a person sitting on a roof Cangelosi said.
"What if you find out, 'Oh, I just killed a kid, 20-year-old kid who loves the protected, and he couldn't get in the venue, and he just wanted to get up on that roof,'" Cangelosi added. "No one wants to be in that position."
"The Secret Service is well aware of the fact that they have to be perfect all of the time," Cangelosi said. "And the one time you're not, it's going to bring an increased scrutiny."
Butler County Sheriff Michael T. Slupe told the outlet that the officer inspected the roof after an unnamed law enforcement agency requested identification of a "suspicious individual" at the rally, the Post reported.
After the officer pulled himself up high enough to see onto the roof of a building near the rally, the shooter, now identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, turned around and aimed his gun at the officer, prompting him to drop back to the ground, the outlet said.
Slupe said the officer did not have a gun in his hand at the time because he was holding onto the roof's ledge.
"He lets go because he doesn't want to get killed," Slupe told the outlet.
Crooks then shot at Trump. Secret Service agents quickly surrounded the president, who later confirmed in a Truth Social post that a bullet struck his ear.
A former intelligence officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency told BI said it's "mind-boggling" that Crooks managed to reach the rooftop and have a clear shot at Trump.
An AP analysis of the footage found that Crooks managed to get "astonishingly close" to the stage. According to the outlet, the roof was less than 164 yards from where Trump stood onstage.
"I've directed an independent review of the national security of yesterday's rally, and we will share the results of that independent review as well," Biden said.
GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson said the House would investigate events at the rally. On Saturday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced it assumed the lead role in the investigation in a post on X.
"In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win," he said in a Truth Social post.
Secret Service agents converge on former President Donald Trump onstage at his Pennsylvania campaign rally.
Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
The threat of political violence has been an unfortunate element of many open societies.
In a YouGov poll taken after the Trump rally shooting, half of US adults said it's "a very big problem."
President Joe Biden is seeking to project an image of unity and calm a stunned nation.
One thing is clear after shots were fired at former President Donald Trump during his Saturday rally in Pennsylvania: Americans are freaked out.
In a YouGov poll taken after the shooting, 50% of adults said that political violence is "a very big problem" in the US. An additional 32% of adults said that political violence is "somewhat of a problem" in American society.
Only 2% of American adults in the new survey felt that political violence isn't an issue in the country.
There's a major disparity among age groups when it comes to the issue. While 37% of Americans aged 18 to 29 rated political violence as "a very big problem," a whopping 63% of Americans aged 65 years old and older agreed with that statement.
One explanation for the gap could be the memories of societal turbulence from the 1960s.
For Americans who lived through the 1960s or are tied to that era in some way, the assassinations of major figures like President John F. Kennedy, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy collectively represented some of the darkest days of that decade.
A stunning 67% of the respondents said the current political climate makes political violence "more likely" than normal.
Chaos erupted on Saturday evening in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Trump was fired upon while holding a political rally ahead of the Republican National Convention.
Biden emphasized a message of unity as he spoke about the incident at the White House on Sunday.
"Unity is the most elusive goal of all, but nothing is more important than that right now — unity," he said. "We'll debate and we'll disagree. But we're not going to lose sight of who we are as Americans."
The president is set to address the nation from the Oval Office on Sunday.
The shooter who fired a Donald Trump in a Pennsylvania rally used a legally purchased AR-15 style rifle, according to the FBI.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
The shooting suspect who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally used an "AR-style" rifle, the FBI says.
Police identified the shooter as a 20-year-old male from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.
The FBI confirmed the weapon Crooks used was purchased legally.
The would-be assassin of former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday used an "AR-style" rifle that was purchased legally, the FBI believes.
FBI Special Agent Kevin Rojek, director of the agency's Pittsburgh field office, said in a news conference Sunday afternoon that the FBI recovered an "AR-style 556 rifle which was purchased legally."
"We located the weapon at the scene, located immediately adjacent to the shooter," Rojek said.
The FBI said it believes Crooks's father legally purchased the weapon used in the shooting.
The FBI's primary focus is determining Crooks's motive and movement leading up to the shooting.
Rojek told reporters that authorities have no indication that Crooks suffered from mental health issues.
"At present, we have not identified an ideology associated with the subject, but I want to remind everyone that we're still very early in this investigation," Rojek told reporters. "We are working hard to determine the sequence of events related to the subject and his movements in the hours, days, and weeks prior to the shooting."
Trump appeared to be bleeding from the ear when he was escorted off stage following loud pops that rang out during a rally in Pennsylvania.
Evan Vucci
Former President Donald Trump was wounded at a rally Saturday in what is being investigated as an assassination attempt.
Trump was seen with blood on his face as he clutched his ear in front of the screaming crowd.
Trump was whisked to safety by the Secret Service. President Joe Biden later spoke with the ex-president.
Former President Donald Trump was wounded during a Saturday campaign rally in Pennsylvania, in an incident that is being investigated as an attempted assassination.
The Secret Service said in a statement that a suspected shooter opened fire toward the stage from an "elevated position" outside the venue where Trump was holding his rally.
A representative for the FBI confirmed to Business Insider early on Sunday that the shooting suspect is Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.
Kevin Rojek, a spokesperson for the FBI, in a press briefing shortly after midnight on Sunday morning, said the agency had deemed the incident an attempted assassination of the former president.
A bystander at the rally died in the shooting, the Secret Service said, while two others were critically injured. The Secret Service said its agents killed the gunman.
The victim killed at the rally was identified as Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old former fire chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company in Pennsylvania.
In a Truth Social message posted several hours after the shooting, Trump thanked the Secret Service "and all of Law Enforcement, for their rapid response on the shooting that just took place in Butler, Pennsylvania."
"Most importantly, I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the Rally who was killed, and also to the family of another person that was badly injured. It is incredible that such an act can take place in our Country. Nothing is known at this time about the shooter, who is now dead."
Trump wrote that he was shot with "a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear."
"I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin," Trump wrote. "Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!"
A Trump spokesperson called the shooting a "heinous act" but said the former president and presumptive GOP nominee was "fine."
NBC News correspondent Darren Botelho reported security at the event could be heard saying, "The shooter is down," following the incident.
David McCormick, the Republican nominee for Senate in Pennsylvania, had been seated in the front row of the rally and told Politico it appeared a member of the crowd behind him had been shot.
"All the sudden shots started to crack, someone behind me appears to have been shot," McCormick told Politico. "There's lots of blood, and then the Secret Service were all over President Trump."
Politicians from across the ideological spectrum were quick to condemn political violence and wish Trump a speedy recovery.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is calling for the parties to "turn the temperature down" following the Trump rally shooting in Pennsylvania.
Tom Williams-Pool/Getty Images
In a statement issued following the shooting, President Joe Biden said he was "grateful to hear" that Trump is safe and doing well.
"I'm praying for him and his family and for all those who were at the rally as we await further information," Biden's statement continued. "Jill and I are grateful to the Secret Service for getting him to safety. There's no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it."
Biden later addressed the nation, saying the shooting was "sick" and calling on Americans to stop political violence.
"It's one of the reasons we have to unite this country," Biden said. "We cannot allow for this to be happening. We cannot be like this. We cannot condone this."
The Biden campaign later said it was pulling down TV ads in the wake of the shooting. The president spoke directly with Trump on Saturday, later adding that he had a "short but good conversation" with the former president.
Biden is set to address the nation from the Oval Office on Sunday evening.
House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana vowed in a post on X that the House would probe the "tragic events" that occurred at the rally.
"The American people deserve to know the truth," Johnson wrote. "We will have Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and other appropriate officials from DHS and the FBI appear for a hearing before our committees ASAP."
Johnson also weighed in on the shooting during a Sunday appearance on NBC's "Today," denouncing political violence and urging leaders to help "turn the rhetoric down" in the US.
"We need leaders of all parties, on both sides, to call that out and make sure that happens so that we can go forward and maintain our free society that we all are blessed to have," he said.
With the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee set to begin this week, the GOP over the past few days had been largely focused on the event as a showcase for their party. Trump so far has not changed his plans regarding his appearances at the convention.
But the shooting incident threatens to upend an already tumultuous presidential contest with the general election now less than four months away.
Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Trump's life was saved by a Secret Service counter-sniper assigned to Saturday's detail.
But the shooter still managed to kill one rally-goer and injure two others before he was taken out.
Experts said heat, staffing, and a focus on a nearby treeline may have cost crucial seconds.
The Secret Service counter-sniper who narrowly saved the life of former President Donald Trump may have lost crucial seconds due to a number of factors, including the extreme heat, a lack of anti-sniper backup, and a likely focus on a nearby treeline, a former special agent told Business Insider.
"This counter-sniper made an amazingly quick decision and clearly saved Trump's life," said Bill Pickle, the former special agent in charge of Al Gore's vice-presidential Secret Service detail.
"Our guys are the best shots in the world. That's what they do," Pickle said.
"And within a second of the moment this kid opened fire, the CS guy shot him," he said, using Secret Service shorthand for the counter-sniper deployed at Saturday night's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
"But someone will blame that CS and the spotter, and say, 'If only he had been two seconds faster in spotting the shooter,'" the former special agent said.
"The real question may be, if there were more anti-sniper eyes on that building, could this have all been avoided."
How did the counter-sniper team not see the shooting suspect sooner?
Pickle said one area of focus for investigators will be how the shooter managed to get on top of the building without authorities taking notice.
"The other question is, why wasn't this roof secured, and were there agents or law enforcement in there checking IDs?" he added.
"How did this kid figure out a way to get out on the rooftop and slither across that rooftop?" Pickle said. "He low-crawled across the roof on his hands and knees, and he pushed the weapon ahead of him just like in the military."
But even if they had seen the shooting suspect more quickly, counter-snipers may not always have the ability to act immediately when they spot a threat, according to Anthony Cangelosi, a former special agent who directed the Secret Service's technical security advances for presidential candidates.
"You either have to make a decision: 'Do I take a shot? Or do I not take a shot?'" Cangelosi told Business Insider.
"What if you find out, 'Oh, I just killed a 20-year-old kid who loves the protectee, and he couldn't get in the venue, and he just wanted to get up on that roof?' No one wants to be in that position," Cangelosi said.
Cangelosi said the Secret Service team at the event should have a "site plan" that would include a layout of the area and the surrounding buildings.
The shooter was perched on a rooftop some 150 yards from the stage at the campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
The would-be assassin fired at least three rounds from a rooftop 150 yards from where Trump was speaking. He killed one rally-goer and critically injured two others before being shot dead by a yet-identified Secret Service counter-sniper, who was positioned on another rooftop.
"This kid, at 150 yards, made a great shot," Pickle said Sunday of the would-be assassin, his voice grim. "I don't know the specifics of whether he used optics, meaning a scope on his rifle," he told BI.
"But even with optics, it takes somebody with training to aim at somebody's head from 150 yards away, and you actually hit the edge of the head," he said.
"That's not a lucky shot. That's a guy who actually shot before."
The FBI identified the shooter as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. The FBI said they are still investigating a motive.
But for now, it's clear that at least three things may have factored into the several-second delay between when Crooks was seen crawling onto the roof and when the CS team saw and shot him, Pickle said.
The decision on how many anti-snipers to deploy may prove the most critical factor, he said.
"Someone made a decision that that number of counter-snipers was sufficient," he said. "And obviously, in hindsight, they were wrong because there was a kid who was able to get up there on that rooftop and pull the trigger three times at least."
How many CS teams were deployed?
The Secret Service has advance teams that scope out sites and make staffing recommendations ahead of major events, one expert said.
Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Staffing decisions would have been made at Secret Service headquarters in Washington, based on whatever agency personnel on the ground recommended after a several-day investigation of the site, Pickle said.
"An advance team actually does a lengthy survey, where they look at everything and then recommend what they need," he said.
"But if they're stretched for resources, headquarters can say we can only get you one team out there. And that's not unusual — if you don't have it, you don't have it," Pickle said.
"It always boils down to resources," he said. "And if it's not a resource problem, and the money was there, then it's still an allocation of resources problem," he said — meaning someone underestimated the manpower needed to keep Trump safe.
Regardless of how many snipers were present, the Secret Service would typically have "360-degree coverage" of an event where a sitting or former president is speaking, Cangelosi said.
Other factors include the weather.
"The CS guys would probably say we were up there for four hours in 100-degree heat, and if we had another team up here or drone support this wouldn't have happened," Pickle said.
The team may also have been focusing on a nearby tree line, seeing it as the primary risk.
"You're looking at everything that would hide a potential assassin," Pickle said.
"The first assumption is that if I'm a bad guy, I'm going to hide. Human nature is such that I'm going to be scanning the rooftops, to make sure they're empty, but then I'm going to be focusing on that tree line because you think the bad guy is going to be hidden," Pickle said.
"You don't think the bad guy is going to be out in the open," he said.
Inter-agency squabbles and intense public scrutiny are forthcoming
Once the would-be assassin opened fire, "everything that happened up there was textbook and the way it should have happened," Pickle said. The CS team returned fire, long-gun-toting counter-assault agents in black jumpsuits and helmets rushed the stage, and business-suited agents on the rally platform hurried Trump off stage.
"But why wasn't he identified seconds sooner?" Pickle asked of the shooter.
"Was it caused by exhaustion from being on a 100-degree roof for four hours? Was the CS team watching the heavy foliage there, which arguably was the best place to hide?" he asked.
"An open roof is not the best place to hide. If he climbed out onto an open rooftop, he was prepared to die," he added.
"The worst nightmare for the Secret Service has always been a lone gunman who hasn't been announcing his views publicly and is ready to die."
Pickle said Saturday's incident will be dissected for years to come and "will be in the training syllabus forever."
"It's going to be a circular firing squad," Pickle predicted of the inter-agency finger-pointing and conspiracy theories that will play out as the attempted assassination is scrutinized by the FBI, Congress, and the press and public.
"This thing will be dissected for years, and it will be in the training syllabus forever," he said.
Cangelosi told BI that "a lot of people talk and things just travel" within the agency after an event of this magnitude.
"We all want answers, and we want them as quickly as possible, but it's it's going to take some time," Cangelosi said. "You know the Secret Service; they're professionals. Mistakes are made, they're going to remedy them."