sort of the same boat. i was in legal consulting first for ~1 year, passed L1, then used it to get a job in equity research which i have been for ~1.5 years, cleared L2 and now taking L3 this june. Pass or fail, i am taking my gmat. and sometime before the 5 year expiration, i will stay with my boss or get my mba (I want to lag cuz my boss is cool + the unvested shares are also helping. haha) I figure if I clear L3, I might just wait a couple years for my charter while applying every year to a few mba schools to see who is willing to accept me (and maybe a lil scholarship bribe eh). But i will def get an mba no matter what sometime between the age 25 to 29 even if I have to shell out my personal funds (my preciousssss). I was thinking of opening up a business selling subs with friends/family (who wants in on this ipo). but i’ll settle for the more noble path of higher education (up top buddy). Hopefully this helps you. Ignore the (intern -> job -> cfa -> mba -> happiness!)
PS
The MBA was an idea I formed with a former co worker in the consulting biz, my current boss tells me it is no longer worth it. She believes the CFA is best.
Taking the CFA was advice given to me when I was interning during college for a former boss in pbig and a school friend in the same business.
As people have mentioned above. Anyone can attempt to get a cfa, but MBAs have a brand backing them because they were pre selected specifically for their stellar backgrounds. That is the main difference.