I did this course, Certificate in financial research, in 2012 . I risked my career by quitting a well paying job(in IT industry and didn’t want a techie job) with a good profile but I wanted a profile change because I was very much interested in the KPO field(I have many friends working in the same, and I felt this is what I wanted to do). I specifically told the concerned person(Deepak) that the fees is quite high and I expect a job offer after the course in Copal so in case my profile is not well suited let me know in advance. But then again, he didn’t tell me what sort of profile they look for analysts. Long story short, students who had accounts background were shortlisted from our batch but no one else. Some didn’t even get a call. Out of 15 people who were selected some were CFAs or ones who already had good chances getting selected at Copal with or without the course. So this course did nothing but make us all poorer.
Pros: 1) You would learn Excel(But then you can learn it anywhere in about 10k which is cheaper)
2) If you haven’t already done a MBA, you might get to know a few fancy terms. Nothing in depth though.
Cons: 1) Really arrogant faculty. Very knowledgeable no doubt. But asking any question from him is like playing with fire. He answers but is so full of himself all the time, and so mean, making you feel like a fool to ask in the first place. I do not think a good teacher should discourage his/her students to ask questions no matter how silly. And this is not from just my experience with him, but each one in our class felt the same(There are others there, humble teachers, but not as knowledgeable as him)
2) They didn’t teach us any thing about databases as mentioned on the course curriculum.
3) Waste your time with stupid soft skills classes, which are totally useless trust me. You can learn more on the internet with a simple google search.(e.g. don’t wear perfume in interviews, silly activities, how to be groomed up for interviews, writing essays, email etiquette)
4) The material they provide, while some of it was useful, most of it was again not good. Felt like, someone googled some basic terms and printed them and then wrote Copal Institute on the material. That’s it.
5) FINALLY, the most important. Some people don’t even get an interview call. While others got selected after about 4-5 interviews with them. I wasn’t selected I was told because my educational qualifications and work ex wasn’t relevant to them(they didn’t tell me this when I was paying the registration fees? Even though I am sure my interviews were really good, save one. The one which went bad was also because the interviewer got into the details of accounts which is not my forte and the course doesn’t teach you accounts anyways(not from accounts background)
Conclusion: Do this course only if you want to skip the aptitude test they conduct. But I am sure 1 lac is too much an amount it would be better if you studied well and passed the apti on your own. Because other than that you won’t have any advantage in the interviews. Don’t waste your time and money on this course. But if you wanna kill time, do it.
One more funny thing, when out of 16 students only 2-3 had been shortlisted, and all of us were frustrated not getting any calls or a positive feedback in interviews even when we did good. A friend of mine went to know more about the course and he was told by the faculty and Mr. Tandon that all of the previous batch(our batch) students have been placed already:D What a big big lie it was! We were shocked beyond belief, but then had no choice but to wait for calls since our career was at stake. So you can judge yourself how the integrity of the people in Copal Institute. Only a bunch of liars and money s**king leeches they are.