Before you apply, I would recommend that you think long and hard about why you are motivated to get the MCA.  The process is expensive, difficult, time-consuming, and a highly emotional experience.   

The MCA is one way to measure an architect.  You may be an architect and extremely successful, but you may not have the competencies to be an MCA as it has been defined by the certification.  The certification is for practicing architects with a very broad set of skills that have proven experience creating significant architectures.  Take a close look at the competencies and be very honest with yourself.  Are you deeply skilled in all of these areas?  If you are deficient in an area you may not pass.  There are some architects in the industry that are well published and highly respected that wouldn't pass the MCA because they don't possess all of the competencies.  I have good friends that I respect greatly that haven't passed.  That doesn't make them any less of an architect - it just means they are not an MCA as defined by that particular measure of an architect. 

Here are a couple of the reasons that I have heard as I have asked people why they wanted to obtain the MCA:

Reason: I have my MCSD/MCSE/MCDBA/etc. and this seemed like the next logical step.
My Response: This is a very different certification than any other.  If you want to get your MCA make sure that you meet the definition and have the appropriate experiences.  I don't believe this is a certification for someone that just wants another acronym to stick on their business card.

Reason: I believe that the MCA will help me get more opportunities and increase my salary.
My Response: I don't know what the return on investment is for achieving an MCA, but I can tell you from personal experience that my salary hasn't increased because I am an MCA and I haven't charged up the company ladder because of it.  I think it has opened a couple of networking channels I didn't have in the past.  The reality is that as of this writing there are fewer than 100 MCAs in the world.  A lot of people have heard of it, but don't know much about it.  Employers aren't making it a criterion for selection of employees.  If you get your MCA today you will likely not notice much material change in your life in the short term.

Reason: I am in customer facing role and would like to have the MCA stamp of approval to help make my customers more comfortable.
My Response: Today, this may help you a little, but be prepared to explain the program to you customers and prospective customers.  Deep knowledge of the program is not widespread so it probably won't have huge results today.

Reason: I have realistically looked at the competencies and believe I have the right skills to achieve the certification.  I would like to get a board of peers to review me and either confirm that belief or help me understand what I need to do to improve .
My Response: This is a very appropriate reason to want to get the certification in my opinion.  If you decide you want to try to achieve the MCA, you need to take an approach that if you don't pass that the feedback will be something you can use to improve yourself. 

If you have made it this far and still think you want to apply, I think you should.  Go to the Microsoft Certified Architect site and fully comb through it (there are a lot of resources there if you spend some time).  I believe that in a couple of years when the total number of MCAs and the general awareness increases, the prestige of the certification will drastically increase for those that have achieved the MCA and it is always fun to say you were one of the first ones certified.  If you have the competencies, it is great to get in early.  Furthermore, once you are an MCA you have an opportunity sit on a board to certify new MCAs - which is one of the best mental exercises I have ever had.  It is also a way to build out a network of people around the world that have a common experience - I have built some great friendships from this that I wouldn't trade that have made the whole thing worthwhile.

This post is part of a series of articles about the MCA program.  The opinions here are solely my own and may not reflect the opinions of Microsoft or anyone affiliated with the MCA program.