Finished! ECU Graduate Certificate in Finance

Yesterday, I took my last exam in my graduate certificate program at East Carolina University. It only took two and a half years to complete a four course sequence, but I'm done at last! Looking back at my original thread on the program, I realize that my personal and career objectives have changed, and that I probably won't see any real utility from this certificate (at least not immediately), but I'm still very glad to be done.

Would I recommend the program to others? Well, it's a mixed bag. On one hand, it's an AACSB-accredited graduate certificate that is super affordable (less than $3K for the whole program, books and all). On the other hand, ECU's finance department is horribly understaffed, so the courses you need to complete the program don't come up often enough. The administration understands this, and has promised to hire more instructors, but I've been listening to that for almost three years now. Also, I have some concerns about the workload - I feel like it's a little too light, and that too much time is spent reviewing basics like time value of money and bond pricing, and not enough time was spent on stuff like derivatives and financial engineering and the more "meaty" topics of finance. Teamwork was generally pretty good, I got to know some of my fellow students well, although there were some terms where I felt like I was carrying three other people on my back.

This was the first program I've been in that used proctored exams, and although I was worried about it at first, it proved to be pretty much a non-issue. The UNC system (NC's public university system, of which ECU is a part) has proctoring down to a science, so finding and utilizing proctors was no big deal - just go to the proctoring website, and point and click till you find someone close by and available.

Overall, it was a positive experience. I didn't get what I wanted out of the program, but that was more because my life and the economic environment both changed dramatically over the last three years. I had my first child during the program, and the economy went into the toilet, both of which made staying in my current IT job much more appealing that trying to start over again in the world of finance. I did learn a lot, and maybe a little later down the road, I'll test the waters somewhere else.

What's next? Well, I think that my wife is ready for me to take a serious hiatus from schoolwork. For basically the entire duration of our ten years together, I've been chasing one degree or another, starting with on-campus coursework at NC State, moving on the my BSBA program at Wyoming, through the MBA at Duke, and finally the certificate program at ECU. She's stood by me the whole time, but I think that it is time that family occupies the center of my life. I'll continue to be an evangelist for DL, spreading the twin Gospels of CLEP and DSST, but I'm pretty sure I'm done as a student, at least for the foreseeable future.

 

Congratulations on your graduate certificate. I, too, was contemplating about a career change over to finance but I am not convinced that this is the right time to do it. Enjoy your time with your family as that is something that you will never get a second chance to do. Best of luck to you.

 

Are you sure you don't want an Aspen EdD?

 

what????...lol

 

Congrat's.....

 

Congratulations! Enjoy the time with your wife.

 

Congrats! Good luck with your future career endeavors.

 

Congrats! It's always nice to hear from people who succeed. It helps keep me motivated!

 

Congrats! Great job!

 

Congrats! - I have to ask...any plans for a PhD down the road?

 

Thanks for the feedback, as I was looking at a few ECU grad certs. Being in NC they are very affordable for me and I get a little ($250 year) from my employer to help. I have wondered about how quickly I could finish one, so it is disheartening to hear about class delays. I'm hopeful that since my interests are in healthcare informatics and teaching they will have greater demand and staffing. Congrats! I'm looking forward to being done with school too, but I still have at least 2 more years.