John B.

I was stuck in a phone support job that gave me a little IT experience but not enough to get an actual job. Finally I asked a recruiter what can I do to get into IT and she said she places ECPI University graduates all the time. So I checked at the Concord campus and found that the Charlotte campus would be closer to my work. The tuition was less expensive than UNCC plus ECPI had full time night classes.

I won't sugar coat it, going to going to school full time and working full time was hard. A lot of people cannot handle it and really do not want an IT career. That's why you see negative comments about teachers being useless, because, it IS and accelerated degree. (You get a 4 year bachelor degree in 2.5 years) and some people go into ECPI thinking it's going to be handed to them. It is not. You have to earn it. It's year round, no Christmas breaks and no spring breaks. And it is worth every penny and every minute of your time.

I was about half way through my bachelor degree when I started interviewing and I got a position at Vanguard (the investment company) based on the experience I learned at ECPI. I graduated a year and a half later and sent resume's to 4 specific companies and within a week, I had 4 interviews, 4 call backs and had my choice of companies.

None of this would have happened if I had not enrolled and stuck to my classes at ECPI University. If you are thinking about an IT career this probably isn't for you. But if you know you want a career in systems admin, network admin, network security, then this is the school for you.