Kathy Morley
Southampton, PA
BUCEC, Certificate in Project Management

“I’ve been doing project management for years, but I wanted my certification because of the economy,” said Kathy Morley of her choice to return to school. “I wanted to be sure that if I were to have to go into the job market, I’d be successful.”

Kathy, who is married with three children, has worked in the computer field since graduating high school. “I don’t have a college degree, but I have been an applications programmer, a project manager, and a director,” Kathy said. “I had taken project management classes locally, but was having difficulty with the set schedule. I needed something I could work on at my own pace.”

“I could accommodate going to school and having regularly scheduled tests,” Kathy said. “I work full-time, often overtime, and it was going to be very difficult to fit in regular school. Other programs were not as flexible on scheduling. BUCEC only had the restriction that each class had to be done within 60 days.” Kathy completed her certificate in two years.

She carefully scheduled her studying to keep on track. “I would study at lunch and stay at work an extra hour. Sundays were my days to get caught up,” Kathy said. “If you are used to learning from reading books, you’re going to be fine. For me, this is better than a teacher-led traditional class. I can read and learn. I really liked that you could retake tests and keep the better score. I did almost all of the reading online and did the online review at the end. The study questions and pre-tests were really helpful, and they would tell you where you were doing badly.”

Kathy finished her PMP® coursework in January 2008 and sat for the exam in March 2008. She passed on her first try. “The test prep was really great,” Kathy said.

“I loved the program. The classes were great, and it really prepared me well for my PMP® certification,” Kathy said. “PMP® certification is wanted by many companies. I have 20 years of experience. I just needed the certification. I wanted PMI to know I had education in all the areas.”

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