I also would welcome any personal experiences you have about either of these credentials, and ways to become more effective in the Property & Casualty arena. Thanks in advance for your reply - very much appreciated!

I feel CIC is very practical designation for retail agencies. You can take all courses and updates online. Gaining CIC designation required proctored exams which they can help you with. See CIC website for more info.
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</br>https://www.scic.com/

Thanks for your guidance Philip - I'm happy to hear that they have online options available for the CIC. This is a big help!

Hey, Taylor. I can't speak to the CIC designation, because I don't have that one. But I do have my CPCU, and I highly recommend it. It covers a broad range of topics, and touches in to so many aspects of insurance, that it's really worth while. I self-studied all of the modules, so the only resources I ever used were on-line ones. I mainly ordered books from The Institute and used their on-line practice tests. I had trouble with the Accounting module (it's a skill set that I didn't have and just don't use in the every day of my job), so for that one, I utilized more than just the books and The Institute website. I double-barreled that one and used both an on-line class and a pre-recorded (DVD) class room setting. I recommend both highly. The DVDs I used were from BigDaddy U and the on-line class was with PrepAdemy. PrepAdemy would go through one assignment a week and focused on the review questions at the end of each one. If one of the assignments was tough or something I didn't understand, I would review that one in the BigDaddy U DVD. The PA forced me to stay consistent with my reading and studying (one class a week until we had reviewed the whole book) and the BDU helped me digest and drill the portions of the module that were the most challenging.
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</br>For the other CPCU modules, I used The Burnham System and Keir along with the Institute Books and tests. On some of the modules I was more confident with, I used only the Burnham/Keir materials and skipped The Institute materials altogether.
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</br>Good luck!

I have a CPCU it literally changed the course of my life in terms of success. I had a large opportunity to write a lot of business but it was coming in very fast,the underwriter and I had been working together for a while and he finally said "you are a CPCU I am not please decide which accounts to put through ." We ended up writing hundreds upon hundreds of polices I realize that it was an unusual move but it would not have happened without the designation.
</br>I did not take the CIC since I have both a degree in Risk Management and Insurance and the CPCU. From what I have heard the CIC is more practical knowledge and the CPCU is more academic.
</br> It depends on where you want to go in your career you always have the option of getting both.