Vivian wants to work in health care, and maybe even be a doctor. But there are a lot of steps she wants to take for her career right now.
“There’s a whole checklist of things to do if you want to advance your career in the medical field, and I feel like I need to develop my experience, because I don’t really have much,” she said. “So I was like: I’ll pursue other fields within health care, and get training.”
She found Calbright while looking for certifications, and saw that the college has a well regarded free program in Medical Coding, and decided to apply. “Applying was easy,” she said, “but I got put on a waitlist because everybody wants this specific program.”
But her turn came, and once she had a spot it took her less than two days to get enrolled. She liked that, and the idea of completing her program quickly appealed to her. Calbright’s Competency-Based Education model lets students set their own timelines and study at their own pace, and Vivian told her instructors she wanted to move fast.
“At first it was kind of overwhelming. Obviously, when you’re experiencing something new, it’s always that kind of flash of, ‘oh, wait, this is a lot,’” Vivian said. “And then once you find your stride, it starts becoming easier. And so I went for it, and it kind of took off, and I was telling the professors that I want to finish this course early. And they said if that’s what you want, they would help.”
She’d been expecting to have to do everything alone. Instead, she found that Calbright was full of people who wanted to help her meet her goals. “The professors reach out and they’re very helpful, they give you background information and help you know what to do and what to expect. And the other students on the Slack channel were very supportive, and it was easy to talk to other people who are in similar situations to me.”
In the process, she learned that medical coding is also something she enjoys. Now that she’s completed her program, she has a job working in the field.
