无论您是否喜欢，您的家人都会塑造您是谁和做什么。

法戈，北达科他州、医疗管理学生Tahirih字段no different. Her parents were medical professionals and, although she isn’t pursuing the hands-on roles her parents held, she knows the field can provide the stability she wants for her own children.

This is how Field balanced the needs and influence of her family to find the perfect fit at Rasmussen College.

Getting on track

Field earned an associate degree in interior design from Alexandria Technical College in 1995. She spent several years exploring different career paths in retail stores like Conlin’s Furniture and Kohl’s, but after finding out she was pregnant with her second child in 2006, it made the best sense to become a stay-at-home mother.

Soon after Field’s son was born, her boyfriend’s mother was diagnosed with cancer. Field then spent her days caring for her own children while assisting her boyfriend’s mother as she went through chemotherapy. She eventually recovered but Field’s hands were still full at home—her son began showing symptoms of abnormal development, eventually losing all communication skills and suffering fits in which he’d injure himself. The boy was diagnosed with自闭症谱系障碍in early 2009.

该诊断进一步巩固了田野待在家里的需求。

“Having a child with autism is like having five kids—it’s extremely challenging,” Field says. “My whole world pretty much revolves around him.”

Field’s situation became dire when she and her son’s father separated. She was overwhelmed at the prospect of providing and caring for her children all alone. She knew the jobs she could find would not cover the costs of childcare—especially with a special needs son—and she knew a change had to come.

She decided to return to school in 2011 with the hope of launching a career that could provide the stability her family needed.

Field was no stranger to the medical field; her mother worked as a coroner, and her father was a registered nurse so she knew a career in healthcare would be stable and allow her to provide for her family. Field contemplated pursuing nursing but she wasn’t particularly interested in the odd schedules and hands-on work involved. Field’s choice naturally gravitated toward the administrative side of the healthcare field.

Field also sought a program that would be flexible enough to accommodate her schedule. She found everything she was looking for in Rasmussen College’s medical administration program. She liked the flexibility of online classes but would still havea local campusto go to if she had questions or wanted to use services like the library or academic tutoring.

Family pushes her to success

Field entered unfamiliar territory by enrolling at Rasmussen College—she had never experienced在线课程并且不确定上学如何与她的父母责任混合。尽管有不确定性，菲尔德说她已经准备好开始了，并开始攻读副学士学位medical administration兼职。

菲尔德说，习惯了她的课程的格式花了一些时间，但她也说这很适合她。“我更像是一名自学者 - 您在传统教室中只有有限的时间来提出问题和在线课程，让您根据需要掌握材料。”

The proof of how well the format suits Field can be found on her transcript—she has maintained a 3.99 GPA and is expected to finish her medical administration degree in 2014. Field’s near-perfect grades were sort of like an undefeated football team losing its last game before the playoffs—frustrating initially, but also, a relief from the pressure she felt.

“When I got that [grade] back and saw I missed it by one percent I had to just sit there in disbelief,” Field says. “But it’s good that it really took a lot of pressure off knowing not everything has to be perfect—now I’m still getting A’s but there’s a weight off of my shoulders.”

菲尔德说，她找到了一些灵​​感来维持她高成就的十几岁女儿的好成绩。您很少会发现13岁的孩子醒来，锻炼身体，准备上学，并在每天回家后立即完成作业，而无需父母恳求。菲尔德说，她的女儿表演的开车是传染性的。

“I just think to myself if she can do all that every day, there’s no reason I can’t do just as well as her,” she says.

The motivation Field gains from her children and the guidance her parents give her show that family is firmly woven into her educational experience. But she says the time spent studying actually serves as a way for her to clear her mind and focus on school. “I can just focus on learning and stop thinking about everything that’s going on at home or with my kids.”

Next steps

实地计划追求健康信息technician (HIT) associate degreeafter she earns a medical administration degree. The two degrees have a fair amount of overlap in subject matter, so Field will be able to finish in relatively short order.

攻读学位的决定应有助于扩大她的职业生涯前景 - 空缺工作的数量是projected to grow 22 percent through 2022. This will also give Field a chance tolearn ICD-10 medical coding, which is projected to eventually replace ICD-9. She hopes that starting a medical coding job while experienced coders are learning a new system will help make for an easier training process.

Field says she thinks the timing will work well for her family as well—her son will be spending more time in school which will give her more time to focus on launching her career. She hopes to eventually find a medical coding position where she would be able to work from home in order to continue caring for her family.

Make a comeback

最初，回到学校似乎令人生畏，但是拉斯穆森学院的支持人员和在线课程的灵活性可以帮助您实现现实学位。如果您准备好开始，请单击上面的“请求程序信息”按钮，以了解有关拉斯穆森学院提供的内容的更多信息。