Megan Mercantini

Megan Mercantini

When I first enrolled at Herzing, it was because my youngest was starting school and it would have allowed me more free time to work on a degree. Little did I know we would be in a full-blown worldwide pandemic a few short months later and my children would also be going to school from home with me.

Of course, this was very challenging, so I resolved to just take it one day at a time. Despite this major hurdle, I made it with a lot of determination, prayer and more than a few late nights.

I chose medical billing and coding because I'm a bit squeamish when it comes to blood, but still wanted to work in the healthcare field. I wanted to help others but was better on the paperwork/computer side of things, so this proved to be the best of both worlds!

As a mother of three young children, I wanted to do school online to better manage my time. Herzing allowed me to make my own schedule, and I was able to come up with my own time-management strategies. This, along with self-discipline, allowed me to meet weekly deadlines.

Herzing offers the same format and deadlines for all their classes. So, once you learn the material for the week, you can then complete your discussion post, any assignments and quizzes/tests for the week. Some weeks, the amount of material was overwhelming, but I pushed myself to get everything finished on time and found success.

My Medical Terminology and Coding classes helped prepare me the most for my career. It’s a must to have your medical terminology down or you will become lost. Meanwhile, the coding classes were super important, as they taught me how to use coding books properly and how to read clinical paperwork to apply diagnosis/procedure codes.

Thankfully, all my hard work didn’t have to be done solo! Dixie Bradburry was helpful as my tutor/mentor, and she helped me one-on-one every week. She helped me choose which certification tests to take while also helping me prepare for them. I’d also love to give a shout-out to Matt Sedlar from Career Development and all my teachers for helping and replying to me quickly when I needed help.

I’m amazed that I made it to the finish line. Here I am! Two and a half years ago, this day seemed so far out of reach. Now that it's finally here, it’s amazing and I'm proud of myself.

Some quick advice: never give up! Create a schedule for yourself and stick to it and be sure to use Herzing's resources. Consider utilizing a tutor, even if you don’t think it’s necessary. My tutor helped advise me on the best certification tests to take so that I could make myself more marketable. Last but not least, don’t procrastinate! Study, study, study! It’s possible!

Thank you, Herzing, for all your help and for preparing me for the future. I'm excited and will be sure to report back to Herzing a few months from now once I’m employed. I can’t wait to share my success story and get started on writing it!