Both. Graduated from a junior college with sm
Posted By: nm on 2006-02-23
In Reply to: Poll: school vs. OJT, etc. (repost) - MT student
medical secretarial degree, but learned 99.9% on the job. Schooling proved to be an invaluable foundation for the years to come.
33 years of MT.
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I graduated from a local community college. sm
Had my first job before graduation but it was in-house with hourly pay and great benefits. Those are very hard to find anymore. I worked in-house for my first 2 years and then went on maternity leave picking up side work through a company for more income. Realized I was tripling my money going from hourly to production by that time, turned in my notice, and never looked back. Been at home ever since. If at all possible, in the beginning I would recommend to anyone to work inhouse even if it is for a transcription company. The value of having other "ears" is definitely not something to take for granted. I also learned as much as I could while getting that hourly pay as time is money when on production. I have to say I probably would not be near as proficient of an MT today had it not been all those hours learning and having another ear around to help out when stuck.
You bring up a point too though that I haven't really thought about before....With all the transcription being outsourced out of the office, it is only going to get much more difficult for anyone to get those breaks and get the required "experience" as a beginner.
Like that's so easy? Divorced bud of mine at 51 graduated college w/her BS last year ...
s
I'll be a junior next semester
I now have 45 credits working towards 120.
Have you tried online learning? A lot of the major universities are offering that now and I love it! Stay away from the fly-by-night matchbook cover "colleges" like University of Phoenix because of course they have no credibility and are a waste of time.
But Penn State, Temple, University of Massachusetts all offer distance learning and it's great! Check around. I'm sure other universities offer online courses as well.
You've still got that junior high school impression
that K-Mart is beneath anyone with any social status or money, hmmm? Retail managers make pretty good money. K-Mart was a booming retail store until Sam's Club and WalMart came to town, and Martha Stewart started her insider trading. They still pay decent money to their management.
Graduated from....
Mandarin High School, Jacksonville, FL
not everyone is like this - my kid graduated
Not everyone buys into/bought into the changes you describe. My kid bought the car with $$ saved/earned when 17. Outside of that, worked full time/still does and goes to school and expects nothing but to move forward in the life and strives to do so.
And we are not a poor family either - just didn't and don't buy into commercialism of every occasion in this country.
Graduated from M-TEC
It cost me about $2600 when I graduated in 2001. Right out of school I made excellent, unheard of money by being paid on a gross line. I was able to top out at around 60K after 4 years, increasing steadily each year. I worked about 60 hours a week, as I knew when these accounts went away I would make *regular* money. They did after 4 years. I now make around 28K a year and work 30 hours a week. You may want to stay where you are!!
I graduated from AHP
Just about 12 years ago I graduated from At-Home Professions and am still doing transcription. I've worked for Medquist for 8 years and worked for a hospital before that. So now you've met a graduate of AHP who is able to do the job. I've learned far more with on-the-job training than I ever did through the program, but just wanted to let you know there are a few of us oddball AHP graduates who are actually productive...
Before needing to work, I did volunteer work through the Junior League where I am from in Texas. lm
Junior League was like a full-time job sometimes, but I loved it. Now that I have to work, even though it is from home, I still volunteer through my son's school. I am a school teacher in my previous (pre-MT) life, so I volunteer my tutoring services for children who need the help beyond what the schools are able to provide but whose parents cannot afford to pay for private tutoring. I also know how you felt about being afraid. I was strangely afraid before I joined the Junior League. It was just the unknown. But I was SO blessed by being able to help. Honestly, I am sure that it helped me just as much, if not more, than I helped others. Go for it. You won't be sorry. (Just remember that you have to say NO when you have to say no, okay? Remember that and you will be richly blessed by the experience!)
18 here. Graduated and then married
two weeks later, still with the same man 16 years later.
I graduated in 1989 (sm)
Good to see someone from back home, though! :)
I graduated CS and do have regrets
The reasons are the same as you have read elsewhere. There are no instructors, but rather an impersonal "grader" that you aren't quite sure you can trust since what might be right one time is wrong the next. There are errors in the material that can make you end up looking like a fool. I had nitroglycerine in my spell check on word for a year before I realized I had added it from a cut and paste report taken out of FOMS and was incorrect. Of course, that is only one example of many. I could go on and on, but I won't. All in all, it is inferior, and I wish I had gone to M-Tec or Andrews so that I could have started out excellently instead of clawing my way there of my own volition.
RE: I hear you on that one - same for me. Baby just graduated :-(
\
I graduated from M-Tec, and MQ hired me without experience. nm
nm
It depends on what school you graduated from.
If you graduated from one of the top 3 schools many MTs have a job by the time they get finish the program. I take it that isn't your case. You would probably be better off trying to find an in-house job locally until you get some experience. You can post your resume on the job boards and might get some offers that way. Be careful though and ask questions as there may be some less than desirable companies trying to take advantage of newbies.
I went to career step & graduated 3 yrs ago. I think it prepared me well.
Hey FC girl--I graduated in 1994 at FCHS
/
When I graduated high school in 1967, sm
I got a set of matching luggage and a manual typewriter!
I was fortunate to have parents able to afford all tuition, books, and on-campus living expenses. Many graduates don't have what I was blessed to have and need a little help from family and friends.
33, Medical Secretary Degree, graduated in 1999
nm
Thanks..school wont give another copy since I am graduated now...also went to a whole new comp, sm
not just an upgrade. Could not pull the free program off the old one. thanks anyway. Just looking to get by on something inexpensive until I get some $$$ coming in.
I know of a company who is restarting up their mentoring program for newly-graduated MTs. A GREAT
company to work for - I think they are independent contractor status, though not sure about their mentoring program status. At any rate, they are willing to take new grads and help them transition into actually working! The women who owns the company is truly wonderful. I have been blessed to have had the opportunity to work with her, though I don't at the moment. The company is Accu-Stat in Wisconsin! Keep that name somewhere on a sticky or something! Really great people, and she did mention that she really wants to restart this program she used to have for newbies! Blessings to you and good luck! Have fun! Cause it sure can be fun, while having to work, which, of course, is not fun in and of itself, huh?? Oh, to be independently wealthy. Congrats on your new baby, by the way!! And that's SO great that your Mom is there for you! You have a good example to follow!
I'm in college myself ...
Do you have an undergraduate bulletin from the U? If not, GET ONE TODAY. Look at the degree programs. He must pick out a major and register and be assigned an Academic Advisor first.
Make sure he fills out his FASFA anyway and has it sent to the university. Just because you make $40K does not mean he should not qualify for grants or scholarships whatsoever. I don't know who told you that or if you just are assuming that, but it is not true.
A university has many, MANY avenues for financial aid. He will be assigned a financial aid counselor and you need to call up there right now, TODAY (if he is planning on attending this fall semester in about 5 weeks) and go talk to the immediately. Do you know the FASFA website? Have you filled it out? You MUST fill it out, it will be processed and sent to the university, then they will send him an award letter and you can go from there.
Now, student loans are not bad debt at all. It is an investment in your future. Just make sure you are borrowing responsibly an amount that can be paid back easily. As well, it will not hurt him one bit to pay his own student loans back and/or you pay just part of them. He should have to be payint and investing in his OWN future.
He probably needs to find a part-time job, period. Nothing wrong with that. It will teach him discipline and show you whether he is serious about an education or not. If he has registered already (and he should have if he is attending this fall ... if he hasn't and wants to go, REGISTER TODAY)...you know when his classes are and he can hit the pavement today on finding a part-time job.
You've have a bad experience as far as academic counseling at the junior college -- at least from your description, I would call that near idiocy. At the U, he will have to claim a major and it should have a sports program so that should not be a problem. Do NOT---NOT---NOT---NOT just "put him in a major". This is his education. It must be what HE wants.
There's not a lot you can do until you:
1) Fill out that FASFA and process it
2) Call the U, physically go in with your son and see a Financial Aid Advisor
3) Register, see your Academic Advisor and get your classes
If I can help you in anyway, let me know.
I had it in college
I went for PT - they did u/s and massage and heat application. Also, I received medication via (I am going to get this wrong I think) iontophoresis.
I had to change the way I held my food trays (I was a waitress) and do some exercises with a one pound weight.
It resolved with cessation of what was causing the problem in the first place. Every so often it comes close to flaring back up if I am not careful. Now my big problem is mild tendinitis in my thumb .
I never needed surgery though I have heard some people do if it gets really bad.
Did they do the Finklestein test (is that what its called?) on you to dx it? Its where they have you make a fist and then they flex your wrist down. I yelped and almost kicked the dr!
Good luck.
What did you go to college for? nM
x
I was in college before
I attended college off and on from 1989 - 1997. It will only take me a year to complete what I started.
college or not (I did) - what you do....sm
What a person does for their entire lifetime is a career, a profession. Some of us went to college, some graduated, some never went to college. Who cares? I spent 27 years doing this so yep, it has become my profession......worked Wall Street for 3 years in the 60s-70s, well that was my profession at the time (decade). Worked restaurants as a kitchen manager for 5 years - that was my profession during those 5 years and what a chef I am....*LOL*
Worked in a major teaching hospital for 10 years PRIOR to doing full-time MT work.....so yep - the medical profession is my profession and I'm a paraprofessional !!!
Dream on..........
For College - sm
You may want to check with the school. At FSU, your laptop needs to have specific programs/capabilities if you want to take it to class with you to use in class, and also to download from their blackboard on the internet.
My tech also agrees Toshibas are the best and I was lucky that the Toshiba was compatible with many of the requirements.
college or not
I graduated in 2004 with an Associate Degree in Medical Office Administration, Office Systems Technology, when I was 18 yrs. old I went to nursing school and then worked a few years as an LPN. I don't regret my college or degrade college in any way, but, most employers want an experienced MT but won't give anyone a chance to prove that someone just starting out can do the job.I am now 50 years old, taking care of my disabled husband and CAN NOT get a job at home working as a medical transcriptionist, and can't afford to take the extra tutoring that some suggest. I would just like a chance to make a living, not a bunch of money, just enough to pay my bills.
They are not gone...they just went to college--sm
They will be around more than you think....when they need money...when they need their laundry done...and, of course, holidays. They will miss you too, I am sure. You won't be nearly as lonely as you think you are going to be. lol
College
I have 2 kids in college, one I helped on the front end and because of this career, one I will have to help on the back end (meaning help him pay off his loans while he is in school instead of giving him money up front). The Stafford loans have very low interest rates right now, the rates went down. I live in Western NY and there are 2 MT jobs that I know of at one hospital. The other hospitals don't have inhouse transcriptionists. One uses a service (used to be my competitor) and they are giving all new residents laptops for EMR and the other gave all their doctors laptops 2 years ago. I'm tired of MTing to be honest, 10-12 hour days, 7 days a week, first as MTSO as qualified people were hard to come by and then because either the service didn't pay, didn't pay on time or didn't have any work so I have needed to work for more than one. I would love to do anything else.
Thanks - I have 1 in college and 1 soon to be..nm
x
kid drinks in college
And what are you gonna do if you kid does drink at college?? Kidnap him/her and deprogram them? They are adults when they are in college. I would hope by the time a child gets to be 17, 18, they have been taught right from wrong and no I would not want to know if my child was partying and drinking in college. They are living a normal young adults life. I would want to know he/she is having fun and doing their studies and, of course, if they became a drug addict or alcoholic, they I will be there but normal partying for young adults, Im okay with that..better than being tied to my apron strings.
Paying for college for my son..
My son is attending college and I have paid for 2 years through a junior college, but it is now time for him to move to a major university. Because of my salary of just over $40,000 a year, he has never qualified for any type of scholarship, only student loans (which I have paid back). Does anyone know of ANY scholarships, etc. that can be applied for? I know nothing at all about how the system works and feel I have failed in trying to help him (it's all I can do to hold down 2 jobs in order to make the $40,000). We even tried to have him set up on a student work program, but they said you could not do the student work program if you were getting student loans. It was like at every turn, there was something to disqualify him from getting assistance. He carries an 'average' grade point (more interested in social aspects, of course, than his studies). He has never had a counselor at the junior college that helped much. He is interested in sports administration, so the junior college counselor did not know what field to put him in, so she put him in liberal arts, and now we find he needs some other classes instead. I'm searching for any help with limited time to search. He tries, but he does not seem to get anywhere either.  ANYTHING ideas would be appreciated, and thanks in advance.
Do you have a college degree, and in what?
I know there are MTs out there who have Associate's, Bachelor's, or Master's degrees. According to other posters, those of us with higher education who choose to do MT are pitiful.
48-1/2 WF, M, 2 kids, 1 to college
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2 kids in college
I have 2 kids in collge, 1 in state and 1 out of state. My daughter's financial aid (out of state) is based on my income because she is still considered a dependent (she lives in dorm). My son's financial aid (in state GA) is based on his income because he is independent. The difference is if the student has a lease for rent in their name, they are considered independent and it is based on their income. Depending on what you and hubby make, he might be better off on his own financial aid wise for college. Both of my kids get about the same in federal financial aid ( I am considered lower end of income - long story) Both of my kids get pell grant and also get the subsidized and unsubsidized loans from government. College is very expensive even if they go to a local community university/college. Hope this helps
what are you studying in college?
xx
WHERE DOES YOU CHILDREN GO TO COLLEGE sm
Maybe our children go to the same college.
I will start
One daughter goes to Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. The other daughter will be going to UMass at Amerst in the fall.
What are you studying in college? nm
xx
No I never said that, they paid for college, I only - sm
helped with incidentals. I did not have too, I wanted to. They did not say I had to work but I wanted to contribute as much as I could to the expenses. Art supplies and books are not cheap and I told them I would take care of that. I spent about $2K a year in art supplies alone, w/o food. My first 2 years they paid tuition and board in the dorm, my Jr. & Sr. year I got an apartment which I shared with 1 person the first year, and the next year I got a bigger apt. and shared with 2 people, cutting the rent cost in the process. I also covered my butt by subletting in the Summer so they would not get stuck paying rent on my empty room (though I would have paid that from my summer job if it had happened). In no way do I think I put myself through college. All I did was try to save my parents some cash and be as self-sufficient as I could in the circumstances. I am very grateful for what they did for me. During 2 of my years in college they were shelling out $15K a year for my older brother to go to Drexel (his tuition and apartment), so they had their plate full. Luckily my dad had it all covered through extremely wise investments when I was just a little girl. I have been extremely fortunate but I never expected it all to be handed to me on a plate, and I have never said "oh, I put myself through college", what a load.
I also went to a community college
and never had any problems finding a job. In fact, I got my first job at home before I was even finished with school. I took all my classes online and have worked from home for the past 3 years here with my kids. I say go for it!
Actually I did go to college and I'm not bitter at all....sm
Just realistic, as I said. Obviously you've not found the right company - there are out there, believe me. But the previous poster did say it correctly - if you were working in an office with your degree, you couldn't just jump up and run. An MTSO or company has a business to run, too. I schedule my appointments after my working hours - pretty simple it seems to me.
Free college in GA?
Is that a statewide program? What do you have to do to qualify for it?
Not so. You can go to college and work
around classes. That does not prohibit you from obtaining unemployment.
Not so. You can go to college and work
around classes. That does not prohibit you from obtaining unemployment.
College and unemployment
My son is going to college because his boss of two years told him he couldn't use him this semester even though my son could prove he was available for the same amount of hours he had always been available for and he has been going to school the whole time he worked for him.
you don't want to know if your child drinks at college? (sm)
I am praying for you and your daughter. Honey, you had better get your head out of the sand and make it perfectly clear to your daughter, whether at college, home, friends, etc, it is not a good idea for a young girl to drink and lose control or insight into what is going on around her. That is just asking for something horrible to happen. Please talk to your daughter! Don't turn your back on something potentially dangerous to your child! When all is said and done, she is still your child, your responsibility, and God forbid something horrible happens to her, you will be blamed.
A college professor I had explained it like this...
We all have "breaking point" for getting cancer. Has a lot to do with your immune system and what you are doing to your body, i.e. smoking. One person smokes and gets cancer at 38 _____1_____________ and the next person smokes and gets cancer at 78 _______________1____. It's individual and you just never know. However, the fact that a person gets cancer 10 years after quitting cigarettes doesn't mean they wouldn't have gotten it if they had continued to smoke. Probably would have gotten it sooner, but since the prior smoking has done it's damage, they got it anyway.
I heard that if you quit before age 35 you can usually reverse the damage and your risk factors, but after that, there's no going back in a big way. The damage is done.
Health Insurance in College
At all the college i went to, they had their own health insurance that a student could subscribe to while they attended there. Now I went full time at each college and that may be a prerequisite. So I would have him check there before searching out some expensive private plan.
I would check out what all they covered, but if I remember correctly, it was very comprehensive.
Hope this helps.
R
I read that about the college exams! sm
I don't think my son will have a problem. He wants to be a pharmacist. I've tried to talk him out of it and have tried to have him concentrate on his writing.
He has written several stories that have won awards.
Pharmacists are being held up at gunpoint for OxyContin. Scares the jeez out of me!
Oh well, you gotta let them choose what they want to do for a career unless they decide to deal drugs instead of dispense them legally.
Met at a beer blast in college -nm
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