Meet Ashten Davies – Bryan U Health Information Management Graduate

Ashten Davies, a single mother, took a challenging situation and turned it into a life-changing career. After graduating from a previous college with an associate degree, Ashten found it difficult to find a position. She learned that her biological mother had just started taking classes at Bryan University in Health Information Management (HIM). Following her biological mother’s recommendation, Ashten looked into the program at BU. Once learning about BU’s flexible online associate degree program in HIM, Ashten knew the program would be a good fit for her. “I could study from home for my classes and work school around my other responsibilities.”

Almost immediately after speaking to a BU admissions representative, Ashten enrolled at Bryan U and began classes. Ashten appreciated Bryan’s application process, which looked at her as a whole person versus just looking at her grades in previous programs or schooling. “During my previous program, I had a baby and some of my grades reflected being a new mom. Bryan was willing to see me holistically and give me a shot at a new degree program.”

Ashten found her educational experience at Bryan exceeded her expectations. “At Bryan, being able to resubmit my homework in order to master it has been beneficial. I’ve been able to see my mistakes and fix them. It’s been a great way for me to learn.”

In addition to being able to resubmit work, Ashten found the different learning platforms that Bryan uses to be extremely valuable. Recently Ashten had a situation come up at her job, and this exact issue had been covered during one of her classes. Based on the coursework she received at Bryan, she was able to recognize the issue and knew right away what to do. “It made the difference for me to understand the context of what was going on with this issue and identify a solution.”

She also found the flexible class schedule to be a huge bonus. The flexibility allowed her to focus on her coursework while also having time for her other personal commitments and obligations. Ashten has found her instructors to be excellent, understanding, and caring. She has felt that her instructors are very supportive and sincerely want her to succeed.

Shortly after starting her program, Ashten began to apply for jobs in her field. She quickly found a job working for a research firm located in Las Vegas, Nevada, that handles vaccine studies. Ashten enters the data from all the different studies that come in and her coursework at Bryan gave her the tools to succeed in this job. While it has been a learning process, it has been one that she has enjoyed, “This job has been a great learning process and opportunity. I start with the paper charts from the different studies, and I get to see how all of this data is getting coded and entered.”

Ashten has enjoyed her time at Bryan. The online learning environment and support from different areas of Bryan – from career services to her instructors – have made a significant difference. “Bryan University changed my life. I now have a career I can focus on.”