Currently, in August 2018, there are 43 accredited programs (here is the full list from The Accreditation Council of Genetic Counseling) in Canada and the United States. Incoming students from 28 of these schools took part in our survey. It’s also worth noting that 6 more schools are candidates for accreditation or have submitted a “Letter of Intent” to start a new program; these programs are located at the end of the ACGC list hyperlinked above.
National Matching Services Inc provided their own statistics for this first year of the North American genetic counseling programs using their service. There were 1328 total applicants who registered in the Match, which is reflective of how many students applied to programs. Out of these 1328 applicants, 557 withdrew or did not submit ranks, which means these students did not receive any interviews or opted out of the application process at this stage. The remaining 771 applicants were invited to interview(s). Finally, 402 of these 771 students were matched with a program, which is 52% of students who were offered interview(s). Therefore 31% of students who applied to a genetic counseling program were matched with one. Based on the 57 students who completed our survey, a large percentage of students matched with their first rank. This is displayed in the bar graphs above.
The scatterplot above shows how many schools applicants applied to, along with how many interview invitations they received. Results varied with some students receiving interviews from all the schools they applied to, while others received only one interview despite applying to many schools. The respondents to the survey all matched with a program, so these data are not reflective of students who did not match.
How did you prepare for your interview day?
- Re-read Application Materials
- Practiced Potential Interview Questions
- Mock Interviews (Career Services, Friend, Boss)
- Relax and Sleep
- Review Feedback from Previous Year(s)
- Review Uniqueness of Program
- Prepare Questions to Ask
- Research on Genetic Counseling Topics
- Advice from Past/Current Students, Professors, Genetic Counselors, Mentors etc.
- List Key Points and Elevator Pitch
What factors did you use to assess programs when ranking? What was your top reason for your number one choice?
- Location
- Program Gut Instinct
- Cost (Tuition and Living)
- Unique Extracurricular Opportunities (LEND, Double Masters, Accelerated Program, etc.)
- Connection with Faculty and Students
- Rotations (Specialties, Starting)
- Research Opportunities
- Program Curriculum Structure Fits Applicant’s Learning Style
- Class Size
What was the cost of your application process?
Note: Some respondents included their GRE and travel expenses, while others did not.
- Mean: 1341
- Median: 1000
- Maximum: >3000
- Minimum: 100
If you are an international student, what was different about your process?
- Some programs required US citizenship
- Only US requires GRE
- English language requirement
- Difficult to rank US and Canadian schools together
If you are a second-time applicant, how was the application process different, now that it is a match system?
- Match process was less stressful (1 email vs. 3 days of calls)
- Match process was more in favor of the applicant
- Confusion learning with match process
- Harder to rank programs because did not know where programs ranked you
- Consider ranking well before match day
Did you find any resources helpful when applying?
- Forums: GradCafe (Previous 2018 App Cycle & Current 2019 App Cycle) & Discord
- Genetic Counseling Podcasts (Kira shares a few new ones in this Twitter thread)
- Social Media: Twitter (#gcchat #NSGCGenePool), Reddit, LinkedIn
- Genetic Counselors, Current Students & Alumni
- Program Websites & Blogs (University of Pittsburgh & Sarah Lawrence College etc.)
- Magoosh GRE Study Software (Promo Code Link)
- My Gene Counsel
- Maps and Genes
- DNA Exchange
- Genome Magazine & Daily Quiz via Genome Genius App (Apple Store & Google Play)
- Journal of Genetic Counseling
- The Accreditation Council of Genetic Counseling
- AboutGeneticCounselors.org
- National Society of Genetic Counselors
Any other advice to future applicants?
- Don’t give up and stay positive, it’s a competitive field and there are many qualified applicants
- Be yourself, programs want to get to know who you are
- Ask for feedback, if you didn’t get in, contact programs to see what you can improve on and work on it
- Shadow or intern as much as you can, expose yourself to genetic counseling and know what the field is about
- Take up advocacy and volunteer experiences you’re passionate about, show your passions and how they connect to genetic counseling
- Get to know fellow applicants, great support system
- Rank programs honestly, National Matching Services favors applicant’s rankings
- Cold email everywhere, find a genetic counselor(s) to shadow, intern or interview
- Know who you’re interviewing with, do your research
- Create an interesting personal statement, keep revising and have others look over it
- Comfortable and professional interview outfit
- Find out what makes you unique and be able to communicate it
- Apply to as many schools as you can to increase your chances
- Reach out to programs and ask questions before applying
- Self-care
- Mock interviews
- Be a genetic counselor assistant if possible
- Start applications early
- Trust the process
Thank yous…..
- All the incoming genetic counseling students who took the time to fill out the survey to share their advice.
- Ellen Matloff, Gabrielle, and Hebbah who helped design the survey.
- My guests for this podcast episode: Brynna Nguyenton, Katie Church, and Brianna Van den Adel.
- Another shoutout to Brynna for helping me to summarize all the survey information into this blog post.
Don’t forget to check out the DNA Today podcast episode associated with this blog post where Kira and three other incoming genetic counseling graduate schools discuss the application process.
Questions/inquiries about the application process can be sent to info@DNApodcast.com. Interested in getting in contact with a current student at a specific school? Shoot us an email and we will work our networks to try and connect you!
Follow DNA Today on Twitter and Instagram for more genetics updates including new podcast episodes.
Kira Dineen is the Communications Lead at My Gene Counsel, a digital genetic counseling company. She hosts and produces DNA Today: A Genetics Podcast (and radio show), which was founded in 2012 and features over 85 episodes interviewing genetic counselors, patient advocates and other genetic experts. The show was nominated in the 2015 and 2016 Podcast Awards. Kira is also a member of National Society of Genetic Counselors’ Digital Ambassador Program (aka #NSGCGenePool). She received her Bachelor’s of Science degree in Diagnostic Genetic Sciences with a concentration in Cytogenetics at the University of Connecticut. Kira is excited to be in Sarah Lawrence College’s Genetic Counseling Class of 2020.