UTGC

If 2.79 is your undergrad GPA, what is the 3.79 for? A masters? I just checked the UT San Antonio site for their PhD in Educational Leadership, and they require a minimum undergrad GPA of 3.5 to even apply (and a resume showing work experience in education). This may not specifically be the program you'd apply to (there are a few other ones related to education), so you should do your own investigating too. Maybe even get in touch with the program director to see if you are competitive. UT Arlington seems to require a minimum 3.0 to apply for a Masters. Don't know about PhD, but I'm sure it's similar. The only education PhD they have seems to be Ed Leadership (K-16), which may not be what you want. They have several masters though.

Supposedly, the average GPA for an admitted/matriculated GC students is 3.5 (as of 2010- reported by the NSGC in "Who Are Genetic Counselors?" nsgc.org/d/do/435). In that case, a 3.3 should be fine for getting some interviews. However, I'm not certain how accurate that figure is anymore because I've noticed that the number of students applying to these programs has been increasing quite a bit (for example, some schools put on their website that they have 80 applicants/year, but then you show up to the interview and they say they had 150-200 applicants that cycle). I think you definitely have a good chance, just be sure to apply to as many schools as you can so that you get a good number of interview offers. And put a lot of work into your personal statements and the other elements of your application. I believe GPA plays a larger role in getting to the interview stage. After that, your "fit" becomes a big factor (though GPA and resume are of course still relevant).

I think it's important to spend some time reflecting on just how desperate you are to go to a graduate program. Would you go even if it wasn't a good fit? Would you go even if you hated the location? If going to grad school is your number one priority and all other elements of your life are going to take a back seat while you accomplish that, then I think it's absolutely fine to play the numbers game and apply to as many places as possible. If you think finding a good fit is really important and you'd rather spend a gap year or two working rather than going to a program you don't like, it's probably smart to invest a lot of time finding programs that suit you and only applying to ones that you're really interested in. Part of what prompted my to apply to some of those programs I didn't actually like in the end was trying to find a "safety school" (because the acceptance rate was slightly better). I was doubting myself more than I should have and that led to me applying to places purely because it seemed like I'd likely get in. I don't regret applying to 8 programs (it is a competitive market, after all), I only regret that I didn't invest enough time into finding good-fit programs before sinking a bunch of time and money into applications and in-person interviews and the like. I definitely think it's possible to play the numbers game *and* be thoughtful and selective, it just requires a lot more effort from the applicant.

I don't have experience with CS, but I'd vote in favor of getting more research experience (especially if the programs you're looking at are research-heavy). Your GPA is already great, so you have some wiggle room. It's also a well-known fact that taking on serious undergrad research projects will cause a bit of a drop in GPA for most people, so it's both common and expected that this could happen to a student with a good research background.

When picking schools to apply to, you may think that you'll be willing to go to absolutely any program that'll let you attend, but I ended up deciding after interviews that I wouldn't go to 2 out of my 7 schools even if they were the only option. I also turned down a 3rd school's offer to interview after some more thought. So out of 8 applications, I was only interested in 5 of those programs by the end. I wish I had done more research before choosing where to apply. Two of them I could've easily nixed if I'd just taken a minute and asked myself "do you *really* see yourself being happy at that location?". Everything turned out well in the end, I just would've had a more pleasant application cycle if I had been more selective and didn't overestimate my level of desperation to just go *somewhere*.

Just a few questions for you: Is "certificate grade" similar to GPA (grade point average)? If so, that's unfortunately probably going to be considered a low number. It depends on the program you are looking at. Might be doable if you have other impressive experiences, however many graduate programs require a minimum GPA of a 3.0, so you will need to do some research to see if you're eligible to apply for anything that interests you. Some allow applicants with as low as 2.75 or so, but higher GPAs will be considered more competitive. Do you have a bachelors degree? Are you looking for a PhD (~6 years) or a Masters (2 years) Program? I live in Texas, so here's a list of state schools to look into: The University of Texas (there are many campuses, including Austin, San Antonio, Tyler, El Paso, Permian Basin...) Texas A&M (again, more than one campus), Texas Tech Texas State University of North Texas University of Houston Check those out to start. UT is quite competitive, followed by A&M, then the others. Best of luck! Texas is a good place to be.

I don't believe so. It might actually be a good idea to be a bit early. I'm sure they get more and more emails from applicants as the application date approaches.

That's awesome that you have a GC to recommend you, I'm sure they will be a big help. I was pretty ok when it came to pre-reqs, though I didn't take my 2nd psych class until my final spring either (needed by some programs). It didn't end up being an issue for me, most programs explicitly say you can have some number of pre-reqs pending. Definitely email the programs you're interested in about that biochem thing. I'm sure it's fine but you want to be upfront about what happened and see if there are any issues. I think many programs only need 1 semester of biochem anyway, so there are definitely lots of options for you still just in case the ones that require 2 semesters take issue with your incomplete sequence. I'm going to send you a private message about the interviews. It's pretty subjective and I don't want to make my opinions too public because there's a lot of variation in the interview experience people have. (I'll send this info privately to anyone else that requests it though).

I think I started seeing applications open up maybe around August, though it's tough to remember exactly. Just keep checking starting towards the end of summer! What I did for personal statements was make a list of all of the different prompts (by that I mean: most of the schools will suggest like 5 things to bring up, so I'd take all of those suggestions from each website and combine similar ones until I had a list that covered everything) and brainstorm for those topics. This is really helpful for people applying to a lot of schools because there is a fair amount of overlap but it's difficult to write like 8 essays completely organically from scratch. Anyway, I'd just flesh out those brainstorms as needed and combine them in whatever way I thought was most appropriate for that school. Then you have to be sure to look through their website and identify something unique about them or see if you can tell what their values/priorities are and use that info to show your interest in the school and talk about why it appealed to you. Most important: rewrite your PS many many times. My first drafts were awful compared to the stuff I turned in (which probably still left some to be desired, I'm sure). They evolve a ton over time. Especially since you mention you are still waiting to accumulate some advocacy experience. You'll have a LOT to add after you're all settled with volunteering and shadowing. They may feel disappointing now but they'll definitely get better as you work on them and keep seeking out new experiences this summer. Also, not a bad idea to get a GC to read over your PS and offer you advice - they can be quite helpful. Let me know if you have questions about any of the programs I applied to - there's a lot I learned about them from interviewing that wasn't apparent on the website, necessarily. Best of luck!

Hey everyone! I applied last year and will be attending the UT program (I also applied to UPitt, CSU, UC Irvine, Brandeis, Sarah Lawrence and VCU). I just wanted to offer to answer any questions 2017 applicants have. There's certainly a few things that I would've done differently!