GCapplicant2017

Hi guys! I am excited to say that I will be applying for the Fall 2018 cycle alongside you all! Although I am lacking in experience, I want to try applying anyways and see what my chances are! I've been lurking around the Fall 2017 forum and it has provided me with a lot of insight. I admire everyone's resilience. Let's all support one another for this coming cycle  
A little bit about me:
4th year Honours Biology student at University of Waterloo (Canada) with cGPA 3.3 (still have a year left of school)
GRE: will write end of this August (currently studying, was wondering if you guys have any study guides you recommend? currently using Manhattan Prep and Kaplan)
Volunteer: 3 years undergraduate research experience (mostly in plant and bacterial genetics)-worked in industry, academic and government settings, currently volunteering at a distressline and women's advocacy (pro life human rights organization), hopefully have a genetic counseling shadowing opportunity lined up for me in the Fall although I am being waitlsted
I don't think my experience and grades are that amazing compared to a lot of student BIOs I have read, but after seeing the resilience of all the applicants, I am determined to at least try, I don't see any other career path for me other than genetic counseling and I am excited to share my application experience with you all !  

I interviewed there last Friday. It was just a standard interview. You arrive, they have an info session with everyone. Then there are 2 slots of interview, you will have 1 of the 2 slots, each 45-ish minutes. Then lunch with current students. Then 2 slots of interviews where you will have 1 of the 2 again. So overall, 2 interviews each 45 minutes, and 2 slots where you roam around and chat with the other applicants by yourself.
They focus on your resume/CV and personal statement. I had forgotten that they had asked about a personal experience with death or genetic conditions in their personal statement so that sort of threw me off when I was asked about it. My other personal statements had not included that bit. Some people, including me, got some scientific questions where they give you a scenario and want you to think out loud to how the scenario came to be. I was a little thrown off about it, but they seemed understanding that some of us have been out of school for a while so the genetic terminologies may not be fresh in our brain. As long as you can reason it out in your head and think of some possibilities, they seem to accept the answers.
 
Mine is this Friday too! I'll see you there!!
 
Hi! Welcome! I took my GRE twice. First time I took it, I haphazardly studied about 2 weeks from books, but didn't do much practice questions, and just "YOLO took it". I got average. Then last year I took it again in October with more effort in studying. I highly recommend downloading the Magoosh GRE words app and do the flashcards whenever you're free. There is also an app called Prep4GRE or Ready4GRE. It's free and I cannot thank it enough. I feel like even though I was sort of skeptical on how it would have helped (as it is a little buggy and messy sometimes), it really prepared me for the GRE. It being an app on the phone really encouraged spontaneous studying. So I would do the verbal sections whenever I'm commuting, and leave the math sections for when I can sit down and do them. Although it is an app and is not super detailed in explanation, I think by the time you finish all the little modules in there, you pretty much have a thorough glimpse on the tricky questions on the test. On top of that I bought some prep books, but I had worked through them for my first attempt. By the second attempt I relied mostly on the ready4GRE app and the practice tests to just practice, and focus less on concepts.
For the essay questions, I spent the day before the test just reading over lots of practice essays. Noted some words that I could use to seem smarter and some ways to format the issues to save time on the GRE. I didn't do any practice essays, just went straight for it at the test.
It may seem daunting, but I'm sure if you give it a good month of studying, you can do pretty well. I also discovered I learn better with practice questions instead of focusing on concepts, but that's a personal preference. My scores ended up a lot higher than I expected myself to do. Good luck!!!
 

Some of the questions I got last year, I thought I'd share:
What would your friends say were your best qualities? Your worst qualities?
What do you think is the hardest part about being a Genetic Counselor?
Tell me about memorable case you remember from shadowing.
There was a scenario question, I don't really remember the particulars but it amounted to - what would you do if you did a genetic test on a couple and their child and found out that the father was not the biological father of the child (a recessive disorder) and the couple were worried because they wanted to have more children.

Hello everyone! I've reading this forum without an account, but I figured I'd pop in and ask a couple of questions! I've applied to McGill, UManitoba, and UToronto and haven't heard back from anyone, but my applications still say under review online. I'm seeing that other people are getting calls and emails from Manitoba and UofT this week, so is it safe to assume that I didn't get an interview for either of these? Also, when would you say is a good amount of time to leave before I call the department and see how I can improve my application for the next round?

Fellow prospective UBC students: check your email! Confirmation letters are going out

Nothing yet on my end. I'm thinking we will get it by the end of the day. It's only 10am our time (British Columbia, Pacific). 

I have PDFs of each chapter, if anyone's interested!

I've been trying to prepare for the interviews by brainstorming some questions that may crop up. Disclaimer: I haven't attended an interview yet, so I can't confirm if these questions will actually make an appearance in any of the interviews. However, they are questions that I have seen on the 2016 forum, and from other sources around the web. With that said, here's the list of the questions I've come up with so far- Use them to prepare if you'd like!
Tell me about yourself Why do you want to become a genetic counselor? What is a genetic counselor? How did you learn about genetic counseling? How did you prepare for this interview? Why do you want to attend this specific program? Is there anything on your academic record that you would like to address? How do your experiences make you an ideal candidate? Tell me about a difficult case that you observed (for those who have shadowed a GC) How would you describe the colour green to a blind person? How would your worst enemy describe you? What is your greatest strength/weakness?

Waiting to hear back from GC programs: 

#GCapplicantprobs?