Fall 2016 Genetic Counseling Applicants

[gc09621]

Any other Genetic Counseling applicants out there applying for Fall 2016? I'm driving myself crazy wondering when I'll hear back from schools for interviews and hoping others are in the same boat?

[Imores]

Hi! I'm a Canadian applying to a number of schools. I received my "no" from Stanford this week but based on the past results on this site we will probably hear from a large portion of the schools next week or the week after.

[weilongli1]

Yay other GC applicants! There always seems to be little amounts of GC people on the board, but the survey is still pretty active, which is nice. I have got an interview at the University of Pittsburgh and a rejection from Stanford so far, but I'm still going to be super stressed out until I hear back from the other 6 programs I applied to.

[gc09621]

It's nice to know there are others out there! I'm hoping this is an active week for notifications, I haven't heard from any of the programs I applied to and it's stressing me out!

[geecee92]

Canadian here also! I didn't get in last year because I lacked the advocacy.. so I applied to 11 schools this year (hella expensive :/)

cGPA: 3.2/4
GC Exposure: work/volunteering at 2 cancer genetics clinics (Breast/G.I Cancer Registry), with over 30 observation sessions for 1.5 years
4 months of Disability exposure + 7 months crisis hotline experience
2 years of wet lab research on disease modeling, and currently health policy and clinical genetics research volunteering

My applications not the most competitive in terms of grades.. but surprisingly the feedback I received from directors was that they focus heavily on the pre-reqs grades and also your last two years. Only school I heard back from was a rejection letter so far.. 

- 3 Canadian Schools (Uoft/UBC/McGill)
- SLC
- Northwestern
- Pittsburgh
- Wisconsin
- Michigan
- Johns Hopkins U
- Stanford (rejection letter 1/26)
- UC Irvine

[gc09621]

I applied last year also, but only to two schools, and I ended up getting waitlisted at both. I was encouraged to up my shadowing experiences so that's been my goal over the last year. You sound like a great applicant in my opinion! When I interviewed last year I got the sense that grades were not nearly as important as other experiences/finding a good fit. It seems like Sanford is turning everyone down this year…

Undergrad GPA: 3.6/4

GC Exposure: Northwestern Summer Internship 2014, shadowing at the MN Department of Health and pediatric genetics clinic, 2 years as a domestic violence shelter advocate.

I conducted undergraduate research and am currently working in Public Health research. I also took an online genetics course through UC Berkeley to beef up my prereqs a bit. 

I applied to:

-Minnesota

-Michigan

-Wisconsin

-Colorado

I saw someone post an interview offer from MN so I’m slowly giving up on that until the rejection arrives L

[Jello310]

When did stanford start giving out rejections? I haven't heard back from any schools yet  

[geecee92]

@gc09621 Your application is way stronger than mine! I didn't land any interviews last year, closest I got was being 'waitlisted for interviews' at Northwestern and Utah, and obviously everyone goes for interviews.. And I wouldn't give up on Minnesota, maybe they're sending it in batches!! I had to email Pittsburgh b/c I freaked out and saw someone receive an interview offer, and they told me they don't send all the interviews out on the same day  ... Have you heard from Michigan yet? someone posted receiving a phone interview today :/

@jello310 around last week, you can check the applyweb to see if they uploaded the official rejection letter.

Edited February 2, 2016 by geecee92

[gc09621]

@geecee92 it's a little nerve-wrecking because there are so many competitive applicants out there! I saw the Michigan post, I still haven't heard anything yet though. I'm hoping that one is split in batches since they offer interviews by phone? 

[Imores]

Hi! I got the interview at Michigan today! It was SO cool they have dinner with you the night before the interviews with other students + the GC admissions committee! I'm so excited! Made me feel a lot better about the Stanford no-no. (Michigan called me to tell me I got an interview, but I missed the call and called back to book my visit). Michigan is probably my #1 choice, I wrote all about how I'd love to work in the sexual development disorders clinic and I have sex ed/Planned Parenthood experience that I have absolutely loved and that back up my intentions really well.

Still waiting on 8 more schools. My GRE was strong (I misreported on my second result, it's 163/167/5) so I figured I'd make sure I get accepted somewhere this year by applying a lot.

I know SLC does rolling interviews so it's possible that they're not going to notify us all at once.  I also had trouble calling back Michigan today as it appeared the one GC committee member was doing all the calls, and then also broke for lunch.

Edited February 2, 2016 by lmorse
confusion about Michigan interview format

[gc09621]

Congrats @Imorse! Michigan sounds like it would be a great fit for you, and definitely great after a rejection! I'm trying to stay optimistic and hoping I may still hear from them tomorrow but we'll see I guess! 

[Imores]

Aw thanks! It looks like they don't notify all of them on the same day so I'm sure more of us will hear from Michigan this week. And someone just got an interview at Stanford
 

Did you receive an interview from Minnesota? I noticed you're from there and I had really liked their program, but ended up not applying at that school.

[gc09621]

I saw the Stanford post too, do they send out rejections first and then interviews? That seems so odd...

I haven't heard anything from Minnesota so I'm assuming not, I did interview there last year but it wasn't really a good fit, although it is a great program. Also, when I was shadowing I spoke to another counselor that used to be on the selection committee and she said they take all of the white women from Minnesota that they would interview and cut half of them right away because they want a more diverse group, so I wouldn't be too surprised if I didn't make the cut this year.

[Imores]

Yeah it looks like they did...It's weird. Though it's Stanford so they could safely reject a large portion of their applicants and probably not worry about not filling those few 5 spots - they still will.

Awe that's too bad about that in Minnesota, I noticed that American schools ask for a diversity statement, which isn't really something Canadian schools do.  I liked how Minnesota had a strong psychology/ethics basis to their program.  I think I know a cousin in law there on an athletic scholarship too...

I hope you hear from schools soon! I don't think we have to worry if we don't hear on the same day someone else does, so maybe soon.

[geecee92]

My supervisor went to Wisconsin's GC program and she says they really do try to promote diversity these days... which is a bit unfair in my opinion (although I'm a male applicant so hope that works in my favor). Dangit I just wished they'd expand the programs to accept more people.

[Imores]

That's the huge problem in Canada, our acceptance chance is 10%, whereas in the states 30% of applicants get accepted so writing the GRE and applying a lot should result getting accepted much much more easily.

[geecee92]

@imorse lol not to mention 1/3 of our schools are French-speaking patients...  Former students told me McGill only accepts 1 Anglophone each year out of the 4 spots (not sure if it changed), so basically its down to UofT and UBC for us..

[Imores]

When they say anglophone do they include people with some French fluency? I mentioned in my application that I completed French Immersion in SS and thought that might help me a bit.

[Imores]

The GC I shadowed said she's had 2 of her volunteers here at UWaterloo go to McGill, so it might not be as bleak as you say. She didn't mention that either of them were fully francophone.

[jj77]

Hi! Also checking in for the GC waiting game. Best of luck to everyone! 

[gc09621]

Hey @seabee, welcome! Have you heard from any schools yet/where did you apply?

[weilongli1]

Reading back through all y'all's posts makes me so nervous about my apps! Everyone has way more experience than me! @geecee92 I was actually the person that posted the Pitt interview, and your resume is way better than mine is so I'm sure that you'll do great! It's killing me to wait for 6 more of my applications... I'm here actually doing schoolwork to avoid thinking about applications!

[GC19]

I figured I'd jump in the conversation.

I applied to North Carolina at Greensboro, Virginia Commonwealth, Johns Hopkins, Oklahoma University, and University of Texas. 

I have an interview with UNCG, but I haven't heard from the other schools yet. 

[Imores]

Does anyone know what the universal notification date for acceptances is this year?

[luckyduck78]

Hi everyone! I'm new to the thread, but I wanted to jump in. 

This is the first time I've applied to genetic counseling programs. 

3.3 Undergrad GPA

151/156/4.0 GRE

Sub-I with a genetic counselor on a genotyping research study, work in a sub specialty hematology clinics (peds and adults), advocacy work for disabled children, 1 publication, 1 meeting presentation, 3 abstracts. LOTS of undergrad cell bio & genetics research. Excellent recommendations, one from a genetic counselor. 

I applied to 7 programs, and already gotten a rejection from Emory  Waiting to hear from University of South Carolina, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Virginia Commonwealth, University of Maryland, University of Cincinnati, and University of Utah.

I know my stats aren't that great, but I'm hoping my experience and good letters of rec will make up for that.

Haven't heard back from any other schools, and I'm checking my email pretty much ever 5 minutes.