Genetic Counseling Fall 2018 Applicants

[hfj23]

Yeah I was under the impression that the schools we interview at are the ones we rank and the ones we don't get interviews at are basically the rejections, and then if we don't get matched it means the schools we interviewed at didn't like us. Writing this out is already making me feel nervous!! 

[Nefelibata]

A lot of programs moved their application deadlines up this year, so I'm hoping that means they notify us of interviews/rejections earlier too.

[katiespencer]

Hey! Has anyone tried to get a Genetic Counseling assistant position? Do you have any tips on how to find one or how to approach a counselor about it? 

[AspiringGC]

23 minutes ago, katiespencer said:

Hey! Has anyone tried to get a Genetic Counseling assistant position? Do you have any tips on how to find one or how to approach a counselor about it? 

You can search indeed and other job sites for "Genetic Counselor Assistant" typically yields more results than "Counseling". The monopoly of these positions are at GeneDx, but I believe Myriad has some, Philadelphia Children's, places in Illinois, Wisconsin, and some areas of California have a few positions. For me, I would have had to relocate for any GCA position I found, which didn't make sense when I would likely be moving again the next year once I got into grad school.

If the GCs you know work in a hospital setting, they typically don't have access to easily add on a GCA position. The two I volunteer with have a medical assistant that helps them part-time, and they are hopeful to eventually have enough data to show a need for a full time GCA position, but they do not believe that would happen anytime soon. As current GC's become busier, I believe the need for assistants will pop up, but for now it's still a very niche and limited position (both in positions available and locality of these positions as well). I applied to a few of these positions and never heard back. 

[raecamp]

On 12/5/2017 at 10:29 AM, LauraT said:

Hi, Rae (and all - I've been a lurker so far and have found this forum immensely informative and helpful; thank you!) - is the genomic advocacy program you're doing at Indiana State? I've considered applying to that myself, especially if I don't get in this round (probably won't, still working on finishing up prereqs etc.).

Hey Laura!  The genomic advocacy program is at Indiana State! I actually really enjoyed all the classes and would definitely recommend it! I think it has made a HUGE difference in my resume in regards to my GPA and all that, and it just shows that I'm trying to improve my grades with graduate level classes, and doing well, rather than just BS easy A classes. Happy to tell you more! Can you DM on this? Let me know if you have questions!!

[raecamp]

1 hour ago, AspiringGC said:

You can search indeed and other job sites for "Genetic Counselor Assistant" typically yields more results than "Counseling". The monopoly of these positions are at GeneDx, but I believe Myriad has some, Philadelphia Children's, places in Illinois, Wisconsin, and some areas of California have a few positions. For me, I would have had to relocate for any GCA position I found, which didn't make sense when I would likely be moving again the next year once I got into grad school.

If the GCs you know work in a hospital setting, they typically don't have access to easily add on a GCA position. The two I volunteer with have a medical assistant that helps them part-time, and they are hopeful to eventually have enough data to show a need for a full time GCA position, but they do not believe that would happen anytime soon. As current GC's become busier, I believe the need for assistants will pop up, but for now it's still a very niche and limited position (both in positions available and locality of these positions as well). I applied to a few of these positions and never heard back. 

Hi!! I actually am a GCA at GeneDx right now! Would be happy to talk to you about the position. What places are you finding in Illinois & Wisco with GCA positions? I'm looking to relocate closer to home.

[AspiringGC]

17 hours ago, raecamp said:

Hi!! I actually am a GCA at GeneDx right now! Would be happy to talk to you about the position. What places are you finding in Illinois & Wisco with GCA positions? I'm looking to relocate closer to home.

I found those positions on Glassdoor or by google by adding a city after my search.

[GCBrittany]

On 12/22/2017 at 9:03 AM, AspiringGC said:

We’ll still get rejections from schools that decide not to interview us, but once you interview all information will be provided on match. I don’t think we’ll even get an official “you’re rejected” from schools, we’ll get the school we got into or that we weren’t matched (meaning rejected/waitlisted and then no spot opened from all..)

So will the match take away our ability to rank a school,  if the school decides not to rank us at all?

Or will we rank all schools we interviewed at?

[JN212]

 

@GCBrittany The match allows you to rank the schools you interviewed at once most of the interviews are completed at the end of March. I believe you enter the school's program you interviewed at and that's how you will create the rank order list. Both the students and the program create this rank order list which is then submitted in the middle of April. Therefore a school can not take away your ability to rank them since  you interviewed at them, prior to match day as no now knows how everyone was ranked until then.The point of the match is for the logarithm to the help the students as much as possible through these rankings even if you aren't in a school's top choice ranking. The logarithm needs all rankings of schools interviewed to do so. 

Edited December 23, 2017 by JN212

[GCBrittany]

@JN212

Thanks for the info!

[hopetobeGC]

Hope everyone has had a great holiday weekend! 

Anyone out there applying mainly to Southern/East Coast schools? I would love to keep in touch with someone similar to me, especially as interview invitations are approaching.

[GCBrittany]

20 hours ago, hopetobeGC said:

Hope everyone has had a great holiday weekend! 

Anyone out there applying mainly to Southern/East Coast schools? I would love to keep in touch with someone similar to me, especially as interview invitations are approaching.

I appied to Johns Hopkins and Maryland, but that's it for East/Southern areas. I wanted to apply for the NYC areas but I don't think I could afford rent as I can't live on campus with children and dogs! 

[AspiringGC]

21 hours ago, hopetobeGC said:

Hope everyone has had a great holiday weekend! 

Anyone out there applying mainly to Southern/East Coast schools? I would love to keep in touch with someone similar to me, especially as interview invitations are approaching.

I'm applying to mostly West Coast/Southwest schools as you can see in my signature. But I am applying to Arkansas if you happen to be too.

[hopetobeGC]

@GCBrittany I applied to Maryland too! Maybe we will have an overlapping interview and can meet up.

 

@AspiringGC Arkansas is one of the closer programs to my hometown but I am not actually applying there.  I didn't have all of their science prereqs and I know they are really into telemedicine...which might be the way of the future but not my current interest. I am, however, applying to UT!! Maybe we will have an overlapping interview time and can meet up.

[TAGC]

On 12/21/2017 at 5:23 PM, Blizzard said:

Anyone applying to UBC--did you have to send official transcripts? Or were unofficials sufficient?

I uploaded a scanned copy of my official transcript, but I think that still counts as an "unofficial transcript" so I think you're probably fine just uploading the unofficials.  They don't ask you to have the official transcripts sent to them, only the scan.

[TAGC]

Those that are applying to Stanislaus State, what did you do about signing the supplementary form?  Because of the fill in the blank PDF boxes, I don't think it's appropriate to print and scan it.  Did anyone just type your name in or do an electronic signature?

[AspiringGC]

38 minutes ago, TAGC said:

Those that are applying to Stanislaus State, what did you do about signing the supplementary form?  Because of the fill in the blank PDF boxes, I don't think it's appropriate to print and scan it.  Did anyone just type your name in or do an electronic signature?

Why don't you think it's appropriate? That's exactly what I did, printed it off, signed, and scanned back. I got a "thank you" back and they didn't indicate any issues with this. 

[TAGC]

9 minutes ago, AspiringGC said:

Why don't you think it's appropriate? That's exactly what I did, printed it off, signed, and scanned back. I got a "thank you" back and they didn't indicate any issues with this. 

Because they have some fill-in boxes that are "For Office Use Only" and because the Signature box is a fill-in box as well.  I thought that they maybe wanted us to leave those boxes available for them to fill in.  I might just be over thinking it and should probably just print and re-scan.

[AspiringGC]

3 minutes ago, TAGC said:

Because they have some fill-in boxes that are "For Office Use Only" and because the Signature box is a fill-in box as well.  I thought that they maybe wanted us to leave those boxes available for them to fill in.  I might just be over thinking it and should probably just print and re-scan.

On the second page the "For Office Use" section doesn't have the fill in boxes. Plus, they likely have the full version of Adobe Acrobat to go back in and add them if needed. Or they just print them off and hand fill out those sections. Pretty sure I sent a scanned copy last year and didn't have a problem with it either. 

[TAGC]

1 hour ago, AspiringGC said:

On the second page the "For Office Use" section doesn't have the fill in boxes. Plus, they likely have the full version of Adobe Acrobat to go back in and add them if needed. Or they just print them off and hand fill out those sections. Pretty sure I sent a scanned copy last year and didn't have a problem with it either. 

Awesome.  That's what I'll do then.  Thanks for your help!

[GCBrittany]

On 12/21/2017 at 5:58 PM, GCBrittany said:

So I just submitted my app for John Hop through SOPHAS, and it sent me an email back saying that the application isn't complete until their system verifies all the transcript information (which if you've applied then you know you have to type every class in, even though we submit our transcripts to them), and this verification could take up to four weeks?! 

It says it should have been submitted at least four weeks before your deadline. 

Soooo, I'm just figuring this out now? Should I be worried? Has everyone else submitted theirs already? If you haven't, I'd recommend doing so now!  I only waited because the app fee is $135 and ya know, Christmas! 

Just to follow up, they have already emailed me saying the application was approved and sent to the program, so it def didn't take 4 weeks.

Just in case anyone is still waiting on submitting to them, I think you still have time

[GeneDawg]

I submitted my CSU-Stan app long time ago. I have not heard back from them at all. Not even any acknowledgement that they have received my app. Should I be worried?

[AspiringGC]

19 minutes ago, GeneDawg said:

I submitted my CSU-Stan app long time ago. I have not heard back from them at all. Not even any acknowledgement that they have received my app. Should I be worried?

Silly question, but you emailed in your supplemental app and supporting documents right? In my email with that information I had asked "If possible, could you please confirm whether or not my application is completed in full." to which the coordinator responded "I will be sending out updates over the next few weeks", so I wouldn't worry too much about it now. 

[Lea123]

13 hours ago, GeneDawg said:

I submitted my CSU-Stan app long time ago. I have not heard back from them at all. Not even any acknowledgement that they have received my app. Should I be worried?

I sent mine by email in November. Last week I received an email that stated what they had received and that it was complete.  They then said they would be forwarding it to the committee to review. They probably received a lot of applications recently, and depending on how long it takes them to receive your other stuff (Gre, transcripts) it might take them a bit longer to verify.

[katiespencer]

On 12/25/2017 at 8:19 PM, hopetobeGC said:

Hope everyone has had a great holiday weekend! 

Anyone out there applying mainly to Southern/East Coast schools? I would love to keep in touch with someone similar to me, especially as interview invitations are approaching.

I am!!!