Genetic Counseling Fall 2018 Applicants

[Genez]

Hello everyone. I've been on here for some time in the shadows. I have been surprised with how comprehensive and difficult this application process has been; I appreciate all the help and positivity in this group. Mad props to y'all.

Out of curiosity, are there any male applicants out there in the crowd?

[Nefelibata]

I'm not a male, but there were a decent number of males at the prospective student seminar at Symposium in September. More than I expected at least! 

[Nefelibata]

So for non-fellowship people at Ohio, I was given 5 dates to choose from and was told they do 6 applicants in the morning and 6 applicants in the afternoon on each of the days, so that's 60 students they're interviewing. It sounded like some of the slots were already filled, the day I chose she said there were only slots open in the morning. Not sure how many people they already contacted.

[lilmaz]

I am embarrassed to admit I have been on this site since summer and I just last week found the results page.......this discovery will be terrible for my "patient waiting"! Every day I log in and see if any of the schools I applied to have started contacting anyone. Please tell me I am not alone lol?! Hope everyone isn't pulling their hair out waiting!

[hopetobeGC]

So when programs ask for statements in x many words, are you guys taking that literally or have you written some that are in their page equivalents? Example, a school wants a 500 word statement which I consider to be two pages double spaced, but my two pages are 565 words in total. It has been SO hard to tailor multiple statements to all of the school's requested lengths. Any input on what you have been doing would be awesome! 

Edited January 9, 2018 by hopetobeGC

[Nefelibata]

6 minutes ago, hopetobeGC said:

So when programs ask for statements in x many words, are you guys taking that literally or have you written some that are in their page equivalents? Example, a school wants a 500 word statement which I consider to be two pages double spaced, but my two pages are 565 words in total. It has been SO hard to tailor multiple statements to all of the school's requested lengths. Any input on what you have been doing would be awesome! 

I mostly stuck to the exact word count. Some of mine were over by like ~5-10 words, but I did my best to stick to their exact word count. Some applications I had to type it right in their box so there was no way for me to go over their limit. 

[KCGC]

 

Not sue why this posted early without my writing but I stuck to the exact word count if they gave a word count.

In my mind I think they set specific counts for a reason and know that people can write it in the amount given. I spent a lot of time editing all of my personal statements and had various others look over them, in all honesty there is probably some information/wording that can be changed to be more concise. 

Also I think if it is a noticeable difference in length compared to other applicants it can look like you just copied and pasted another schools statement and can be seen as a failure to follow directions. However, that is just me. I know there's talk on if its acceptable or not for personal statements in general, but I'd rather be safe than sorry!

 

 

Edited January 9, 2018 by KCGC

[AspiringGC]

1 hour ago, hopetobeGC said:

So when programs ask for statements in x many words, are you guys taking that literally or have you written some that are in their page equivalents? Example, a school wants a 500 word statement which I consider to be two pages double spaced, but my two pages are 565 words in total. It has been SO hard to tailor multiple statements to all of the school's requested lengths. Any input on what you have been doing would be awesome! 

Yeah, I never wrote over because of an experience from school. I took a class with a friend and we had a paper that was supposed to be 1 page double spaced on a in-depth topic where it was hard to stick to this limit (just like our statements!). My friend submit two pages for this project (she was enthusiastic about the subject and thought that would show in the paper). The professor wasn't too pleased with this, took her aside and told her the page limits weren't a "suggestion", that they were in place for a reason due to her time constraints and it showed a lack of respect to not follow them. The teacher only graded the first page and my friend only received like a 50% on it. 

Soo ever since then, I've always followed to a T because I can understand there are limits for a reason and was terrified that the overage would not be looked at/not graded, or my paper would be thrown out entirely for a clear lack of ability to follow directions (such as job applicants that will throw out entire applicants because you submitted a 2 page resume when they specifically asked for 1 page). 
All my statements that I submitted were almost exactly 500 words or 750 or whatever the limit was because I wrote what I wanted and then slowly went through and edited down as needed. 

Edited January 9, 2018 by AspiringGC

[hfj23]

6 hours ago, Nefelibata said:

So for non-fellowship people at Ohio, I was given 5 dates to choose from and was told they do 6 applicants in the morning and 6 applicants in the afternoon on each of the days, so that's 60 students they're interviewing. It sounded like some of the slots were already filled, the day I chose she said there were only slots open in the morning. Not sure how many people they already contacted.

If they are interviewing that number of people for this week's interview that would make it 72 people in all! Thats a lot of people to consider for 10 spots..am I the only thinking that? I mean Northwestern's FAQs says that they interview 77 for 20 spots.. 

[KG203040]

19 minutes ago, sunT said:

I agree that it seems like a lot of people. At their open house this summer they said they are interviewing 60 for 10 spots. They may have expanded the pool. I wouldn't be surprised if they are interviewing more students due to the uncertainty of the match system. 

That makes a lot of sense! I didn't think about the uncertainty of the match through the institution's eyes. A larger pools gives them a better chance of being matched to an applicant.

[AspiringGC]

41 minutes ago, hfj23 said:

If they are interviewing that number of people for this week's interview that would make it 72 people in all! Thats a lot of people to consider for 10 spots..am I the only thinking that? I mean Northwestern's FAQs says that they interview 77 for 20 spots.. 

Especially considering last year I believe they only interviewed 40 people for 10 spots... Maybe they'll be taking a bigger class? I'm not applying to this school so I have no idea what the website might say in regards to class size this year.

[hfj23]

I'm thinking that maybe OSU got more applications than they anticipated and had a lot of qualified and interesting applicants, which is why they're interviewing so many more people. Thank you @sunT for sharing what you learned at the Open House! It looks like those of us interviewing for a spot at OSU have a lot more competition than there may have been last year. I mean we're going to be ranked against ~71 other people and I don't consider myself a top 10 person lol. Hopefully we all hear back from other schools so we don't have only one place to rank! 

[NewAtThis]

This waiting process is not for me. lol! 
This is probably inappropriate for this professional chat, but I'll give it a try anyway since most deadlines are almost over...

Ice breaker question: If you had to sing a song for Karaoke as part of your personal statement, what song would you pick and why?

Analytical reasoning question: 

Buses 1, 2, and 3 make one trip each day, and they are the only ones that riders A, B, C, D, E, F, and G take to work.

Neither E nor G takes bus 1 on a day when B does.
G does not take bus 2 on a day when D does.
When A and F take the same bus, it is always bus 3.
C always takes bus 3.

Traveling together to work, B, C, and G could take which of the same buses on a given day?

(A) 1 only
(B) 2 only
(C) 3 only
(D) 2 and 3 only
(E) 1, 2, and 3

[NewAtThis]

Ice Breaker: Vanessa Carlton - A Thousand Miles with the dance moves from White Chicks. Only because it's super clean, everyone knows it, and I do a mean Vanessa Carlton impression.

Analytical reasoning question: I know the answer. Don't google it. I'll answer it tomorrow.

[Nefelibata]

4 hours ago, hfj23 said:

If they are interviewing that number of people for this week's interview that would make it 72 people in all! Thats a lot of people to consider for 10 spots..am I the only thinking that? I mean Northwestern's FAQs says that they interview 77 for 20 spots.. 

It does seem like a lot. Especially considering last year it sounded like they were only interviewing around 40. But who knows, maybe our info was wrong last year. 

[Nefelibata]

^^I didn't see all the responses on page 27 apparently when I posted last night. It also will not let me edit/delete my response... so feel free to ignore!

[GeneDawg]

I thought I would feel relaxed after finishing all my apps. But, now I am just obsessively checking the results page three times a day. How are you all dealing with the wait? 

[lilmaz]

7 minutes ago, GeneDawg said:

I thought I would feel relaxed after finishing all my apps. But, now I am just obsessively checking the results page three times a day. How are you all dealing with the wait? 

Writing the thesis that I have been putting off for 2.5 months while I was working on applications so I can defend before May...and working out!

[Nefelibata]

30 minutes ago, GeneDawg said:

I thought I would feel relaxed after finishing all my apps. But, now I am just obsessively checking the results page three times a day. How are you all dealing with the wait? 

I commend you for only checking in 3 times a day. I'm dealing by obsessively checking this page and the results page 5-10 times a day lol. I know I will hear from at least one other school in about 2 weeks because they told us the exact date they were going to send out interview invites, but I expect it to be pretty quiet until the end of the month/beginning of February. The wait is so hard! It also stresses me out because plane tickets are soo much more expensive in March (thanks, spring breaks) so I'd like to hear ASAP from schools and be able to (hopefully) interview in February instead. 

[JN212]

13 minutes ago, Nefelibata said:

I commend you for only checking in 3 times a day. I'm dealing by obsessively checking this page and the results page 5-10 times a day lol. I know I will hear from at least one other school in about 2 weeks because they told us the exact date they were going to send out interview invites, but I expect it to be pretty quiet until the end of the month/beginning of February. The wait is so hard! It also stresses me out because plane tickets are soo much more expensive in March (thanks, spring breaks) so I'd like to hear ASAP from schools and be able to (hopefully) interview in February instead. 

Is the one another school your talking about Indiana University? On the bright side less than 2 weeks until there suppose to send emails out, but its going to be stressful since they gave the exact date so you'll know right away based on if you received an email that day. I noticed you also applied to UNCG, I did not apply there last year so I have no clue when they usually reply back with emails. There deadline was super early though and I noticed in previous years they contacted people as early as the second week of Jan. but then again who knows. 

[hfj23]

Just got an interview invite via email from Case Western!! I didn't expect to hear back this early especially bc results from last year said they didn't send out emails till late January! 

[sunT]

54 minutes ago, GeneDawg said:

I thought I would feel relaxed after finishing all my apps. But, now I am just obsessively checking the results page three times a day. How are you all dealing with the wait? 

I finished my apps in the fall. I spent a few months thinking of thesis ideas, only to read a lot of articles and realize all my ideas have already been done  . Now I'm just trying to enjoy my free time, journal, and invest in my family. 

[Nefelibata]

3 minutes ago, JN212 said:

Is the one another school your talking about Indiana University? On the bright side less than 2 weeks until there suppose to send emails out, but its going to be stressful since they gave the exact date so you'll know right away based on if you received an email that day. I noticed you also applied to UNCG, I did not apply there last year so I have no clue when they usually reply back with emails. There deadline was super early though and I noticed in previous years they contacted people as early as the second week of Jan. but then again who knows. 

Yup I was talking about Indiana! I agree that it's stressful knowing the exact date, but I'd also rather know for sure if I'm rejected so I don't sit around waiting and stressing longer. It would certainly be nice to hear from UNCG sometime this week, but I'm trying not to be too hopeful/eager. 

 

4 minutes ago, hfj23 said:

Just got an interview invite via email from Case Western!! I didn't expect to hear back this early especially bc results from last year said they didn't send out emails till late January! 

Congrats!! I think with the match deadlines programs are moving things up this year. We have to have our rankings in by a certain date, so they have a shorter timeline to get all their interviews in this year. I know quite a few programs moved their application deadlines up, so it make sense that notifications are also earlier. Hopefully this trend follows for many of the other schools!

[Brifeir]

1 hour ago, Nefelibata said:

Yup I was talking about Indiana! I agree that it's stressful knowing the exact date, but I'd also rather know for sure if I'm rejected so I don't sit around waiting and stressing longer. It would certainly be nice to hear from UNCG sometime this week, but I'm trying not to be too hopeful/eager. 

 

Congrats!! I think with the match deadlines programs are moving things up this year. We have to have our rankings in by a certain date, so they have a shorter timeline to get all their interviews in this year. I know quite a few programs moved their application deadlines up, so it make sense that notifications are also earlier. Hopefully this trend follows for many of the other schools!

What is Indiana's date if you don't mind me asking? do schools websites say specific date or is IU the only one?

[JN212]

6 minutes ago, lchurchi said:

They sent an email to their applicants saying it would be Jan. 26th!

My email said Jan. 23rd.