Genetic Counseling Fall 2018 Applicants

[hfj23]

1 hour ago, GCDad said:

What are your reactions to this hypothesis:

The posters on the GradCafe are the most qualified and dedicated candidates for placement in GC grad schools.  Casual applicants wouldn't even be motivated enough to find the board, let alone post. Therefore, people on this board would be considered in the top X% of candidates with respect to the strength of their applications.

Trying to gauge the number of interview invitations of a certain someone I know with the number of interview invitations of the people on this board.

 

i don't think many people apply casually..applications are expensive as is the GRE so i'm assuming that almost everyone who applies at least looks at program websites and sees that most schools only accept around 8-12 students/year. I feel like most people posting on here are just looking for a community of people we can relate to, because at least in my case i don't have any close friends or colleagues who are also applying for this program and i'm sure this is quite common. 

So in my opinion, it's hard to gauge how qualified people are based on whether or not they're posting on this forum. At the end of the day, qualified or not, many of us are just trying to connect with others and help each other out  Good luck to your person who is applying! I also know many people accepted into programs who only got one interview so # of invites doesn't mean much at the end of the day, just how well you connect with the interviewers at those interviews. 

[FutureGC7]

Just got the official VCU rejection mail. 

[AnonymousWalrus]

3 hours ago, FutureGC7 said:

Just got the official VCU rejection mail. 

I’m sorry  I still haven’t gotten anything from them.

 

Just watch. As soon as I submit this post on the forum, I’ll get a rejection from them too lol.

[laura moreno]

1 hour ago, AnonymousWalrus said:

I’m sorry  I still haven’t gotten anything from them.

 

Just watch. As soon as I submit this post on the forum, I’ll get a rejection from them too lol.

I still haven't heard anything from them

[FutureGC7]

I got a telephonic interview offer from Indiana University a few hours ago. I guess they sent it out now after finishing most of their in-person interviews. So if any of you are international applicants/applicants who cannot interview in-person - there is definitely still a chance! And maybe otherwise too! Point is don't give up on IU even if you haven't heard anything yet. 

Edited February 23, 2018 by FutureGC7

[Adterry]

Just heard about this forum today at my UAB interview, so a little late to the game. This is awesome though!

 

Edited February 24, 2018 by Adterry

[hfj23]

One question i've gotten at some interviews is how many interview invites i've gotten overall. The question makes me weary, because 1) I don't want schools to think i'm all over the place and just applied to a bunch of places at random and 2) i'm anxious about them having preference for students who only applied to a couple schools and got 1 or 2 interviews. I know I'm probably overthinking this but does anyone have any idea what the purpose of that question is? I always make sure to follow it up by talking about why I applied to their particular program and how much i love it, but i personally just don't like being asked about how many invites i have..anyone else have this experience?

[FutureGC7]

58 minutes ago, hfj23 said:

One question i've gotten at some interviews is how many interview invites i've gotten overall. The question makes me weary, because 1) I don't want schools to think i'm all over the place and just applied to a bunch of places at random and 2) i'm anxious about them having preference for students who only applied to a couple schools and got 1 or 2 interviews. I know I'm probably overthinking this but does anyone have any idea what the purpose of that question is? I always make sure to follow it up by talking about why I applied to their particular program and how much i love it, but i personally just don't like being asked about how many invites i have..anyone else have this experience?

I have had the same experience. I don't think the answer really matters, bcz whenever they ask us, they never seem to write the number down. I don't think we are compared to other applicants based on our answer of how many interviews we have. It's just a question that is personal yet definitely professional. They want to test our professionalism, so I suppose they don't want us to be all "chatty Kathy" with our patients and see if we can gracefully not give out personal details easily. Like some people might answer 5 interviews n go on to say that I applied to XYZ number and probably what the school names are or maybe how many they got last year n how many this year. Point is we should just simply answer whatever number it is n end the discussion there itself. N I think this year we have to be extra careful of the Match rules n not say things like "m ranking you number 1" or something as the continuation to that answer. 

Edited February 24, 2018 by FutureGC7

[hfj23]

7 minutes ago, FutureGC7 said:

I have had the same experience. I don't think the answer really matters, bcz whenever they ask us, they never seem to write the number down. I don't think we are compared to other applicants based on our answer of how many interviews we have. It's just a question that is personal yet definitely professional. They want to test our professionalism, so I suppose they don't want us to be all "chatty Kathy" with our patients and see if we can gracefully not give out personal details easily. Like some people might answer 5 interviews n go on to say that I applied to XYZ number and probably what the school names are or maybe how many they got last year n how many this year. Point is we should just simply answer whatever number it is n end the discussion there itself. N I think this year we have to be extra careful of the Match rules n not say things like "m ranking you number 1" or something as the continuation to that answer. 

I actually have seen some of them write the number down though... i don't disclose the schools and if they ask i just say in the midwest, but i've even been prompted to name the schools before. I know it's probably not a big deal in the grand scheme of things but i'm just not a fan of those questions 

[FutureGC7]

4 minutes ago, hfj23 said:

I actually have seen some of them write the number down though... i don't disclose the schools and if they ask i just say in the midwest, but i've even been prompted to name the schools before. I know it's probably not a big deal in the grand scheme of things but i'm just not a fan of those questions 

Oh! you have been asked that too. I agree with you about not liking this question. I really wouldn't want to be prompted to name the schools. Atleast I haven't been yet. It is definitely uncomfortable. 

[KaryoKid]

2 hours ago, FutureGC7 said:

Oh! you have been asked that too. I agree with you about not liking this question. I really wouldn't want to be prompted to name the schools. Atleast I haven't been yet. It is definitely uncomfortable. 

I agree with you all, I feel like it's not appropriate to ask. And I do worry they think I'm not as serious about their school, compared to others who are interviewing at a couple. In my interviews so far they have written down the names of the schools I am interviewing at. So in future interviews, my plan is to say the general area of the northeast and leave out names if I can get away with it. Definitely going to bring this up as a future GC student and say that it's an inappropriate question. 

[AspiringGC]

8 minutes ago, KaryoKid said:

I agree with you all, I feel like it's not appropriate to ask. And I do worry they think I'm not as serious about their school, compared to others who are interviewing at a couple. In my interviews so far they have written down the names of the schools I am interviewing at. So in future interviews, my plan is to say the general area of the northeast and leave out names if I can get away with it. Definitely going to bring this up as a future GC student and say that it's an inappropriate question. 

I've heard it's also to get a general idea of what things are important to you in schools without flat out asking. If you applied to all midwest schools and just one west coast school, the west coast school may be able to deduce that they aren't a top choice based on the location. Or if you applied to programs that all take 7-8 students, and are interviewing where they only have 4 spots, they may figure that out too. But, of course if you are at midwest school and applied to midwest schools then they can see that their location was something you were interested in and so forth. 

[hfj23]

2 hours ago, AspiringGC said:

I've heard it's also to get a general idea of what things are important to you in schools without flat out asking. If you applied to all midwest schools and just one west coast school, the west coast school may be able to deduce that they aren't a top choice based on the location. Or if you applied to programs that all take 7-8 students, and are interviewing where they only have 4 spots, they may figure that out too. But, of course if you are at midwest school and applied to midwest schools then they can see that their location was something you were interested in and so forth. 

At the same time, if you were from the midwest and travelled all the way to the west coast for an interview wouldn't it show that their offer meant a lot? I think the fact that we take time off work/school and spend money to go to these interviews already shows that they mean a lot! If I'm not at least 80% interested, I know I won't take off time and spend money to go. 

Edited February 24, 2018 by hfj23

[Nefelibata]

I personally think the schools are just trying to figure out where they rank (in students opinions) compared to other schools. Post-match if they ranked a student who ended up going somewhere else, they could look back at the interview notes and say "ok so this student ended up at one of these other schools they interviewed at (or maybe they somehow can find out exactly where they were accepted? Idk), what do these schools have that we don't that might be more attractive to our top ranked students? 

[Mshazelnut]

Hi everyone! Hope you’ve all been taking care of yourselves throughout this stressful process. We can do it!

I’m still waiting to hear back from UC Irvine and was wondering if anyone had any info or knows if they’re still sending out invitations?

[RBsister]

@Mshazelnut  I'm sorry to tell you that UCI sent out invites a few weeks ago and their interviews start tomorrow.   Fingers crossed that you are on some sort of waitlist!   I am in your position WRT Hopkins.  I reached out but... crickets. 

Applied/Interview/TheyMissedOut:  Augustana, Brandeis, Denver,  Hopkins, Stanford, Stanislaus, Irvine, Maryland, UWMadison, Utah, VCU,

[Mshazelnut]

1 hour ago, RBsister said:

@Mshazelnut  I'm sorry to tell you that UCI sent out invites a few weeks ago and their interviews start tomorrow.   Fingers crossed that you are on some sort of waitlist!   I am in your position WRT Hopkins.  I reached out but... crickets. 

Applied/Interview/TheyMissedOut:  Augustana, Brandeis, Denver,  Hopkins, Stanford, Stanislaus, Irvine, Maryland, UWMadison, Utah, VCU,

Thank you for the response! I’m wondering if I should reach out or not. Or if I should just take the silence as a sign of rejection. Wishing you the best of luck with your interviews! 

[sj3]

2 hours ago, Mshazelnut said:

Thank you for the response! I’m wondering if I should reach out or not. Or if I should just take the silence as a sign of rejection. Wishing you the best of luck with your interviews! 

I know myself and a couple others are still waiting to hear from UCI. I haven't heard a single peep from them yet. I believe there is still hope of some sort of waitlist! Let me know if you reach out though I'm interested in seeing what they might say... 

[Methylation]

HOW TO GET POINTS FOR FLIGHTS AND HOTELS:

I suggest following www.dansdeals.com or www.miningformiles.com or www.thepointsguy.com for more information on getting points, but this is what I did to get points for my trips. I am staying a total of 8 nights in hotels  and have 4 round trip flights. 

FLIGHTS:
United Mileage Plus card with Chase: 50,000 miles with purchases of 3,000 within the first 3 months. Annual fee is usually waived the first year. I paid for my undergrad school tuition on credit card to get the points with this card. You can also ask family members if they have any big purchases coming up that they can put on your card and have them pay you back. An alternative to this is buying prepaid debit cards with your credit card and then loading the debit cards onto a bluebird debit card and then using that to pay your credit card bill (but this is always changing and complicated).
notes:  you are re-eligible for this offer every two years. So after 2 years, I cancelled my card, then reapplied and repeated the $3,000 purchase to get new points so I was able to do this twice and get 100,000 points in a little over 2 years.  Points run from 10,000-30,000 + 5.56 booking fee per flight. There is an $80 fee for flights booked within 21 days.

American Advantage Cards- Their offers vary for different cards during different times of the year, but in general, the business cards offer the best points. You don't really need a business to apply for them, any one can get one. There's the CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Card which offers 60,000 points when you make purchases of $3000 in the first 3 months and the annual fee is waived the first year. The Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Card  right now is offering 30,000 points when you make a purchase of $3000 in the first three months with the annual fee waived the first year, but their offer changes from month to month so it will go up to 50,000 points at some time if you want to wait. 
notes: Their flights run 12,500 -30,000 points + $11 booking fee per flight. There is an $80 fee if you book flights with points within 21 days of flight.

HOTELS:

Marriott Rewards Card- Get 75,000-100,000 points (depending on the offer at the time) when you spend $3,000 in the first three months. Annual fee is waived for the first year. You also get one free night at any hotel that is a category 1-5. I liked using Marriott, because their clientele is usually people traveling on business, it was easier to find hotels within walking distance of schools than other rewards, like SPG
notes: Points translate usually around 20,000 -30,000 a night, unless it's a super fancy hotel.  

A card I didn't use, but am planning on getting is the Chase Saphire Reserve Card, the heavy annual fee pays for itself because you get $300 reimbursement for travel. The only problem is that this card is so popular it's hard to get one now as there is a shortage of them.

All these cards usually offer additional points for referring friends and families (5,000-10,000 points per referral). Plus, if you're family likes you, maybe they'll try to get points with the cards you referred and share them with you for your trip  



@sj3
@RBsister

Edited February 26, 2018 by Methylation

[Methylation]

I don't think this is true. I didn't know this board existed until someone I knew who was also applying told me. We both got the same number of offers of interviews. I think its just luck stumbling upon this.

[Adterry]

Wondering if anyone that applied to Hopkins but hasn't heard back has reached out?

 

[hfj23]

6 minutes ago, Adterry said:

Wondering if anyone that applied to Hopkins but hasn't heard back has reached out?

 

No but last year they sent rejections around March 1, so i'm just waiting for that lol. I think they already sent out all their interviews and i don't see anyone turning them down...

[Adterry]

8 minutes ago, hfj23 said:

No but last year they sent rejections around March 1, so i'm just waiting for that lol. I think they already sent out all their interviews and i don't see anyone turning them down...

Okay, thanks for your response! I'll just wait then. Not in a rush to hear a no haha 

[aspiringGC2018]

For anyone who is invited to interview at Northwestern, have you received your official date yet?

[Blizzard]

My first interview is Wednesday. I'm having a mild meltdown I'm so nervous, I feel unprepared. Anyone have advice? People who have already had interviews this cycle what has it been like? Especially anyone who's had an interview at UAB?