Student Perspectives

As a California girl, born and raised, I get a lot of different reactions being here in North Carolina. Most people, outside of school of course, will ask how in the world I ended up all the way across the country in Mebane, of all places. This is usually accompanied by shaking their heads and…

We are a couple years into using Match and felt our first “Acceptance Anxieties” post could use a bit of an update. While it may no longer be a new process, it still certainly causes a lot of anxiety. Here are some more recent thoughts.

I am one of those applicants who decided to pursue genetic counseling in the last term of my senior year of college. I had not been part of any genetic counseling student organizations, done any shadowing, or really had much exposure to the field in general. A big part of me wished that I had…

For the last few semesters, students in GEN618 – Psychosocial Seminar were paired in first year-second year teams and assigned to create a podcast on a genetics topic of their choice.

Self-care is important. I’ll go further and say it is absolutely essential in grad school. Genetic counseling graduate training is notoriously very rigorous and can contribute to two very stressful years, if you allow it to overwhelm you. It is easy to say self-care is a necessity, but it is much harder to maintain at…

When we were applying to genetic counseling programs, something that was important to us was learning more about the place we would be living for the next two years. Of course, finding a program that fits best with your needs is a priority, but feeling at home where your program is located is also necessary…

Students in GEN618 – Psychosocial Seminar were paired in first year-second year teams and assigned to create a podcast on a genetics topic of their choice. Below are recordings of the podcasts from Spring 2019

The stark fact is that genetic counseling is 95% female and 5% male. I understand this and I understood this coming into interviewing for programs in this field. It is valuable to have that in mind if you are a male because it will hit you in the face when you see all females at…

Students in GEN618 – Psychosocial Seminar were paired in first year-second year teams and assigned to create a podcast on a genetics topic of their choice.

Before graduate school I had the opportunity to work as a genetic counseling assistant in a diagnostic testing lab in Maryland. It was an incredible experience, and it helped me to develop a sense of the field before graduate school. I came out of Virginia Tech knowing that I wanted to be a genetic counselor,…

Mercedes: Woohoo, first semester is off the list! Margaret: I cannot believe it is already the spring semester. Where has the time gone?!

I am telling you something you already know, but interviews are stressful. However, I urge you to try and enjoy that time in your life. You get to travel (hopefully) to different states and schools and take in all it has to offer

I am sure that interview preparation is different for everyone, but here is some insight into my own preparation techniques. I hope this is helpful and Good luck!  

While a lot of these posts have dealt with interview preparations and whatnot, I figured it might be time to talk a little bit more about the UNCG Genetic Counseling Program specifically and some of the unique opportunities available to us.

LEND stands for Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities. It is an interdisciplinary graduate-level training program funded through the Maternal and Child Health Bureau. The purpose of LEND is “to prepare professionals for leadership roles that enable them to direct and facilitate culturally/linguistically competent and family-centered interdisciplinary care including systems change, to improve the…

With the new MATCH system in place, I’m sure that brings in a lot of uncertainty and anxiety, especially because this is the first year it is rolled out for genetic counseling. While you’ve had your interview, and now you are ranking the programs you interviewed with, I figured it might be helpful to think…

Coming from Canada to Greensboro, holy moly has it been an adjustment. Going from the land of “I’m sorry” to the state of Cheerwine and y’all(s) has been a fun one. But here are some of the observations that I have made thus far.