My Journey as a Genetic Counseling Intern

If you've been following along with my journey to GC so far, then you know that I last left off at the end of my junior year of college. The summer between my junior and senior year I had gotten my dream internship as a genetic counseling intern. I had applied to an internship program that had a wide range of STEM internships from the summer, from bench research internships to computer science internships, and everything in-between. This was my second year applying for the genetic counseling intern position, and I was over the moon to finally be able to dive headfirst into the field.

The internship was only 20 hours a week, but every minute of my work week was jam-packed with meetings, clinic appointments, and research. One day of my week was strictly for meetings. I'd bounce around from clinic meetings, to research presentations, to zoom calls with other GCs, to professional development meetings, and so on. Another day of my week would be dedicated to clinic. I would shadow whichever GC was responsible for patients that day, and I would typically sit through 3-4 appointments each clinic day. Finally, my third day was usually a hodge-podge of activities. I'd work on my research project for my internship, I'd shadow the GC team at events such as field trips, or I would do little tasks for some of the research projects the different genetic counselors were working on.

Going into the internship, I was already pretty dead-set on pursuing genetic counseling, but this internship really sealed the deal for me. Before taking the University of South Carolina's GC course a few months prior to this internship, my idea of what a genetic counselor did was very narrow. I thought that all genetic counseling appointments were pre-natal/pediatric, and that genetic counselors only spent their days at appointments. After the course, I realized how many different specialties there were and how many different tasks a genetic counselor took on, but it was a different experience witnessing it all in person.

Being able to shadow in a genetics specific clinic was a really unique experience. I got to see a wide variety of appointments, from babies not even a year old to adults in their 60s. I never got to see a patient from beginning to end, but I did get to see every step of the process through different patients. It was really informative to witness the GCs walking patients through informed consent, seeing patients samples be drawn, packaged, and shipped, and sitting in with the genetic counselor and medical geneticist before, during, and after diagnostic appointments to discuss their plans for the patient. For me, the most impactful parts of shadowing were the results appointments. Witnessing the various reactions of different patients to their particular results really helped me understand what a patient wants to hear at a results appointment. Some patients come in already knowing they have a certain condition, but they've never had it confirmed with genetic testing. Some come in having spent their whole life not having an answer to what is happening to them. I noticed that even when debilitating pathogenic variants are returned, there is always a slight sense of relief from the patient. It could come from finally being able to say what it is that is "wrong" with them, or it could come from realizing that the hard decisions they made without knowing the genetics behind their condition were justified.

Sitting through these results appointments was one key component of my internship that started to solidify the goals I wanted to accomplish as a genetic counselor. I knew that I wanted to be able to help as many people as possible be able to squash the "what ifs" and "whys" that lingered around their ailments. Another goal that I developed during my internship came from the research project I had to complete.

Without going into too much detail, the main focus of my research project was analyzing survey data from past participants of a research project a few of the GCs were working on. Most questions on the survey were answered by selecting answers, but a few questions were open-ended. These questions pertained to what their results meant to them and any outcomes they had taken or planned to take because of their results. These questions, along with a few on results (un)certainty and comfortability with genetics terminology were the main focus of my research. There were a handful of participants that interpreted their result incorrectly (positive vs. negative), and there were several participants who were quite off with their open-ended explanation of what their results meant to them. There were also a majority of participants who were unfamiliar with genetics terms commonly used in a clinical setting, such as "variant." These results really spurred me to create another goal for my future as a genetic counselor, and that is to provide patients with the tools and information necessary to make appropriate medical and personal decisions in a comprehensible manner, so that they walk out of a results appointment feeling confident in their understanding of the information they just received. This also ties in to my final goal that I created during my internship.

As I've mentioned before, for most of my journey to GC I felt like I was navigating the path solo. Being able to interact face-to-face with practicing genetic counselors, current GC students, and other prospective students like myself finally shifted my perspective. I wasn't alone in this journey. I felt empowered by this, and I decided that on my journey to GC I wanted to advocate for genetic counseling awareness. I felt it was important to increase awareness of the field for both people who might need genetic counseling and for those that could find their dream career in genetic counseling. That's how I ended up starting this blog. I wanted to help prospective students both aware and unaware of the field find resources to help them on their journey to GC. I realize that I have so much more to go on this goal, and my others, but hopefully once I am officially on my way to becoming a genetic counselor, I can dive deep into my goals.

I am so lucky to have been able to experience the internship I did. I know that not every applicant has the same access to internships or extensive shadowing opportunities. Even being able to shadow for a day holds so much utility when it comes to applying for graduate programs. If there are no GCs in your area, search the NSGC website for one that welcomes student contact and have a phone/virtual interview with them. See if there are any willing to do virtual shadowing. I know it can be incredibly intimidating reaching out to a professional you've never met, believe me, but it will be so beneficial for helping you decide if this is the right field for you.

I am so sorry that there was extra time between my last post and this one! My work schedule has been crazy, but I finally have time this week to dedicate to Journey2GC! My next post about my journey to GC will discuss my senior year/my first application cycle! If you have any questions about my internship, feel free to shoot me a message on here or on my Instagram! If you want to hear more about my journey, please feel free to subscribe to the blog at the bottom of the page, or you can follow me on Instagram @journey2gc!