Starting My GC Journey

​ When you ask a child "what do you want to be when you grow up?," they will probably answer with something like, "a doctor," or maybe, "a firefighter." Chances are, they won't have heard of genetic counseling, and they might not ever hear about it.

When I was young, I decided very early on that I was going to be "a writer." I loved writing short stories in elementary school, and I would even turn simple English assignments into tales. It wasn't until I was about to enter high school that my parents told me that I couldn't make a career off of being an author, and that I needed to pick something else to do with my life. This led to me picking psychology after hearing about it one day, but that choice was squashed after my dad told me exaggeratedly that it would take "at least 12 years" to become a psychologist. I didn't really have a great concept of what a psychologist did anyway, so I wasn't upset that I had to find a different career. The problem was, all I knew was that I liked science, and I didn't want to be a doctor.

Luckily for me, we were about to start the genetics unit in my 9th grade pre-AP bio class. I got my first taste of genetics when I was introduced to Gregor Mendel and his peas. I was obsessed with solving monohybrid punnett squares and couldn't wait to learn more. That same year, scientists and educators that worked at the city's biotechnology center visited my high school and ran an experiment with my biology class. They talked to the class about the different careers that people held at the biotechnology center, and they briefly mentioned genetic counseling. I didn't have a complete understanding of what genetic counselors did, but I went home that day and told my parents that I was going to be a genetic counselor.

I didn't think much about genetic counseling again until my senior year when I took AP biology with genetics. This time I had a whole semester dedicated to learning about genetics, instead of just a few weeks at the end of the year. I learned about different modes of inheritance and solved more complex punnet squares, and there was even a lesson that mentioned genetic counseling. I was more sure than ever that this is what I wanted to do, so I did a little research on what I needed to do to become a genetic counselor. I found out that you needed a master's degree and that there was a genetic counseling program just an hour and a half away from my hometown. I assumed that getting into a genetic counseling program would be like getting into an undergrad program; I thought I would apply in the early fall and I would get accepted sometime in the winter. If you know anything about GC programs or the match, you know how hilariously wrong I was (but more on that later).

Although I was lucky enough to discover genetic counseling in high school, I was unaware of how to enter my dream field. Most people in my life, including professors and fellow biology majors, had never heard of genetic counseling. This led to me feeling alone in my journey to GC (up until this year), and I had wished there was more information out there about genetic counseling programs and how to get into them. I talked about this often during my interviews this past cycle, and as I've been gearing up to start the application process all over again, I realized that I could maybe reach prospective GC students that might be feeling how I did in high school and undergrad. Plus, writing can be cathartic for me, so creating this blog is really a win-win situation. 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!