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- Aug 5, 2006
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Sorry for this rant/frustration post, but I need an outlet.
So another semester has gone by and my goals were not met. I try really hard. It really sucks when you dont meet your goals that you have set. With the completion of this semester grades, I still have the 3.0 requirement for admissions to graduate school. However, my cumulative GPA is ~3.0 to 3.25 rang (all depends on how you calculate an A/B and B/C).
Even though my GPA is not highly competitive (yet), I have taken numerous courses that are outside of my major (Biology) that is helping me prepare for a career as a genetic counselor. I have taken medical terminology, pharmacology, medical ethics, and anatomy and physiology at a tech school along with my major classes.
If I were to get 3 As and one B this spring semester, my cumulative GPA should be around the 3.15 to 3.30 range.
Im really passionate about what I want to do as a genetic counselor, so my professors know that I really want to become a genetic counselor.
My only weakness is my GPA. Besides that I have a strong application. I have worked 3 years in a hospital as a transporter, 45 hours of shadowing a genetic counselor/clinical geneticist (most applications only have a few hours of shadowing experience); I currently work as a tutor and will have about ~ 60 hours of advocacy experience by the end of May 2007, I have a summers worth of genetic research and I have an interview this January for a fellowship in a hospital department and I work as a lab assistant. The research experience really helps for understanding the limitations science has and how science is done. The hospital experience tells that I already know what it is like to work in a hospital/clinical setting so Im not turned away from this type of work setting.
Im a non-traditional student (25 years old). So I have experience working outside of school in the real world.
I will be taking the GRE at the end of the school year. I have taken practice tests and have scored in the 65 percentile. The programs I have talked to have said they would like applications to be in the 50th percentile or above, so Im not too worried about the GRE.
Part of the reason why Im frustrated is that I got a C in a genetics course (it was a really hard class, a lot of mathematical calculations were involved and was a senior level course .only one student got an A everyone else got a B or C) and I feel like this one grade is going to keep me from getting admitted. However, in my general biology II course I got an A- and I got an A- in my heredity class. So I dont know how the admissions people are going to look at it. If I dont get into a program this next year I will retake the genetics course if they recommend it.
Maybe Im just thinking that the competition for getting admitted to a genetic counseling program is more competitive then it really is, but maybe it really is? Maybe its my pre-med friends getting to me and making me think Im not competitive for graduate school when looking at the stats they need for admissions and how high their GPAs are. Yes all of my friends have a higher GPA, but none of them actually have worked a real job and one girl has not even worked a job in her life yet and one male doesnt even work and just takes certain classes to get into medical school while his wife works full-time to care for the both of them.
I have one friend who was able to get admitted to a masters program in civil engineering with a 2.5 undergraduate GPA and the website has always said that you need a 3.0 or above to be considered. Are graduate schools actually deadlocked on the 3.0 requirement?
I think my frustration is a result of me wanting to become a genetic counselor so bad that I fear rejection. Outside of my classes I read journal articles that are relevant to medical genetics, so Im trying to learn all I can to be a good genetic counselor.
The program that I will be applying too this fall, I have already met the chair of the genetic counseling program and I will be taking a course with him/her this spring. So they do know me. I just hope that this opportunity gives me a chance for him/her to really get to know me beyond my GPA.
Anyone have any recommendations? Am I just worrying to much?
So another semester has gone by and my goals were not met. I try really hard. It really sucks when you dont meet your goals that you have set. With the completion of this semester grades, I still have the 3.0 requirement for admissions to graduate school. However, my cumulative GPA is ~3.0 to 3.25 rang (all depends on how you calculate an A/B and B/C).
Even though my GPA is not highly competitive (yet), I have taken numerous courses that are outside of my major (Biology) that is helping me prepare for a career as a genetic counselor. I have taken medical terminology, pharmacology, medical ethics, and anatomy and physiology at a tech school along with my major classes.
If I were to get 3 As and one B this spring semester, my cumulative GPA should be around the 3.15 to 3.30 range.
Im really passionate about what I want to do as a genetic counselor, so my professors know that I really want to become a genetic counselor.
My only weakness is my GPA. Besides that I have a strong application. I have worked 3 years in a hospital as a transporter, 45 hours of shadowing a genetic counselor/clinical geneticist (most applications only have a few hours of shadowing experience); I currently work as a tutor and will have about ~ 60 hours of advocacy experience by the end of May 2007, I have a summers worth of genetic research and I have an interview this January for a fellowship in a hospital department and I work as a lab assistant. The research experience really helps for understanding the limitations science has and how science is done. The hospital experience tells that I already know what it is like to work in a hospital/clinical setting so Im not turned away from this type of work setting.
Im a non-traditional student (25 years old). So I have experience working outside of school in the real world.
I will be taking the GRE at the end of the school year. I have taken practice tests and have scored in the 65 percentile. The programs I have talked to have said they would like applications to be in the 50th percentile or above, so Im not too worried about the GRE.
Part of the reason why Im frustrated is that I got a C in a genetics course (it was a really hard class, a lot of mathematical calculations were involved and was a senior level course .only one student got an A everyone else got a B or C) and I feel like this one grade is going to keep me from getting admitted. However, in my general biology II course I got an A- and I got an A- in my heredity class. So I dont know how the admissions people are going to look at it. If I dont get into a program this next year I will retake the genetics course if they recommend it.
Maybe Im just thinking that the competition for getting admitted to a genetic counseling program is more competitive then it really is, but maybe it really is? Maybe its my pre-med friends getting to me and making me think Im not competitive for graduate school when looking at the stats they need for admissions and how high their GPAs are. Yes all of my friends have a higher GPA, but none of them actually have worked a real job and one girl has not even worked a job in her life yet and one male doesnt even work and just takes certain classes to get into medical school while his wife works full-time to care for the both of them.
I have one friend who was able to get admitted to a masters program in civil engineering with a 2.5 undergraduate GPA and the website has always said that you need a 3.0 or above to be considered. Are graduate schools actually deadlocked on the 3.0 requirement?
I think my frustration is a result of me wanting to become a genetic counselor so bad that I fear rejection. Outside of my classes I read journal articles that are relevant to medical genetics, so Im trying to learn all I can to be a good genetic counselor.
The program that I will be applying too this fall, I have already met the chair of the genetic counseling program and I will be taking a course with him/her this spring. So they do know me. I just hope that this opportunity gives me a chance for him/her to really get to know me beyond my GPA.
Anyone have any recommendations? Am I just worrying to much?
