Starting a genetic counseling program is challenging for any student. But when the three of us started our genetic counseling programs, we had challenges that many of our classmates didn’t, from caring for family members to things as basic as figuring out how to use educational tech that didn’t exist when we were in college. Our experience echoes that of many nontraditional genetic counseling students. 

“Nontraditional” is not a clearly defined category, but we use the term to mean students who are changing careers, are returning to school after significant time away, have children and other family obligations, or who otherwise do not fit the traditional image of a GC graduate student a few years out of college.

Nontraditional students bring unique strengths and challenges to genetic counseling. Graduate programs, employers and the profession as a whole can do more to benefit from these strengths and address these challenges.

The Strengths of Nontraditional Students

One strength of nontraditional students is their diversity of life and work experience. Some have received genetic counseling, are parents or have been caregivers, giving them unique insights into patient experiences. (For example, one of us, who had been a caregiver for a parent with cancer, quickly identified patients struggling with caregiver stress.) Others, through work experience, have amassed deep understanding of topics such as writing, business, cytogenetics or research.  

A core strength of nontraditional students is the motivation they bring to their studies. Changing careers, returning to school and balancing family needs are not easy! Nontraditional students return to school because they want to become GCs strongly enough to face those challenges. Two of us first dreamed of becoming GCs for years before finally pursuing that goal.

Nontraditional students may also come with valuable leadership experiences and workplace skills. They understand how to be professionals, professional colleagues and often mentors and teachers. 

The Unique Challenges of Nontraditional Students

While graduate school is challenging for anyone, some challenges are particular to the nontraditional experience. Nontraditional students often juggle responsibilities such as parenting, caring for other family members, managing a home, and others. They may also have financial obligations such as mortgages and child care that make the cost of graduate school a challenge and affect the salaries needed when seeking employment.

Due to these obligations, nontraditional students are often less able to move for school or jobs than students earlier in their lives, making the highly competitive admissions and job markets even more challenging. One of us had only two options for programs to apply to, and another had three. All of us have been limited to specific areas in our job searches.

A third challenge, one that is hard to confront, is ageism. While genetic counselors as a rule are not consciously ageist, we all have unconscious biases. Ageism can manifest in assumptions about what experiences a nontraditional student has or has not had, in interactions between students and with supervisors/faculty, and in employment and hiring decisions. 

How Programs Can Support Nontraditional Students

We suggest the following ways genetic counseling graduate programs can better support nontraditional students:

• The most important recommendation we can offer is for programs to actively consider the potential needs and strengths of nontraditional students. Sit down with nontraditional students and understand what they need and want, both from their learning and in their careers. Incorporate their feedback when planning coursework, rotations, and mentorships.
• Don’t make assumptions about what experiences or knowledge students have (or don’t have) when planning instruction. Consider actively checking background knowledge before beginning a unit and reflecting on whether cultural references are meaningful to all students.
• Introduce more hybrid and part-time programs to accommodate students who are location-bound, need to work, or have other obligations.
• Reflect on admissions criteria and expectations. Someone may not have checked all the expected boxes, but bring something else that will benefit their fellow students and the profession.
• Include ageism when discussing unconscious and implicit bias.

How Employers and the Profession Can Support Nontraditional Students

Employers can benefit from nontraditional students’ strengths, if they are willing to look beyond the traditional image of a new graduate. We offer the following as some ideas for employers to consider:

• Be open-minded about the qualifications you are looking for. Nontraditional students often have years of work experience and understand how to be part of a professional team. Consider how these skills could transfer to your work, and treat that experience as valuable when discussing salaries. One of us had an employer take her previous experience into consideration, but we know from discussions in our support group that this is not always the case.
• Be aware of the potential for unconscious age bias, and include it in training.
• Consider that in today’s job market, a counselor with strong local ties and a shorter time  to spend in the field may be more likely to remain at a position longer than someone at an earlier stage of life. In our group, we’ve heard of an employer preferring younger candidates because of assumptions about their presumed retirement date, which sends a clear and painful message about that employer’s values.

We call on our fellow students, programs, employers, and colleagues to consider how our profession can fully benefit from all that nontraditional students have to offer. We also invite nontraditional students looking for support to reach out to our support group at non-trad-gc@googlegroups.com.

The authors are cofounders of this support group for nontraditional genetic counseling students. Alfreda Blasingame is a 2025 graduate of Mount Sinai and a genetic counselor at Wellstar Health System. Katherine Bryant is a 2025 graduate of Boston University and Associate Editor of NSGC Perspectives. Joanna Gerry-Paul is a 2025 graduate of Augustana-Sanford and a consultant through Statmetrics LLC.

 

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