Frequently Asked Questions

How successful are your graduates in finding jobs after graduation?

Almost all of our graduates are employed in the field of genetic counseling, including those who graduated in the most recent cohort. In the three most recent cohorts, all graduates who sought positions had positions related to genetic counseling within four months of completing the program or were enrolled in a relevant PhD program. Most had already accepted positions at the time of graduation. One recent graduate decided to delay seeking a position for family reasons.

How do graduates do on the ABGC Certification Exam?

The vast majority of our alumni choose to take the ABGC Board Certification Exam. Historically, our alumni have performed extremely well on the certification exam. Because of the small nature of our program, a single individual’s performance has a large effect on our pass rates from year to year. Nonetheless, we provide information below that we hope will be helpful to prospective students.

• First time pass rate for graduates in the last three years (students matriculating in 2020-2022): 68.8%
• Overall pass rate for graduates in the last three years (students matriculating in 2020-2022): 93.8%
• First time pass rate for graduates in the previous three-year period (students matriculating in 2017-2019): 85.7%
• Overall pass rate for graduates in the previous three-year period (students matriculating in 2017-2019): 100%

Do matriculating students typically complete the program?

We are committed to helping all admitted students achieve the goal of becoming a genetic counselor, and the vast majority of students have graduated. When students have left, it has almost always been because they ultimately chose a different career path. All but one of the matriculating students from the three most recent graduating cohorts completed the program.

Do graduates of the program go on to work in genetic counseling?

Most of our 118 graduates are still working in the field of genetic counseling. Of interest, almost a third of our graduates have a research component to their position.

More information

For additional answers to frequently asked questions about the JHU/NIH Genetic Counseling Training Program (GCTP), please visit the National Human Genome Research Institute's GCTP FAQs page, which covers everything from the application process to finding post-graduation employment.