This is the year for the “senior scaries” as I’ve heard before, and let me tell you, scary is right. I am currently in the final semester of my senior year at the University of Connecticut, where I will soon be graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Diagnostic Genetic Sciences. DGS, for short, is a two-year program at UConn that is part of Allied Health Sciences. We are a small major, with my total cohort comprised of only 16 students, but we are a very tight-knit group. So, what does senior year look like for me? I’m about to dive in!
fall semester
I began DGS as a junior in college and had one of the most challenging years academically. During our first year in our new major, all of us had to take classes such as “Environment, Genetics, and Cancer,” “Immunology,” “Cytogenetic Technologies,” and “Techniques in Molecular Diagnostics.” While being in this major and learning how to expand my knowledge in genetics was and still is one of my biggest passions in life, these classes pushed me. Then came senior year. At this point in my life, I was headstrong about applying to graduate schools for genetic counseling to start in Fall 2024. One of the prerequisites for all these genetic counseling programs is the dreaded biochemistry course. While I could have opted to take this class junior year, I am glad I decided to focus on my DGS-specific classes and take it my fall semester senior year. I had a newer professor for the course and while I had late nights studying, hours long lab work, and hard exams, I did well in the class. My biggest advice to anyone taking biochemistry with Professor Malinoski would be to go to recitation sessions as much as you can and to start studying early for exams! The other courses I had to take this semester for DGS were both presentation-based, which I really enjoyed. One was “Case Studies in Molecular Pathology” where we did two presentations throughout the semester on interesting case studies we found; the second was “Current Genetic Research” where we also did two presentations (that were a bit longer) about current genetic research studies. Besides these classes, I took a few more to hit my credit amount needed and landed on “Counseling and Teaching for the Health Professional” and “Global Politics of Childbearing and Reproduction.” I thoroughly enjoyed both of these classes and found it very achievable to complete the work on top of everything needed for biochemistry!
While academically, I did well in all my classes during this semester, I came to a very big conclusion about my future during this time. Like I said earlier, I was insistent about trying to go to graduate school in the fall immediately following graduation. However, as the semester went on, I was beginning to have more and more anxiety about what this would entail. On top of all my work, I also started an online embryology course as a prerequisite for some of the programs I was thinking of applying to. When the semester started to pile up and I started to think more about the time and financial responsibility that graduate school would take, it started to sound less appealing to me. This was a very difficult decision to make, and it took me several weeks to decide for sure that taking a growth year or two would be the best thing for me. Once I made this decision, it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. While this may not be the decision everyone makes, which is perfectly okay, I encourage everyone to fully think through all their options. Talk it through with your friends and family, go to the career center for advice, and realize how your decision will impact you mentally and financially! Do I plan to go to graduate school in the next few years, absolutely! But at the time, focusing on my final semester and actually looking forward to what life would look like for me after graduation was all that mattered.
Spring semester
Now that I have gotten through the fall semester, this is what my life currently looks like as a senior DGS major. My semester definitely looks different from many others, because I don’t have any “classes” per se. Instead, I am currently completing a full-time internship at a clinical molecular laboratory at Yale School of Medicine. For this semester, all of the students in DGS get placed at a clinical rotation site (i.e. Dartmouth Hitchcock, Yale New Haven Hospital, Nationwide Children’s, etc.) for 18 weeks where we learn as much as possible before entering continued education or the workforce! I was one of the few students who was lucky enough to stay in Connecticut for my internship and so I commute every day to and from Coventry and New Haven, rather than attending classes. We still have to complete a certain number of tasks and a research project that earns us the number of credits needed for the semester, it just looks a little different from others! While I love being able to come into the lab every day and put what I have learned in class to work in an actual clinical environment, not being able to have as much free time as other friends can be tough! Luckily, I have been fortunate in that one of my best friends and roommate does her internship right down the street so we can carpool! Having someone to talk to, learn more about each other, connect over our education, and sing along to endless songs with has been so amazing! It makes the hour ride there and back so much more bearable! I would give this advice to anyone in a similar position as me: if you can carpool with friends, absolutely do it!
Since I made the decision to not apply to graduate schools, I am currently in the position of applying to job after job. I am originally from the seacoast of New Hampshire so hope to return home following graduation! I have been applying to multiple positions at companies like LabCorp and Massachusetts General Hospital but have not gotten many responses yet. Seeing other friends have a plan for what they are doing after graduation makes me so happy, but also nervous. I have learned to take it day by day and I am a true believer that everything happens for the right reasons at the right times! For those like me who also have no clue what they are doing, keep working hard and keep applying for those jobs! It will come!
Overall, my experience so far at UConn and as a student in DGS has been one I will never forget. I have learned so much about myself, so much about what I want to do with my life, and have met the most amazing friends! While the future is still uncertain and it can be scary, I believe everything I have been through has set me up to be successful, and happy. We all will be!