Curriculum

The Master of Science in Genetic Counseling program at VCU is a full-time, on-campus program. As a part of their coursework, students begin shadowing within clinics at VCU Medical Center during their first semester in order to gain further knowledge and comfortability interacting with patients. During the spring semester of the first year, students begin clinical rotations that continue until the end of the second year. During the intervening summer between first and second year, students will participate in a 3 week long laboratory rotation within the Cytogenetics and Molecular Diagnostic Genetics departments at VCU Health System. Students are required to register for up to 5 credits during this intervening summer semester.

Requirements of the program include:

-Students must complete 60 total credit hours, traditionally over a 21 month time frame.

-students must maintain a 3.0 GPA for all semesters. (Students who fail to maintain a 3.0 GPA are permitted one semester to bring up their GPA average to the required level).

Below is a typical course schedule:

2017-2018 MS Genetic Counseling Program Curriculum

1st Semester 1st Year

2nd Semester 1st Year

May/June

Summer

 1st Semester 2nd Year

2nd Semester 2nd Year

Completion of the degree requires 60 total credits. One 3 credit elective is required unless you are a LEND trainee. LEND students may often have more than 60 credits.

Comprehensive exams

Online comprehensive exams are given at the end of the first and second years of training. First year exams are generally composed of multiple choice questions and short answer questions. First year students must successfully pass both sections of this exam in order to matriculate to their second year.

Second year exams are more comprehensive and are modeled to help prepare students for the ABGC board exam. Second year students must successfully pass this exam in order to graduate. An exam writing committee at VCU routinely evaluates and updates comprehensive exams to make sure the questions are relevant, up to date and access the knowledge that each student should have mastered in their years of study.