Abstract
Genetic counseling is a fast-growing profession and certified genetic counselors are in high demand. To meet this demand, student recruitment into this career must increase. College career/pre-health advisors are an underutilized resource for recruiting students to genetic counseling. Previous studies have indicated that college career advisors discuss genetic counseling significantly less frequently than other health career options, but it is not yet known what exactly college career advisors tell their students about genetic counseling and how confident they are in their own knowledge of the career. This study explored the specific knowledge that college career advisors have about the genetic counseling career as well as various details about genetic counseling training programs. We surveyed 148 college career/pre-health advisors through a national career advising organization. Advisors were asked about the requirements/qualifications of applying to genetic counseling training programs, the various features of different training programs, and the career itself. Overall, most advisors surveyed do not feel confident in their knowledge about genetic counseling. Ten percent of advisors felt extremely or very confident in discussing the genetic counseling career with students. Advisors’ own knowledge about genetic counseling may be limited by their perceived lack of interest in the career amongst students and their encouragement of students to research the career on their own. However, more than half of the advisors surveyed responded that they want more information on all aspects of genetic counseling, including job availability and opportunities for research. This indicates that advisors are a highly motived population in terms of learning more about the genetic counseling career path. Genetic counselors need to increase advisor knowledge about genetic counseling through the creation of easy to access resources, such as factsheets and/or presentations about genetic counseling, in order to help advisors increase recruitment into the field.