Ronin Joshua Cosiquien

With increased interest in making education more equitable and the headlines of DEI issues in relation to admissions programs in the news, there is an increased need for more equitable admissions systems that select for students that graduate programs have the resources to support. Although previous research has been conducted into other health professional program admissions (such as medical school, dental school, etc), there has been no research into genetic counseling graduate program admissions specifically. This study sought to investigate the predictive validity of the University of Minnesota Genetic Counseling Program admissions process and its relationship to student performance in the program. Overall, the applications of 109 University of Minnesota Genetic Counseling Program matriculants were analyzed using linear and logistic regression models. Our research found that identifying as female and/or as White (non-Hispanic), as well as undergraduate GPA were predictive of some program performance markers such as program GPA, board score, and thesis publication. Overall, the University of Minnesota Genetic Counseling program does well in preparing students for success on the Genetic Counseling Certification Exam and as genetic counselors, but more resources should be made available to minority and underrepresented students to help create a more equitable educational environment for all.