Hello, everyone! I'm brand new to these forums, so bear with me.

I'm currently a sophomore in high school and I've been wanting to become a geneticist for over four years, now. I'm pretty sure I'm one step ahead of people my age because I'm already looking into colleges and scholarships, but I'm positive this is what I want to do and I don't want to be overwhelmed with stuff come junior or senior year.

I have a ton of questions about how to actually get into this field, but first let me state my current future plans.

I'll be attending University of Wisconsin - Madison for four years, as I already have a scholarship there. I'll get my bachelors there, but I'm unsure of whether I should stay there for another two years to get my masters, or transfer over to Johns Hopkins, where I plan to get my Ph.D. eventually. My GPA is 4.20 as of right now, I believe, and I do a ton of extra curricular activities, plus I have over 100 hours of volunteering already. I'm volunteering at a hospital over this summer as well, so I'm not exactly worried about my chances of getting into a college.

But what exactly is the process, step by step if you could, of actually becoming a geneticist? Will the colleges I plan to go to suffice, or should I also go somewhere else for more training? Can I do anything else now that would help prepare me for the field I want to go into?

My guidance counselors actually wont help me out, yet; they tend not to pay so much attentions to sophomores as they do the juniors and seniors. Understandable, but I'm lost, and my parents have no idea either. I don't even know where to start on the internet so far as research goes, so I thought this might be a decent place.

Please help me out as much as you can! Thank you so much for your time.


Gabrielle