Tara Schmidlen | Penn State College of Health and Human Development

Be less attached to the specific plan you think you have, leaving here, and be open to the possibilities that will be laid out for you once you get involved.

Tara Schmidlen, Genetic Counselor
Geisinger Health System

Tara Schmidlen graduated from Penn State with a Bachelor's in Biobehavioral Health, in 2002. She then went on to obtain a Master of Science degree in genetic counseling from Arcadia University and became certified by the American Board of Genetic Counseling in 2007. Tara currently works as a Clinical Investigator/Genetic Counselor with Geisinger Health System.

Career advice - Find out what Tara means when she says it is important for students to "show up".

Career path decision - Tara first learned about Genetic Counseling in one of her BBH courses.

Career path - Tara has held many different jobs that have all shaped what she does today.

How did you find your current job? - Tara's current job found her, "in her inbox".

How is your job different than you expected? - Had you told Tara as an undergrad that she would spend her whole career in research... she would have laughed at you.

What advice would you tell your undergraduate self? - Everything happens for a reason.