To Do a residency or Not

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So I have an offer from CVS over 120K and I've interviewed at 4 residencies and did pretty well.

What should I do. I'm pretty sure I'll get one of the 4 residencies, or at least one of the 3 upcoming interviews.

I'm so confused. I guess i'll have to decide before march 7th.

CVS can wait. There will ALWAYS be a retail job out there - don't let that district manager tell you otherwise - but you will have a much harder time working for a year or more and then deciding to do a residency. You are obviously interested since you interviewed at 4 places. Don't let the fear of rejection turn you away - chances are you will match if you feel like you did well.

I had my CVS offer last year as backup, but I decided to apply for a residency as well, and got it. I do not regret turning down CVS for one second, even when I'm dead tired from projects and rotations and staffing. I think residency is such a great opportunity, and it is getting harder and harder to compete with others as more new grads become interested in doing one. Going ahead and doing one is definitely the easier route than regretting it for the rest of your career. And...it's only a year. You will be shocked at how fast it flies by, and if you pick a good program you will not regret it.

Originally Posted by legaia

So I have an offer from CVS over 120K and I've interviewed at 4 residencies and did pretty well.

What should I do. I'm pretty sure I'll get one of the 4 residencies, or at least one of the 3 upcoming interviews.

I'm so confused. I guess i'll have to decide before march 7th.

What market is this CVS offer in and is there a signing bonus as well?

Originally Posted by Fatpharm

What market is this CVS offer in and is there a signing bonus as well?

I don't want to say at this moment.

Didn't you just write on the other thread that you applied to Kansas ONLY and didn't even get an interview? And now you've had 4?

Hmmm... on second thought then, maybe you should go into retail - since you didn't apply to 4 places. Sorry I wasted my time posting a reply to your post.

I think he/she meant that Kansas is the only place that did not offer her/him an interview out of all the places she/he applied to.

"So kansas medical center or whatever, was the only site that i applyed to that didn't give me an interview. They must hate me ."

Sounds like Kansas was the only site that this person applied to that didn't give him/her an interview. To me, this means that Kansas was the only site that this person applied to that didn't give him/her an interview, not the only site that this person applied.

Originally Posted by mike36

"So kansas medical center or whatever, was the only site that i applyed to that didn't give me an interview. They must hate me ."

Sounds like Kansas was the only site that this person applied to that didn't give him/her an interview. To me, this means that Kansas was the only site that this person applied to that didn't give him/her an interview, not the only site that this person applied.

Yes, Kansas was the only site out of 9 that I applied to that didn't give me an interview. Kansas must be very very selective :-D

I think i've decided to do a residency, if they accept me of course.

So what does everyone think if you've got a choice between a residency and walking straight into a clinical position at a major teaching hospital?

Originally Posted by CUPharmD2B2008

So what does everyone think if you've got a choice between a residency and walking straight into a clinical position at a major teaching hospital?

That situation is very rare nowadays...I would totally take the job if I knew it was what I wanted to do.

can anyone explain exactly what advantages one gets from going into residency

I think it allows you to specialize in a specific field of pharmacy so you will end up with an indepth understanding on a certain type of medication or medications for a special area of diseases, and I know the Kaiser in my town only hire pharmacists who've gone through at least 1 year of residency. Most people who have finished their residencies go on to work in clinical settings.

Specializations include infectious disease, diabetes, oncology, nutrition support, ambulatory care, neurological pharmacy, and so forth.

I haven't entered my first year of pharm school yet, so please correct me if I'm wrong.

Originally Posted by stoopkid

can anyone explain exactly what advantages one gets from going into residency

Basically they set you apart from the other PharmD students when it comes to getting a specialized clinical position. I still can not decide myself if I want to do one or if my grades will even be good enough to get one...lol but I do feel I would have many more doors open to me than if I didn't do one.

As you will probably hear, during a residency you get less than half he pay and twice the work. Some of the pharmacists I have worked for had worked for the VA in the past and told me about some awesome positions where the pharmacist had all sorts of autonomy and was truely treated as the medication expert. When I asked them why they did not take those jobs, they said because they wanted pharmacists that had completed a residency....It really is only one more year of school but it is still a tough choice especially when employers are offering 100K+.

http://www.ashp.org/rtp/Starting/definitions.cfm This site will answer lots of your Qs.

thanks for your response. helped a lot