Advice for SO/How Does Pharm Residency Work

[FreeGibbs]

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Hi all,I will be heading off to med-school next year and my SO aims to apply for residency’s in the state where I’m going to school.

I know little about the pharmacy residency process but my SO will be going through it soon since she is a P4 rn. I have a few questions:

1. What goes into the app?
2. When is an app early? When is the ideal time, and when is too late?
3. Since she is looking at a residency out of state/connections, how competitive does her stats/app need to be?
4. In states where you have few connections, are they harder to match into a residency or are they all equal in chance?
5. As a SO, how can I help?

I ask this, because she’s going through a busy rotation and hasn’t started her residency app at all. Which ends up stressing her out, and thus leading to more procrastination. How can I play a proactive role in this?

 

[mentos]

Don't take this the wrong way, I'm just being real and looking out.

How much student loan debt does she have? Do you plan on marrying her? Most likely scenario is she'll be unemployed and you'll have to support her and pay her student loans.

 

[BidingMyTime]

Residency is pretty competitive these days, something like a 65% match rate. Obviously, the more connections one has, the better the chances of matching. As with anything, urban, "desirable" areas will be far harder to match into, than more rural, "undesirable" locations. Someone said in another thread here a few days ago that most successful residents will have research and have done a poster presentation at ASHP mid-year.

Filling out the residency app itself isn't hard, it's having everything lined up (previous research/poster presentation, letter's of recommendation, stellar GPA, etc.) that is the hard part. What year is your SO? If your SO is 4th year, then it's pretty much to late to get competitive, if your SO isn't already competitive. If your SO is 1st - 3rd year, then SO needs to be concentrating on getting A's, and looking into research for a poster presentation (and hopefully real research, and not nominal research.) People skills are a must, so hopefully your SO has those.

If your SO is going to have a less than stellar app, then the best bet is to concentrate on rural/non-urban areas in your state (or surrounding states) for the residency. And your SO best has a back-up plan (ie job application for retail pharmacies ready), since 55% of residency applicants will not get a residency.

 

[BidingMyTime]

Don't take this the wrong way, I'm just being real and looking out.
How much student loan debt does she have? Do you plan on marrying her? Most likely scenario is she'll be unemployed and you'll have to support her and pay her student loans.

Except the OP will be a med-student, and also unemployed (most likely) for the 4 years of med school. I guess they can both live on student loans? Or a long-distance relationship, if the SO can get a pharmacist job in BFE.

 

[Hels2007]

I ask this, because she’s going through a busy rotation and hasn’t started her residency app at all. Which ends up stressing her out, and thus leading to more procrastination. How can I play a proactive role in this?

Just based on that phrase alone I would say she isn't going to be very competitive. If she can't even handle the stress of applying for a residency, how is she going to handle the interviews, and then actually doing a residency, not to speak of having to look for a real job afterwards?

I actually was reminded of those videos where job seekers bring their Mommy to the interviews and Mommy does most of the talking... hope it's not that bad, but those kids do come from somewhere!

 

[FreeGibbs]

Just based on that phrase alone I would say she isn't going to be very competitive. If she can't even handle the stress of applying for a residency, how is she going to handle the interviews, and then actually doing a residency, not to speak of having to look for a real job afterwards?

I actually was reminded of those videos where job seekers bring their Mommy to the interviews and Mommy does most of the talking... hope it's not that bad, but those kids do come from somewhere!

She's been on the fence about residency for awhile, and for the longest time she thought it wouldn't be feasible with the move. Points in time she said that she was fine entering retail pharmacy while I went through school.

In the end, she felt that it would be a disservice to herself and her career if she didn't go through the process tho. At this point, I feel like she's just going through residency apps to just to say she gave it a shot. I'm not saying that she's not going to match, but Im starting to be worried with how lackadaisical she's been about it. I see myself eventually marrying this girl, so I plan on seeing this out through thick and thin.

 

[FreeGibbs]

Residency is pretty competitive these days, something like a 65% match rate. Obviously, the more connections one has, the better the chances of matching. As with anything, urban, "desirable" areas will be far harder to match into, than more rural, "undesirable" locations. Someone said in another thread here a few days ago that most successful residents will have research and have done a poster presentation at ASHP mid-year.

Filling out the residency app itself isn't hard, it's having everything lined up (previous research/poster presentation, letter's of recommendation, stellar GPA, etc.) that is the hard part. What year is your SO? If your SO is 4th year, then it's pretty much to late to get competitive, if your SO isn't already competitive. If your SO is 1st - 3rd year, then SO needs to be concentrating on getting A's, and looking into research for a poster presentation (and hopefully real research, and not nominal research.) People skills are a must, so hopefully your SO has those.

If your SO is going to have a less than stellar app, then the best bet is to concentrate on rural/non-urban areas in your state (or surrounding states) for the residency. And your SO best has a back-up plan (ie job application for retail pharmacies ready), since 55% of residency applicants will not get a residency.

Except the OP will be a med-student, and also unemployed (most likely) for the 4 years of med school. I guess they can both live on student loans? Or a long-distance relationship, if the SO can get a pharmacist job in BFE.

Ill be on a full-tuition scholarship, with a living stipend as apart of my MD/PhD program so hopefully thatll get us by for maybe the first half of the year. We're gonna be in a smaller midwest state, so CoL will be VERY frugal compared to our situation now.

What does BFE stand for btw?
What is the job market like for retail in the midwest? Do they tend to be more competitive because of fewer pharmacies, or less so?

 

[Pharmacy is a Scam]

What does BFE stand for btw?

The G-rated version of that acronym is “middle of nowhere.”

 

[rxkrafted]

Unless things have changed since I've been in school but you usually don't take your work home with you regardless of how "busy" rotations are. She may have to do journal club here and there but rotations aren't usually busy. It sounds like shes procrastinating and you can help her change that by referring her to the BLS statistics for the pharmacy job market predicted for the next decade.

 

[FreeGibbs]

Damn, y'all so pessimistic and bitter on the pharmacy forums lmao

 

[sakigt]

My former student did this and matched after working PRN for a year.

Yall need a financial/lifegoals heart to heart. Where is she? Why are you making an online profile about this?

 

[rxkrafted]

Damn, y'all so pessimistic and bitter on the pharmacy forums lmao

I'm not trying to be pessimistic, I'm being realistic. If your SO is already aware of how tough the job market is right now for pharmacists, she'll know just how difficult it is to land residency nowadays because it's basically a temporary job. Also more people have been applying to residency over the years because more people are trying to avoid retail. Rotations are not "busy" unless there is an a**hole preceptor making her do useless projects to take home or something. She should have time to prepare for residency applications....

 

[Seriously Serious]

Ill be on a full-tuition scholarship, with a living stipend as apart of my MD/PhD program so hopefully thatll get us by for maybe the first half of the year. We're gonna be in a smaller midwest state, so CoL will be VERY frugal compared to our situation now.

What does BFE stand for btw?
What is the job market like for retail in the midwest? Do they tend to be more competitive because of fewer pharmacies, or less so?

You need to ask her if pissing away $$$ for residency applications that she may not be serious about is worth it. If she is restricting her application list to only local institutions, it shouldn't be too expensive, but she really needs to be motivated... if she's too busy/tired to apply for a residency, imagine having to have to go through one lol. Good luck to the both of you.

 

[mentos]

Damn, y'all so pessimistic and bitter on the pharmacy forums lmao

I can't speak for anyone else but I have nothing to be bitter about, just telling the truth. You should appreciate that we are not sugar coating or lying like schools do.

 

[projektreverb]

if she's too busy/tired to apply for a residency, imagine having to have to go through one lol.

This.

 

[BidingMyTime]

What is the job market like for retail in the midwest? Do they tend to be more competitive because of fewer pharmacies, or less so?

Depends, if you get away from the big cities, the jobs are less competitive (because everybody wants to live in big cities and not work in rural areas.) The midwest has a lot of rural areas (unlike the coasts), so job prospects are definitely higher in the midwest. I'm not saying they are high, just that they are higher. If she isn't pick about living in rural areas, most likely she will be able to find a job, even a hospital job. Her chances of this are probably higher than getting a residency. If she only looks at big cities, then competition will be extremely fierce.