Applying to Residency & Fellowship at the Same Time

[John T]

Hello everyone! Some background info about myself - I am currently a 3rd year pharmacy student in SoCal and have a variety of experiences working in industry and pharmacy settings. I worked for 4 years at Baxter and Gilead/Kite Pharma then went into pharmacy school and did my retail and inpatient rotations. On top of this, I did work at CVS pharmacy for a summer then worked for a year at a Skilled Nursing Pharmacy. Right now, I just started working at a hospital as an intern.

With that being said, my 4th year is around the corner and I am beginning to think about direction I want to pursue. I do have some interest in industry after learning more about the various roles from webinars. But I am also interested in looking into a residency specifically in oncology. Has anyone applied to both residency and industry fellowships at the same time and assess what was best at the end? Or has anyone did a residency first and then transitioned into industry? How did you guys end up really realizing what you wanted to pursue? Thank you and any insight would be extremely helpful!

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[PromisedNeverland]

 

[John T]

Thanks for the advice!

 

[GradVantageRx]

This is commonly done. Very few people who pursue a fellowship have gone 'all-in' and apply only to fellowships.

 

[John T]

This is commonly done. Very few people who pursue a fellowship have gone 'all-in' and apply only to fellowships.

Oh I did not know this. Would there be some conflict with deadlines when applying to both though?

 

[Marzapan]

Oh I did not know this. Would there be some conflict with deadlines when applying to both though?

It's commonly done, but his second statement is untrue because most people who apply to fellowships go all-in. Residency and fellowship are two different things altogether, so those who apply to both either have no idea what they want to do, are desperate for any opportunity, or care more about geography such that they're willing to make career sacrifices.

 

[Hels2007]

Hiring decisions for fellowships are generally made before the matches are due for residencies, and often before bulk of residency interviewing takes place, so the only fellowship applicants who seriously go for residencies are those who failed to get in. If you want to hedge your bets, there is nothing wrong with sending applications broadly and then you will know, if you haven't been invited to 'onsite' (however they are handling those this year) interviews for fellowships by mid-January. you pretty much know you failed at fellowship and should concentrate on residencies.

On the other hand, if you want to be a *great* candidate vs. a middling one, you take very different path through pharmacy school, depending on what you want to do. At the very latest, second year of pharmacy school is the time to throw yourself all in.

 

[NonTradPharmStudent]

Hello everyone! Some background info about myself - I am currently a 3rd year pharmacy student in SoCal and have a variety of experiences working in industry and pharmacy settings. I worked for 4 years at Baxter and Gilead/Kite Pharma then went into pharmacy school and did my retail and inpatient rotations. On top of this, I did work at CVS pharmacy for a summer then worked for a year at a Skilled Nursing Pharmacy. Right now, I just started working at a hospital as an intern.

With that being said, my 4th year is around the corner and I am beginning to think about direction I want to pursue. I do have some interest in industry after learning more about the various roles from webinars. But I am also interested in looking into a residency specifically in oncology. Has anyone applied to both residency and industry fellowships at the same time and assess what was best at the end? Or has anyone did a residency first and then transitioned into industry? How did you guys end up really realizing what you wanted to pursue? Thank you and any insight would be extremely helpful!

The hardest part about doing both is the recommendations....you should be good with your work experience compared someone without any industry experience trying to get the same folks to write for both fellowships then for residencies can become "asking for a lot" type scenarios in some cases

 

[Hels2007]

The hardest part about doing both is the recommendations....you should be good with your work experience compared someone without any industry experience trying to get the same folks to write for both fellowships then for residencies can become "asking for a lot" type scenarios in some cases

Why would you ask the same people to write your LORs for both? For residencies, choose preceptors from the hardcore clinical rotations. For fellowships, choose preceptors from non-direct care rotations, professors in subjects relevant to the desired area, and in this case - from past industry employment.

 

[NonTradPharmStudent]

Why would you ask the same people to write your LORs for both? For residencies, choose preceptors from the hardcore clinical rotations. For fellowships, choose preceptors from non-direct care rotations, professors in subjects relevant to the desired area, and in this case - from past industry employment.

not everyone is at that spot for ALL rotation and experience types....but OP seems to be so he/she should be good