being competitive for pgy-1

[mik30102]

Hello everyone, I'm currently a p1 student and am really interested in doing a residency when I graduate. What steps can I take now to be competitive for residencies in the future besides keeping my grades up. I plan to start volunteering at my local hospice center this coming summer. Is this kind of community service what programs look for? What other things could I do. Thank you and happy holidays.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[MatCauthon]

1. Get the grades up as high as you can. Everyone I know that had a 3.8+ GPA got tons of interviews even if they didn't have tons of extracurricular activities.

2. Join every professional organization. Try to get a national leadership position in a major pharmacy organization: ASHP, APhA ACCP, etc. Go to as many pharmacy conferences as you can afford: APhA, ASHP Midyear, ACCP, etc.

3. Get involved in student leadership positions. Being a class president or a committee director is good. Follower positions aren't as important, in fact they won't count much for residency.

4. If you want to do a local residency, you can always try to get involved in the state hospital pharmacy association. Usually the residency directors are all members and heavily involved in that kind of organization.

5. Hook up with a faculty member and get involved in some type of research project as soon as you can. Poster presentations, publications, and research experience count for a lot when applying for residency.

6. Try to find a hospital internship, paid is always better. If you can't get a paid hospital internship, offer to volunteer. Some of the local hospitals took volunteer interns for the whole summer (40+ hour weeks).

7. Get involved in all of your school competitions: counseling, clinical skills, etc. If you win these competitions, you often get free registration to the national conferences.

8. Organize outreach events: community vaccinations, diabetes, osteoporosis, HTN, etc. Don't waste your time being a follower. Make sure to set up these events yourself.

9. Apply for as many scholarships as you can. If you have followed all the recommendations above, then you will have no problem getting a couple scholarships.

10. If you can't keep the grades at a 3.5+, still follow all the above recommendations. Grades do matter, but involvement matters more. I know of a girl with a 2.6 GPA who matched into residency last year, she had to apply all of the country but she got into the system.

11. Stay motivated. If this isn't really what you want to do you will be burned out by the time you hit P4 year. If it is really what you want to do then passion will shine through and you will be an inspiration to all of you classmates.

12. Residencies are getting ridiculously competitive, especially in California where I am. We are seeing 300 people apply for 2 residency spots at some institutions. Be flexible with geography and you will have no problem matching. There are plenty of rural residencies where only 15 or 20 people apply, and most of those people only plan on going there as a last resort.

 

[BenJammin]

Grades really matter for residencies? I don't see how a 3.8 GPA hermit student (i.e. no extracurricular activities, limited work experience, no research/publication) has an advantage over a 3.1 GPA student like myself that is in leadership positions with many organizations and has had their name published in a pharmacy journal.

 

[MatCauthon]

Grades really matter for residencies? I don't see how a 3.8 GPA hermit student (i.e. no extracurricular activities, limited work experience, no research/publication) has an advantage over a 3.1 GPA student like myself that is in leadership positions with many organizations and has had their name published in a pharmacy journal.

Hermit students won't make the paper cut to get a residency interview. Having a high GPA will just lessen the amount of extracurricular activities that one will need in order to get an interview. These things are all graded on rubric, and the people will high scores get interviews. I do for a fact, though, that some residency programs unfairly judge students with lower GPAs. Many of the residency directors, themselves, are Rho Chi and high GPAs and are looking for someone of a certain intellectual caliber. However, all of this GPA stuff only matters to a certain extent as many pharmacy programs do not even have grades or a GPA. It sounds like you've been very involved in the pharmacy community and should have no problem finding a residency. Just be flexible with location though. Almost everyone I knew limited their geography too much and that was their biggest hurdle.

 

[ucrx]

Grades really matter for residencies? I don't see how a 3.8 GPA hermit student (i.e. no extracurricular activities, limited work experience, no research/publication) has an advantage over a 3.1 GPA student like myself that is in leadership positions with many organizations and has had their name published in a pharmacy journal.

How about a rho chi student with leadership positions and a publication? They exist (see stats thread). You need to do what you can to make yourself competitive. Grades are one of the things that get you an interview, but an empty CV definitely hurts. The activities you do help get an interview and go a long way in the interview- they teach you how to hold yourself and interact professionally and give you plenty of things to talk about when asked situational/behavioral questions. They don't completely make up for a poor GPA though (and I'm not at all saying a 3.1 is bad, just saying activities aren't everything).

 

[Printo]

Just be the best you can be.

My grades are alright, around a 3.1 GPA. I have held some leadership positions in pharmacy school. I was president of my fraternity in undergrad & did lots of stuff there. I also ran for public office (state representative), was a health care policy adviser for a congressman who was running in a primary, organized a discussion forum and wrote a publication (if you can call it that) for one of the APhA regional newsletters.

We will see what happens.

 

[xiphoid2010]

Grades really matter for residencies? I don't see how a 3.8 GPA hermit student (i.e. no extracurricular activities, limited work experience, no research/publication) has an advantage over a 3.1 GPA student like myself that is in leadership positions with many organizations and has had their name published in a pharmacy journal.

Why everyone assume those with high GPAs are hermits? All the top students in my class were also presidents/secretary/VP of major organizations, while holding down at least 1 internship (if not 2), and still doing community services.

It's all about prioritization and time management skills. You know the residency is come, you know you need this this and that. Study, work, perform your duties to the organzations first, figure out how get multiple things done in the most efficient and effective manner, break large projects into stages with set time-allowance/timeline and stick to it, drink more coffee, limit clubs/bars/malls/facebook/youtube only to free time after you are done.

It's not complicated, just takes self-discipline to do it.

 

[spacecowgirl]

Why everyone assume those with high GPAs are hermits? All the top students in my class were also presidents/secretary/VP of major organizations, while holding down at least 1 internship (if not 2), and still doing community services

It's the SDN residency circular argument. First someone asks what they need to be competitive, then people who have matched their first choice residencies tell the OP that they need a strong GPA and extra-curriculars, then people argue that you can't have good grades without being a social pariah, then someone else contributes an anecdote about someone they know whose cousin got a residency at Johns Hopkins with a 2.5 GPA despite the obvious statistics that 1000+ people don't match. /scene

Repeat every 3 months or so.

 

[BenJammin]

Why everyone assume those with high GPAs are hermits? All the top students in my class were also presidents/secretary/VP of major organizations, while holding down at least 1 internship (if not 2), and still doing community services.

It's all about prioritization and time management skills. You know the residency is come, you know you need this this and that. Study, work, perform your duties to the organzations first, figure out how get multiple things done in the most efficient and effective manner, break large projects into stages with set time-allowance/timeline and stick to it, drink more coffee, limit clubs/bars/malls/facebook/youtube only to free time after you are done.

It's not complicated, just takes self-discipline to do it.

I don't think you really understood what I was trying to say. I defined a hermit student but I never included their GPA in the definition. You're trying to read into my post so please don't do that. Take it for what it's worth. Can someone who is involved in a lot of activities obtain a high GPA? Yes. So what?

 

[spacecowgirl]

I don't think you really understood what I was trying to say. I defined a hermit student but I never included their GPA in the definition.

I don't see how a 3.8 GPA hermit student

Huh?

I forgot to include this part in my above post about the course of this argument.

 

[BenJammin]

Huh?

I forgot to include this part in my above post about the course of this argument.

Why didn't you quote the rest of my post?

I don't see how a 3.8 GPA hermit student (i.e. no extracurricular activities, limited work experience, no research/publication)

Are you confused because I didn't put a comma before GPA? I assumed you guys would be able to comprehend that not all hermit students have 3.8 GPAs

 

[spacecowgirl]

Are you confused because I didn't put a comma before GPA? I assumed you guys would be able to comprehend that not all hermit students have 3.8 GPAs

You think that is the cause of my confusion? Logic fail.

 

[BenJammin]

You think that is the cause of my confusion? Logic fail.

What was the purpose of this post then? Or are you just trolling me? I gave you an explanation as to why you're confused, can't control whether or not you want to accept the answer.

 

[spacecowgirl]

Yes, I am trolling you. I'm the one with comprehension deficits. I'm done with you and this thread because as you say, I can't control whether or not you accept my answer.

 

[BenJammin]

I feel like a guy stranded out in the woods that finds a bunch of bears sitting at a table sipping tea...what the heck is going on?

 

[MatCauthon]

What the hell has happened in this thread?

This hermit is ready to retreat back to his shell.

 

[Lebanesepharmacist]

1. Get the grades up as high as you can. Everyone I know that had a 3.8+ GPA got tons of interviews even if they didn't have tons of extracurricular activities.

2. Join every professional organization. Try to get a national leadership position in a major pharmacy organization: ASHP, APhA ACCP, etc. Go to as many pharmacy conferences as you can afford: APhA, ASHP Midyear, ACCP, etc.

3. Get involved in student leadership positions. Being a class president or a committee director is good. Follower positions aren't as important, in fact they won't count much for residency.

4. If you want to do a local residency, you can always try to get involved in the state hospital pharmacy association. Usually the residency directors are all members and heavily involved in that kind of organization.

5. Hook up with a faculty member and get involved in some type of research project as soon as you can. Poster presentations, publications, and research experience count for a lot when applying for residency.

6. Try to find a hospital internship, paid is always better. If you can't get a paid hospital internship, offer to volunteer. Some of the local hospitals took volunteer interns for the whole summer (40+ hour weeks).

7. Get involved in all of your school competitions: counseling, clinical skills, etc. If you win these competitions, you often get free registration to the national conferences.

8. Organize outreach events: community vaccinations, diabetes, osteoporosis, HTN, etc. Don't waste your time being a follower. Make sure to set up these events yourself.

9. Apply for as many scholarships as you can. If you have followed all the recommendations above, then you will have no problem getting a couple scholarships.

10. If you can't keep the grades at a 3.5+, still follow all the above recommendations. Grades do matter, but involvement matters more. I know of a girl with a 2.6 GPA who matched into residency last year, she had to apply all of the country but she got into the system.

11. Stay motivated. If this isn't really what you want to do you will be burned out by the time you hit P4 year. If it is really what you want to do then passion will shine through and you will be an inspiration to all of you classmates.

12. Residencies are getting ridiculously competitive, especially in California where I am. We are seeing 300 people apply for 2 residency spots at some institutions. Be flexible with geography and you will have no problem matching. There are plenty of rural residencies where only 15 or 20 people apply, and most of those people only plan on going there as a last resort.

Can you give examples of rural residency hospitals?