Enough pharmacy experience? NC area

[Jabberwocky12]

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Hi Guys,

so I'm hitting a bit of a problem trying to get some shadowing experience in a pharmacy. I live in NC in an area where campbell, wingate, and UNC-CH pharmacy students roam around getting pharmacy experience. All of the independents I have been calling and hospitals aren't allowing me to shadow because they always have more pharmacy students then they can handle.

Luckily I found an independent that would allow me to shadow but only during december/part of January when she isn't swamped with pharm students.

So my concern is this:

Does having 1 year of chain retail experience, being a CPhT, and having about 1 month of shadowing/volunteer service seem like it would be substantial in terms of pharmacy exposure?

I have literally called 12 independents in my area, check with a couple of chains, called around the major hospitals in my area, a few compounding pharmacies, and some of the anticoagulation clinics in my area. All of them (except the 1 I mentioned) said that they were pretty much full to capacity. They said they were like that pretty much all year when I asked if there was a seasonal time to try back again.

Who knew it would be so hard to give free help to a pharmacy from someone who has the experience?

Am I missing anywhere else I can try going? I feel like I've called pretty much everywhere I can within a 30-40 min radius from where I live.

Sorry, I'm just fretting a little bit right now because I don't have a stellar application (3.0 GPA after completing a BS in bio) and I want to try and buff it with my EC and pharmacy experience.

I have about a year before I apply to pharmacy school again but most people have this issue is seems right before applying and then they get into trouble.

Is experience that is 1-2 years old worth mentioning on the PharmCAS?

A lot of questions, I know, but I just hit that little crisis stage that I think a lot of students hit when it starts coming to crunch time and they don't feel ready.

Thanks!

 

[owlegrad]

Does having 1 year of chain retail experience, being a CPhT, and having about 1 month of shadowing/volunteer service seem like it would be substantial in terms of pharmacy exposure?

Huh? You have over a year of pharmacy retail experience? What exactly is "shadowing" going to add to your application? Surely at some point in 1 year you managed to "shadow" a pharmacist?

Maybe I am missing something, but I must say you seem well past the point of shadowing. Work>shadowing.

 

[Jabberwocky12]

Retail chain is only one aspect. Do people who normally apply and do shadowing have more than just retail chain?

Independent?
LTC?
VA Hospital?
Hospital?
Anticoag clinic

Etc...

My main concern is not having any exposure outside of retail chain.

Is this a valid concern or not?

I'm pretty much a noob when it comes to these kinds of things. My GPA isn't stellar like I said so I'm trying to make up for it with having a bunch of different experience in volunteer and shadowing.

 

[owlegrad]

Retail chain is only one aspect. Do people who normally apply and do shadowing have more than just retail chain?

Independent?
LTC?
VA Hospital?
Hospital?
Anticoag clinic

Etc...

My main concern is not having any exposure outside of retail chain.

Is this a valid concern or not?

I'm pretty much a noob when it comes to these kinds of things. My GPA isn't stellar like I said so I'm trying to make up for it with having a bunch of different experience in volunteer and shadowing.

You are light years ahead of many P1's if you do indeed have 1 YEAR of experience. Getting more variety can only help you, but honestly you are in great shape experience wise.

You need to be able to sell yourself better. At an interview are you gonna be able to sell your extensive retail experience or are you going to apologize about only having experience in one area? I am serious - you need to be able to market yourself!

Good Luck!

 

[Jabberwocky12]

In your opinion, would it be considered pompus then to include information I have heard from other professionals on through my own research as representative for experiences in those other fields?

For example, could I talk about what I have researched for clinical pharmacy or compounding pharmacy or LTC and VA hospital? Would that be considered representative enough to talk about what others have told me compared to experiencing them myself?

I don't want to seem like a know-it-all and one of the biggest problems people have in different professions is someone talking about a job without actually doing it themselves, like a customer in a retail pharmacy.

Maybe I'm just flipping out too much on this and should leave it alone?

 

[HmoobRX]

In your opinion, would it be considered pompus then to include information I have heard from other professionals on through my own research as representative for experiences in those other fields?

For example, could I talk about what I have researched for clinical pharmacy or compounding pharmacy or LTC and VA hospital? Would that be considered representative enough to talk about what others have told me compared to experiencing them myself?

I don't want to seem like a know-it-all and one of the biggest problems people have in different professions is someone talking about a job without actually doing it themselves, like a customer in a retail pharmacy.

Maybe I'm just flipping out too much on this and should leave it alone?

Yup...you're totally flipping out. I know people who've gotten in to UNC-CH with no pharmacy experience. I also know people who've gotten in with just a couple months of pharmacy experience. I think if you're already in retail and have a year's experience you should be set. Don't worry about having to cover all the other possible pharmacy fields. I've heard that sometimes AdComs rather you not know what area of pharmacy you're going into because they believe pharm school should direct you into your field of interest.

 

[pharm B]

In your opinion, would it be considered pompus then to include information I have heard from other professionals on through my own research as representative for experiences in those other fields?

I don't know if that's the word I would use, but it is a bad idea. You do not have experience in those fields, regardless of your research. What you could do is simply indicate, during your interviews, that you are familiar with the topics, but don't try to present it as first-hand information. If you do, they might ask a specific question where you could stumble. The whole house of cards would come down.

I don't want to seem like a know-it-all and one of the biggest problems people have in different professions is someone talking about a job without actually doing it themselves, like a customer in a retail pharmacy.

Maybe I'm just flipping out too much on this and should leave it alone?

Some schools allow current students to sit in on the interview process. If they think that you are trying to pass yourself off as something you're not, I think it's highly likely that they will indicate that on their evaluations.

I'm not sure why you would ever think this is a good idea, but steer clear.

You otherwise have what sounds like some positive traits on your application. There are plenty of pharmacy students who get into school without having been a technician or even once stepping foot into a pharmacy. There's no need to jeopardize your application by misrepresenting yourself.

 

[Jabberwocky12]

I don't know if that's the word I would use, but it is a bad idea. You do not have experience in those fields, regardless of your research. What you could do is simply indicate, during your interviews, that you are familiar with the topics, but don't try to present it as first-hand information. If you do, they might ask a specific question where you could stumble. The whole house of cards would come down.



Some schools allow current students to sit in on the interview process. If they think that you are trying to pass yourself off as something you're not, I think it's highly likely that they will indicate that on their evaluations.

I'm not sure why you would ever think this is a good idea, but steer clear.

You otherwise have what sounds like some positive traits on your application. There are plenty of pharmacy students who get into school without having been a technician or even once stepping foot into a pharmacy. There's no need to jeopardize your application by misrepresenting yourself.

I think the main point I am trying to get across in an interview is that I show I have really done the research to prove I want this to be my profession. I want to be able to say "I like LTC because of this..." or "I like anticoag clinics because of this... " and "these are the things that make me want to be a pharmacist over being a doctor, nurse, optometrist, etc." Basically I'm wanting to show devotion to the profession is all. And I think the issue I'm concerned with is the difference between doing the research and wanting to be in the profession versus being a know-it-all who already has the profession figured out.

I think I've got it figured out though now that I've done a little more thinking, thanks a bunch for the help. That perspective helped a lot pharm B, I got a little bit of an answer written down that differentiates that gray line I didn't want to cross.