Has anyone heard back from them yet?
I applied in late December, but have yet to hear anything.
Thanks in advance for your time!
I applied in late December, but have yet to hear anything.
Thanks in advance for your time!
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FDA Experiential APPE Rotation
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I had an FDA APPE last year. I received an acceptance email on February 26, but my preceptor called me about a week prior. Stay positive, and good luck!
Thanks for the quick reply!
If you don't mind, I would love to hear your thoughts/impressions on the rotation.
Anything that struck you and made a lasting impact would be appreciated!
Thanks again!
selection day probably got postponed due to the inclement weather the past few weeks.
My preceptor was a dual PharmD/JD who works in the Office of Compliance, but I got to experience many other functions of the FDA through the student lecture schedule. Try to attend as many of the lectures/meetings as possible! My rotation was in February 2010 (D.C. Snowmageddon), so a lot of the events were canceled. Make sure your preceptor sends you the student lecture schedule prior to your rotation so you can plan to attend the events that interest you. Some are on the Rockville campus and some are on the Silver Spring campus. All the events I attended were really informative!
I was assigned an FDA email address and a key to my own office a few doors down from my preceptor. The Silver Spring campus has a fitness facility, which I was able to use for the month for ~$20. The cafeteria is delicious, but pricey!
My preceptor gave me several projects to work on, two of which required presentations. One presentation was over a disease state and its treatment, intended to be a refresher for some of the pharmacists who may not use their clinical skills as often as others. The second presentation was a culmination of a ton a research I sifted through and compiled for a project the Office had been working on for a while. Months after I left, the Office of Compliance acted on the information by sending Warning Letters to the manufacturers involved. My preceptor sent me an email sharing the press about the project. It was great to see the project come to fruition, finally! My work there was purposeful and a great learning experience.
Overall, I loved the rotation, the FDA, and D.C. (though not the amount of snow)! If you have any specific questions about my experience, let me know. I can also provide contact info for a convenient, affordable place to stay in the Silver Spring area.
I also had a rotation last year.
The FDA experiential rotation page says you'll hear back by a certain date. If you pay attention, it says you'll hear by that date if you are not selected.
If you are not selected, it is up to your preceptor to contact you with the on-boarding materials (which require many lengthy forms to be filled out, including a 5-year background check thing).
In my case, one of my classmates heard at the deadline that they weren't selected, and the other heard shortly from their preceptor that they were selected.
I heard nothing for two weeks past the deadline. I asked my school to reach out, and they did, and they were copied on one confusing email but received no direct answer. I waited a week and a half and heard nothing more. Asked school to reach out again and finally heard back from my preceptor. Turns out they'd been on vacation for much of Jan/Feb.
From my experience, the preceptors don't receive training for the process. They don't necessarily know what the correct forms and procedures are. Some of the students in my cohort had badges. Some never received the right paperwork to request them. It was a bit of a cluster, to tell you the truth. While there is a person at the FDA that's "in charge" of coordinating the student experiences, it seems like a tertiary duty and not a role of authority.
My preceptor sent me about eight attachments but had read none of them. They were specific to a Drug Information rotation. Unfortunately, my rotation wasn't a Drug Information Rotation.
Several of the attachments were geared towards the preceptor and were instructions for them. Again, unread by my preceptor.
I spent months instructing my preceptor as to how to bring me on-board. If I had not been extremely proactive, I never would have finished the extensive paperwork and made it to DC. Luckily I knew someone up there that was willing to go tap on the preceptor's shoulder and say, "hey, what's going on?"
So really, I don't think there's a lot of structure or accountability for preceptors at the FDA. This varies by specific division, since some have a long history of accepting pharmacy students and have become quite good at it. The aforementioned Drug Info group is one example. But I could have fallen through a hole.
Once in DC, I had a good time. There is a lecture series that teaches you about the USPHS Commissioned Corps and the role of pharmacists at the FDA, with site visits to various other governmental and non-governmental organizations.
But the personal experience with your preceptor will be highly variable. Mine turned out to be very nice, if a little overwhelmed. I made myself useful (again, had to be very proactive) and earned a great reference for my applications.
So your mileage may vary. Remember that you're dealing with an individual, not a rigid system. Make yourself shine. Have fun and learn from the other students.
I haven't heard back either, call or email. Every time I get a phone call I don't recognize, I get my hopes up.
Being so close to the deadline to get the email that I wasn't selected, I'm concerned that I likely this will be the case. I know I'm the only one from my class who applied and I understand it is highly competitive, but I'm impatient.
I'll be jealous of those who got it.
Being so close to the deadline to get the email that I wasn't selected, I'm concerned that I likely this will be the case. I know I'm the only one from my class who applied and I understand it is highly competitive, but I'm impatient.
I'll be jealous of those who got it.
I also have been waiting so something. I looked on their site and realized I did not receive a confirmation email that my application was accepted and started freaking out. I asked my experiential coordinator who emailed it in if she got a confirmation and she said she has not heard either. This is absolutely fantastic. I do not know what to think anymore.
Those that have been there before and are from out of state/area, where did you stay and what did you do for transportation? Just wondering.
Those that have been there before and are from out of state/area, where did you stay and what did you do for transportation? Just wondering.
I asked my experiential office to forward the confirmation email that it was received and they have told me twice that they will contact me directly. They must not have gotten one either if they had no idea what I meant by confirmation email. I'm about ready to just have them contact my backup sites.
ah sorry gripp hope your other rotations will be good
i'm still waiting.. when did you hear back? time? did they email you directly?
I have yet to hear anything from them either. Of course I still don't know if my application was ever received.
Gripp, I'd also like to hear what time you heard back.
Like kidlove, I have not heard back from them at all. Not even a confirmation email stating they received my application.
Has anyone ever heard back from their email address at [email protected]?
My experiential coordinator got the email on Wednesday (2/23) and it didn't get passed on to me until today (2/28). Now I have to scramble to find another rotation - preferably industry doing regulatory affairs. At least something that involves some interaction with government. Hard to find those sorts of things from a Midwest school. I might have to go find my own and beg a new site to be added.
Just keep in mind, that finding your own on such a short notice will be difficult. That's something you should have started doing this time last year, to have realistic chances of success. Established programs are probably closed by now, and setting up a new site takes time on the company side, even if you find someone willing to precept you. Anyway, good luck!
Sorry to hear that, the anticipation is horrible!
Will your school allow you to add a new site this late into the game?
By the way, did you ever receive a confirmation email from the FDA stating they received your application?
I realize that my chances to get an industry rotation are now slim to none this late and any new site, even if they are established in taking students from other schools, likely will be rejected by my school. Even if I have a few contacts, the likelihood is pretty poor. It won't deter me from still attempt to go with the industry fellowship route.
I never received the receipt personally, but I did find out that the experiential coordinator received a receipt, even if she didn't understand that I wanted it forwarded - or understand that I would like the rejection notice forwarded.
I never received the receipt personally, but I did find out that the experiential coordinator received a receipt, even if she didn't understand that I wanted it forwarded - or understand that I would like the rejection notice forwarded.
Sounds very frustrating, gripp.
Has anyone else heard any updates?
Has anyone else heard any updates?
Nope....😡
I even contacted my experiential person and she had not heard anything either.
I even contacted my experiential person and she had not heard anything either.
Hi,
Just wanted to see if anyone received any news? I am also one of the students who applied but didn't hear back from the FDA for acceptance or rejection...and my experiential coordinator hasn't received anything either.
Just wanted to see if anyone received any news? I am also one of the students who applied but didn't hear back from the FDA for acceptance or rejection...and my experiential coordinator hasn't received anything either.
Just got off the phone with one of the FDA APPE coordinators.
My school experiential coordinator applied me in late December and we have not received ANY acknowledgement emails or status updates whatsoever despite many emails and voicemails to them.
I was told they never received my application even though I was CCed on the application email. The deadline was met, the FDA email address was correct, and it was timestamped and everything.
They pretty much said I was out of luck and I don't really have any recourse whatsoever.
It's very frustrating because I carefully planned out my essay, prepared my resume, and they didn't even receive it.
Anyone else have a similar situation?
It looks like they're really swamped there - they are very bad at responding to emails and voicemails, I got lucky when I called as she just happened to pick up.
My school experiential coordinator applied me in late December and we have not received ANY acknowledgement emails or status updates whatsoever despite many emails and voicemails to them.
I was told they never received my application even though I was CCed on the application email. The deadline was met, the FDA email address was correct, and it was timestamped and everything.
They pretty much said I was out of luck and I don't really have any recourse whatsoever.
It's very frustrating because I carefully planned out my essay, prepared my resume, and they didn't even receive it.
Anyone else have a similar situation?
It looks like they're really swamped there - they are very bad at responding to emails and voicemails, I got lucky when I called as she just happened to pick up.
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I'm sorry to hear that. My school has a cut off to apply for the FDA rotation by December 1st, even with the December 31st deadline.
Maybe I should count myself lucky to have already been denied? I hope you can get something worthwhile to replace the FDA rotation. I sent out a few emails and I may have gotten a hit with one, thanks to a professor who used to work in industry. She went out of her way to run through her contacts. Nothing is for sure yet though.
Sorry to hear and that's really frustrating, I think I have a feeling that my application suffered the same fate at this point. Where did you find the phone information for the FDA contact?
Hi, RxQueen2010:
I got accepted by the FDA APPE rotation from DDI, CDER in the coming May.
I am wondering that is there a chance we could apply for the job at FDA after this rotation? or are there any further fellowship programs we have to do before applying jobs at FDA?
Network with as many people as possible during your rotation. All open positions are posted on www.usajobs.gov. A lot of positions are filled by those in the PHS Commissioned Corp. They offer a two-year fellowship program that you can read about here. It also helps if you have another degree, such as a JD for the Office of Compliance.
Congratulations to u guys who got in. Iam just starting to apply. Any advice on essay or what to include or exclude or CV or any preliminary stuff that u guys did to get in?
