Internship Dilemma

[deleted205891]

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So far I have landed a community health internship that basically deals with health education for underserved populations (it's not really a "pharmacy internship". That's all good and I like the idea of this internship, but I just got offered an interview for the VALOR program at a local VA. That's something I'd really like to do, and the pay is twice as much.

The thing is, would it be too improper to turn down the internship I already got about 3-4 weeks after I got my offer (since if the VA hires me, I would imagine it wouldn't be the day after I interview with them)? I asked the person who heads the comm. health internship when the deadline is to reply if I decline the offer, and she got kind of angry and said that there is no deadline but I'll be inconsiderate to other students if I reply late, since there are quite a few students that didn't get this internship that applied. A contract has not been provided to me yet, just a notice that I was accepted into the internship. So what should I do, go for the VA internship and screw people over if I get it, or do what I already got and give up the opportunity I could have at the VA? I'm leaning towards just going for the VA, but I know that I'll feel kind of bad about it in the process.

 

[minette]

So far I have landed a community health internship that basically deals with health education for underserved populations (it's not really a "pharmacy internship". That's all good and I like the idea of this internship, but I just got offered an interview for the VALOR program at a local VA. That's something I'd really like to do, and the pay is twice as much.

The thing is, would it be too improper to turn down the internship I already got about 3-4 weeks after I got my offer (since if the VA hires me, I would imagine it wouldn't be the day after I interview with them)? I asked the person who heads the comm. health internship when the deadline is to reply if I decline the offer, and she got kind of angry and said that there is no deadline but I'll be inconsiderate to other students if I reply late, since there are quite a few students that didn't get this internship that applied. A contract has not been provided to me yet, just a notice that I was accepted into the internship. So what should I do, go for the VA internship and screw people over if I get it, or do what I already got and give up the opportunity I could have at the VA? I'm leaning towards just going for the VA, but I know that I'll feel kind of bad about it in the process.

Apologized, n make up a story about y u have to decline the offer; be professional and take the job at the VA(it seems like u really want to do it)

 

[deleted205891]

Apologized, n make up a story about y u have to decline the offer; be professional and take the job at the VA(it seems like u really want to do it)

I don't like to make up stories, since this may be found out later (my acceptance letter was CCed to the assistant dean of the college of pharmacy). I would just say "I am sorry, but I am unable to accept this opportunity".

I really hope that the VA will be able to schedule an interview this Monday and will be able to reply to me the Monday after, that would only be 2 weeks after my acceptance letter arrived and I think is a reasonable time period of "making up my mind about an internship"...but that's a far stretch for most jobs, especially with many applicants. I know my school had quite a few applicants for the VA job (4 positions) and there are more schools in the area.

I also interviewed with Eli Lilly, but I have been waiting for their reply for over 3 weeks. I think I'll just call them up tomorrow and see how their selection process is going. I know it's a bit unprofessional, but it would solve all my problems if I got that job.

 

[deleted205891]

To complicate things, apparently my interview is on the 26th, and they said they'll make decisions within the week. This does not seem like a good timeline.

 

[MountainPharmD]

You have to do what is right for you. Pharmacy is a small world and you do not want to go around pissing people off. Remember the old saying, "Be careful whose toes you step on today, they might be attached to the ass you have to kiss tomorrow." However, you have to take care of number one first. Make a decision based on what’s best for you and do what you can to make things right with everyone else.

 

[Farmtastic]

I have a somewhat similar question. I applied for and got three pharmacy intern jobs:

1) hospital, 2) retail, 3) managed care.

3) pays the most and I already said yes to them because they got back to me first.

I can't really do more than one of them for practical reasons.

I'm worried that since I don't have any real pharmacy experience, it might be a drawback to do 3) since it's not actual pharmacy work. I'm a P1, not yet sure what I want to do after graduating...is it a bad move to do an internship where I will be doing management type stuff rather than dispensing, etc. ?

let me know what you think.

 

[deleted205891]

I have a somewhat similar question. I applied for and got three pharmacy intern jobs:

1) hospital, 2) retail, 3) managed care.

3) pays the most and I already said yes to them because they got back to me first.

I can't really do more than one of them for practical reasons.

I'm worried that since I don't have any real pharmacy experience, it might be a drawback to do 3) since it's not actual pharmacy work. I'm a P1, not yet sure what I want to do after graduating...is it a bad move to do an internship where I will be doing management type stuff rather than dispensing, etc. ?

let me know what you think.

I think if you officially agreed to something, you shouldn't back out. Who knows, maybe you'll like managed care and will want to work for it upon graduation. Just try to get a retail job during the school year and you'll get experience that way.

BTW I decided to just go ahead with the interview process for the VA and then accept the VA if they hire me and not accept the community health one. The VA is an opportunity that I would be a fool to miss.

 

[bellavida]

Well. I accepted a summer internship for a chain, but I then declined a week after for an internship at an organization. It was the best decision I made.
You have to do what's best for you...

 

[Sparda29]

Question about these internships, do I have to dedicate the whole summer to the internship or can I pick and choose the days I wanna work like how I do with retail? And I don't get how the hospitals that I apply to expect me to give them 1 month of full time training. Don't they know that some schools do the IPPE stuff during the summer?

 

[deleted205891]

Question about these internships, do I have to dedicate the whole summer to the internship or can I pick and choose the days I wanna work like how I do with retail? And I don't get how the hospitals that I apply to expect me to give them 1 month of full time training. Don't they know that some schools do the IPPE stuff during the summer?

Well, some schools do IPPE, so they'll pick candidates from the other schools.
For the internship, it's whatever the term of the internship is. The one I have now has a 7-week term (dates set in stone) and the one I'm going for is a 10-week term (can choose start/stop date but have to work fulltime). Anyway, it's probably too late to look for these things. Most of them are either currently interviewing or already chose their interns.