P4 with some specific residency q's

[tungsten87]

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hey all, I'm a fourth year student who has definitively decided to pursue a PGY-1 and a subsequent PGY-2 in oncology/hematology and I had a few questions with this in mind:

is it myopic to only apply to programs with a PGY-2 in oncology? early commitment seems preferable (especially if I do a good job narrowing down the PGY-1 programs I apply to), and I figure a program with a PGY-2 in oncology is more likely to have a stronger pharmacy role in that area and better training. if anything this makes narrowing down my list of programs much easier.

also, would it be a bad idea to apply to 'cancer centers' for PGY-1? I'd like to get a well-rounded experience in my first year and was wondering if this would be fulfilled at a place like this. I know MD anderson, moffit, etc have these programs now, although I am unsure of their accreditation status.

 

[joetrisman]

I took the same approach and focused on programs with PGY2s in my area of interest for your mentioned reasons. I've still got a ways to go before I can make a strong opinion, but from talking to people that went to different programs for each year, it might be preferable to get the exposure to different types of practice, rotations, patient populations, etc. On the flip side, the adjustment period with an early commit is 0 so you can hit the ground running and focus on projects, pharmacotherapy stuff, etc rather than being bogged down with acclimating to new computer systems, people, place, etc.

I'm debating this all myself for the coming year...

 

[patmcd]

hey all, I'm a fourth year student who has definitively decided to pursue a PGY-1 and a subsequent PGY-2 in oncology/hematology and I had a few questions with this in mind:

is it myopic to only apply to programs with a PGY-2 in oncology? early commitment seems preferable (especially if I do a good job narrowing down the PGY-1 programs I apply to), and I figure a program with a PGY-2 in oncology is more likely to have a stronger pharmacy role in that area and better training. if anything this makes narrowing down my list of programs much easier.

also, would it be a bad idea to apply to 'cancer centers' for PGY-1? I'd like to get a well-rounded experience in my first year and was wondering if this would be fulfilled at a place like this. I know MD anderson, moffit, etc have these programs now, although I am unsure of their accreditation status.

There are pros and cons to the early commitment process, but there is nothing wrong with generally focusing on programs that offer a PGY2 in your area of interest. They should be able to offer you a high quality PGY1 rotation to figure out if that specialty is really for you (plenty of people change their mind). That said I wouldn't write off a PGY1 that is an excellent fit for you aside from not having a PGY2 in onc.

As for doing a PGY1 at a cancer focused hospital, I would do your do diligence to ensure that they have enough breadth and depth to give you a well rounded experience outside of oncology.

 

[fiorio]

definitely do NOT limit yourself only to places that have PGY2 in hem/onc. Usually those are large academic center, their PGY1 programs can be very competitive.

MD Anderson PGY2 is extremely competitive, Moffitt only has one spot, so...as for PGY1 experience, having a broad experience will help you. As you know, cancer patients have other diseases as well, and the team may ask you how to manage diabetes, seizure, etc.

hey all, I'm a fourth year student who has definitively decided to pursue a PGY-1 and a subsequent PGY-2 in oncology/hematology and I had a few questions with this in mind:

is it myopic to only apply to programs with a PGY-2 in oncology? early commitment seems preferable (especially if I do a good job narrowing down the PGY-1 programs I apply to), and I figure a program with a PGY-2 in oncology is more likely to have a stronger pharmacy role in that area and better training. if anything this makes narrowing down my list of programs much easier.

also, would it be a bad idea to apply to 'cancer centers' for PGY-1? I'd like to get a well-rounded experience in my first year and was wondering if this would be fulfilled at a place like this. I know MD anderson, moffit, etc have these programs now, although I am unsure of their accreditation status.

 

[bacillus1]

Ask yourself: would you rather do a PGY-1 in a place with no PGY-2 in heme/onc, or would you rather not do a residency at all?

If your answer is that you'd rather do a PGY-1 in a place with no heme/onc PGY-2 than no residency, definitely apply to those places as backups.

 

[tungsten87]

definitely do NOT limit yourself only to places that have PGY2 in hem/onc. Usually those are large academic center, their PGY1 programs can be very competitive.

MD Anderson PGY2 is extremely competitive, Moffitt only has one spot, so...as for PGY1 experience, having a broad experience will help you. As you know, cancer patients have other diseases as well, and the team may ask you how to manage diabetes, seizure, etc.

I understand the above statement and I've definitely weighed the risks. There are 1-2 programs I would consider somewhat "safe" but otherwise I've decided to shoot for the stars. I'd rather gamble towards a better program than play it safe with this, especially since I have a solid backup plan.

 

[GoldfishPharmD]

So, I basically had your same mind set when I applied for residencies. I was dead set on the PGY-2 that I wanted to do, and unfortunately there aren't that many places that had it. Of course, the places that did have it were all big academic hospitals. I thought I was a competitive applicant and applied to 13 programs. 10 either had the PGY-2 or at least had some kind of exposure to it and the other 3 didn't (which I applied to last minute). I ended up getting 4 total interviews, ranked 3, and didn't match.

I definitely think the way I went about it was a huge mistake. I would have definitely applied broadly. Look at some of the smaller programs. Smaller hospitals can still give you that oncology experience in addition to exposing you to other areas.

 

[Kenzi11611]

I would look for PGY-1s that have heme/onc experiences as electives. Bonus points if they have a PGY-2 as well. For example, where I'm a PGY-1 now we have a large inpatient cancer center attached to the hospital and several opportunities for electives over there even though there is no PGY-2 in onc at our hosptial. One of my co-residents only applied to places that had PGY-2 in Emergency Med and only got 2 interviews (ranked only 1 place). She feels she would have had a lot better options if she had applied more broadly.

 

[tungsten87]

so would a better strategy be to choose a few more smaller programs that are less competitive? I was also hoping to apply to no more than 10 programs, with around 6-7 as my preference.

 

[joetrisman]

so would a better strategy be to choose a few more smaller programs that are less competitive? I was also hoping to apply to no more than 10 programs, with around 6-7 as my preference.

I would try to balance it out more. I knew plenty of qualified people that didn't match last year. I think its dumb luck more than anything.

 

[bacillus1]

I would try to balance it out more. I knew plenty of qualified people that didn't match last year. I think its dumb luck more than anything.

Agreed. Apply to the programs with onc PGY-2s, but also throw in smaller programs in the mix. Then rank them based on your preference, not based on how competitive of an applicant you think you'll be for the program.

 

[ucrx]

There are positives & negatives with early commitment. I'm very happy I did my residencies at 2 different places, but the stress of the PGY2 application process was a definite negative. I do think applying to hospitals with strong oncology services is a good idea, but that doesn't mean they have to have PGY2. There are plenty of hospitals that aren't major academic sites (aka theoretically less competitive) that can give you oncology exposure.

As far as the cancer centers that offer PGY1, I generally wouldn't recommend it especially if you plan on doing inpatient oncology. There is a lot of general medicine mixed in with oncology and you need a strong base. You also are setting yourself up for a possible disadvantage when it comes to PGY2 (even though that may sound crazy). My director doesn't care what oncology experience our PGY2 applicants have, just that they have a solid general medicine background. We're going to teach our residents oncology, but we don't have time to reteach the medicine side.

 

[pharmgirl333]

I would try to balance it out more. I knew plenty of qualified people that didn't match last year. I think its dumb luck more than anything.

Agreed. You have to apply broadly. Getting a residency is incredibly competitive. You could be one of the strongest candidates coming from your pharmacy school but there are hundreds of other people out there that are just as strong, if not stronger applicants.

 

[tungsten87]

Thanks for all the helpful advice and insight everyone. I think I'll just try to apply more broadly to more programs (15 or so) and then if I find I'm getting interviews I can always politely decline certain programs (would love for this to end up being the case!). Phorcas certainly makes this approach significantly less complicated aside from the extra $$

 

[joetrisman]

Thanks for all the helpful advice and insight everyone. I think I'll just try to apply more broadly to more programs (15 or so) and then if I find I'm getting interviews I can always politely decline certain programs (would love for this to end up being the case!). Phorcas certainly makes this approach significantly less complicated aside from the extra $$

Be sure to get your transcripts in early. I know a lot of people had problems with that last year as phorcas became backlogged. Also many of us had issues with their website where our letter writers upload their lors but the site messed up and didn't get the letters but there was no way for you or the writer to know. I found out day 3 post deadlines when a rpd emailed me to request the missing doc. I'm guessing this cost me at least a couple interviews last year.

 

[tungsten87]

Be sure to get your transcripts in early. I know a lot of people had problems with that last year as phorcas became backlogged. Also many of us had issues with their website where our letter writers upload their lors but the site messed up and didn't get the letters but there was no way for you or the writer to know. I found out day 3 post deadlines when a rpd emailed me to request the missing doc. I'm guessing this cost me at least a couple interviews last year.

I recall the pandamonium in the residency application thread. really hoping they worked out the kinks for this year!