Prospective 2019-20 PGY1 candidates!

[zysaty]

Hi everyone! New around here, so I apologize if I should be posting this elsewhere or if something similar exists. I just wanted to share my stats and get some input from peers, and especially everyone here that sits on residency panels and committees, on how I can better myself and my CV. I'm a P2 student entering APPEs in several months and will be applying for a 2019-2020 PGY1 (hopefully in CA). If you're looking into the same thing, feel free to share your stats too!

Pharm GPA: 3.76
Work: Intern at a grocery chain x 2 years (5 years a tech previously)
Orgs: Rho Chi, PLS, ASHP, APhA, Psych Club
Leadership: VP (ASHP), VP of Comm. Outreach (APhA), Operation Heart Co Chair (APhA)
Teaching Experience: TA for 1 quarter of PK
Community Service: Screening events and health fairs, community outreach and education, homeless shelters, nursing home volunteering (some of these I coordinated myself)
Research: No pubs yet, but currently working with an ID pharmacist (hopefully will present at Midyear), 3 years of previous research in undergrad with some publications
Other: Dean's List, 2 scholarships, CPR+immuno cert

I'm currently undecided between Acute or AmbC, but I figured I would have a better idea after my first few APPE rotations. Does it look bad during interviews to admit that I don't know exactly which particular focus I want to be in? Thanks, all!

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[lionheart555]

Hi everyone! New around here, so I apologize if I should be posting this elsewhere or if something similar exists. I just wanted to share my stats and get some input from peers, and especially everyone here that sits on residency panels and committees, on how I can better myself and my CV. I'm a P2 student entering APPEs in several months and will be applying for a 2019-2020 PGY1 (hopefully in CA). If you're looking into the same thing, feel free to share your stats too!

Pharm GPA: 3.76
Work: Intern at a grocery chain x 2 years (5 years a tech previously)
Orgs: Rho Chi, PLS, ASHP, APhA, Psych Club
Leadership: VP (ASHP), VP of Comm. Outreach (APhA), Operation Heart Co Chair (APhA)
Teaching Experience: TA for 1 quarter of PK
Community Service: Screening events and health fairs, community outreach and education, homeless shelters, nursing home volunteering (some of these I coordinated myself)
Research: No pubs yet, but currently working with an ID pharmacist (hopefully will present at Midyear), 3 years of previous research in undergrad with some publications
Other: Dean's List, 2 scholarships, CPR+immuno cert

I'm currently undecided between Acute or AmbC, but I figured I would have a better idea after my first few APPE rotations. Does it look bad during interviews to admit that I don't know exactly which particular focus I want to be in? Thanks, all!

Overall I think you look competitive on paper. I don't know what the CA standard for GPA is at the top academic programs, but seems like a 3.76 would be a good target cutoff for top tier paper applicants.

Components the above tells us nothing about - Your personal statement, Your Letters of Recommendation

Otherwise, remember you need to be able to talk about all of those things during the interview. For example, stretching a bit here, I might ask you things like
- What difficulties did you encounter at the homeless shelter working with patients
- What was your role in the psych club and what did you do/learn (if i was a psych pharmacist)
- Walk me through the methods of your ID research and what stats/decriptive stats/comparisons you made.
- Describe your role as VP at ASHP/APhA (what did you do, who did you manage, what did you learn, what conflicts did you resolve?)

Just make sure you are as prepared as possible and can speak specifically to everything you allow others to know about you in an application.

Finally, the most important interview skill you can have is conversation. You need to be interesting. Confident without being aggressive or arrogant. Knowledgeable, but demonstrate a willingness to learn. Funny but still professional. Easy to get along with, but serious when needed. And passionate without being lame.

As far as a "focus" if you are interested in multiple areas, say so. Just do so without making it look like you are uncertain or unsure about what your interests are. Here is an example,

Rather than say, "I like acute inpatient topics. WELL, actually I really like amb care. But I guess I like acute care more. Oh I don't know"

You can say, "My interests are primarily in amb care, but I really value having some inpatient acute care experience (any specific area????) to be a diverse practicing pharmacist after my residency year."
-- Obviously, you would never say version 1 (I hope). But you get the gist. Basically, embellish, embellish, embellish without sounding lame. Sometimes, being too specific or narrow minded is not a good thing, so keep that in mind.

 

[AlPacino]

Hi everyone! New around here, so I apologize if I should be posting this elsewhere or if something similar exists. I just wanted to share my stats and get some input from peers, and especially everyone here that sits on residency panels and committees, on how I can better myself and my CV. I'm a P2 student entering APPEs in several months and will be applying for a 2019-2020 PGY1 (hopefully in CA). If you're looking into the same thing, feel free to share your stats too!

Pharm GPA: 3.76
Work: Intern at a grocery chain x 2 years (5 years a tech previously)
Orgs: Rho Chi, PLS, ASHP, APhA, Psych Club
Leadership: VP (ASHP), VP of Comm. Outreach (APhA), Operation Heart Co Chair (APhA)
Teaching Experience: TA for 1 quarter of PK
Community Service: Screening events and health fairs, community outreach and education, homeless shelters, nursing home volunteering (some of these I coordinated myself)
Research: No pubs yet, but currently working with an ID pharmacist (hopefully will present at Midyear), 3 years of previous research in undergrad with some publications
Other: Dean's List, 2 scholarships, CPR+immuno cert

I'm currently undecided between Acute or AmbC, but I figured I would have a better idea after my first few APPE rotations. Does it look bad during interviews to admit that I don't know exactly which particular focus I want to be in? Thanks, all!

I think you will get alot of invites. As long as you dont completely bomb your interview, I cant see you not matching. Also, go acute care. You really dont know what you want or were you would make the most impact as a student. Everyone wants to do amcare because its easy as hell and the chillest pharmacy job out there. Unfortunately, there are very little to none amcare jobs and they require a PGY2 in Amcare to even get a consideration. I also found amcare to get boring after 3-4 months. You can only dose Metformin and Lisinopril so many ways.

 

[AlwaysContrary]

Pharm GPA: 3.82
Work: Technician/intern at compounding pharmacy for 4 years, grocery store chain intern x1 year, and hopefully hospital intern (interview here soon)
Orgs: ACCP, PSL, APhA, NCPA, ASHP
Leadership: Community Outreach chair for a free clinic for indigent population, Leadership Legacy (basically a multi-disciplinary leadership program through the health colleges. very selective), Student Liaison, and scholarship committee (I work with the dean and pick out recipients for scholarships and awards)
Teaching Experience: I don't even know how to go about this.
Community Service: volunteer at a recovery center, go to various highschools to teach about drugs and addiction, volunteer at student clinics for indigent population, trick or treat at the pediatric hospital, and more.
Research: one publication of pharmacy times. Having a real hard time finding research opportunities. Please Help!
Other: Dean's List, CPR+immuno cert, Nalaxone cert, Community emergency response team, CITI training

I'm a P3 so any advice for the next upcoming year would be great! I have more to my CV but this is just a quick snapshot. Also, I'm havinga horrid time finding research opportunites so any help would be amazing.

 

[projektreverb]

^make a good impression on your preceptors during P4 year. Odds are you might be asking one of them for a letter of recommendation.

 

[Seriously Serious]

Pharm GPA: 3.82
Work: Technician/intern at compounding pharmacy for 4 years, grocery store chain intern x1 year, and hopefully hospital intern (interview here soon)
Orgs: ACCP, PSL, APhA, NCPA, ASHP
Leadership: Community Outreach chair for a free clinic for indigent population, Leadership Legacy (basically a multi-disciplinary leadership program through the health colleges. very selective), Student Liaison, and scholarship committee (I work with the dean and pick out recipients for scholarships and awards)
Teaching Experience: I don't even know how to go about this.
Community Service: volunteer at a recovery center, go to various highschools to teach about drugs and addiction, volunteer at student clinics for indigent population, trick or treat at the pediatric hospital, and more.
Research: one publication of pharmacy times. Having a real hard time finding research opportunities. Please Help!
Other: Dean's List, CPR+immuno cert, Nalaxone cert, Community emergency response team, CITI training

I'm a P3 so any advice for the next upcoming year would be great! I have more to my CV but this is just a quick snapshot. Also, I'm havinga horrid time finding research opportunites so any help would be amazing.

I'd be careful with putting the pharmacy times article as a "publication". It isn't a publication unless they select and pay you for your work to have it placed in their monthly publication. Otherwise, it's meaningless. For research, literally approach your professors and ask if there are any projects they are working on and/or starting up. At the very least, you should walk away with at least a poster presentation at a national conference.