Hi, I'm the USN student emogrrrrl was referring to in her post 😉 Let me start by saying that, yes, coming from a developing program does have its challenges. It matters to a degree, certainly if you go for certain regional residency programs, coming from the well established regional pharmacy school puts you at an advantage. At the AZ positions I've interviewed at, most of the residents, preceptors, and directors are from University of Arizona. They know how those candidates were trained, and often the preceptors are on the faculty of the local pharmacy school. I did have to field a question or two during one of my residency interviews pertaining to the grading/curricular structure at our school. This has more to do with unfamiliarity some preceptors have with the program than anything else. More often than not, I am finding that residency directors, coordinators, and preceptors are more interested in YOU...they ask questions regarding your fitness for residency training: what's your work ethic, what do you expect from the program, and can you work well with others. One of the things I have come to understand is that pharmacy is a real small world. People I've interviewed with turned out to be familiar with some of my clinical rotation preceptors, especially those who wrote my letters of rec. The coordinator I just interviewed with on Thursday turned out to be a fellow pharmacy practice resident of one of my letter writers. She can vouch for me on a personal level with the coordinator. This trumps anything regarding the newness of the school. In our second graduating class, anywhere from 10-15 students grabbed residency positions, I know a few that are at VA hospitals in AZ, NM, UT, and another at UCSD. So to sum it up...a well established program will help you with networking and familiarity, but is not anywhere near the deciding factor in whether or not you will get a particular residency position. In the end, it's about you.
