Residency/Fellowship

[lostsoul12]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hi all,

I am an undergraduate student in my third year, but I was considering going into pharmacy school. I saw on USC's website that they offer residencies as well as fellowships. It seems to me that in order to obtain a fellowship, you need a residency rather than the other way around. What is the difference between residencies and fellowships? Does one have more benefits than the other? Also, what is the main goal of residencies? Are you limited to working in a hospital or retail? Or is it possible to pursue a career in academia and industry with a residency fellowship instead of a fellowship? For example, I might be interested in teaching at a pharmacy school in the future. Would I need a residency for this?

 

[zelman]

Hi all,

I am an undergraduate student in my third year, but I was considering going into pharmacy school. I saw on USC's website that they offer residencies as well as fellowships. It seems to me that in order to obtain a fellowship, you need a residency rather than the other way around. What is the difference between residencies and fellowships? Does one have more benefits than the other? Also, what is the main goal of residencies? Are you limited to working in a hospital or retail? Or is it possible to pursue a career in academia and industry with a residency fellowship instead of a fellowship? For example, I might be interested in teaching at a pharmacy school in the future. Would I need a residency for this?

#1 - Don't go into pharmacy.
#2 - Fellowships lead to careers in industry. Residencies lead to clinical jobs. They are usually at hospitals, but could be ambulatory care clinics. There are also specialized residencies for other things (like informatics), but most are general in nature.

 

[Caffeine QAM]

Hi all,

I am an undergraduate student in my third year, but I was considering going into pharmacy school. I saw on USC's website that they offer residencies as well as fellowships. It seems to me that in order to obtain a fellowship, you need a residency rather than the other way around. What is the difference between residencies and fellowships? Does one have more benefits than the other? Also, what is the main goal of residencies? Are you limited to working in a hospital or retail? Or is it possible to pursue a career in academia and industry with a residency fellowship instead of a fellowship? For example, I might be interested in teaching at a pharmacy school in the future. Would I need a residency for this?

Teaching in academia would most likely require a residency...perhaps not directly, but most pathways to academia stem from having a residency.

As poster above has said, fellowships aim to prepare you for a job primarily doing research, though you may not necesarily end up in industry.

Unlike zelman, I won't tell you to not go into pharmacy, but you should definitely read a lot of the existing posts on this forum regarding the current state of the profession and with that in mind, really reflect on why you want to go into pharmacy and whether or not those reasons would be fulfilled if you took pharmacy on as your profession (or if there is some other way to fulfill them...for example, if you enjoy teaching, there are many other avenues to teach...why pharmacy?). There are many valid reasons that people will discourage you from going into pharmacy.