Should I take this mail order rotation?

[Amphetamine Salts]

i've been interested in mail order since 4-5th year of pharm school. there's an opportunity for me to take a mail order rotation. normally i would immediately jump at this but the issue is the commute will be very long. with traffic i'd be looking at potentially 1 hour and 30 mins of commute going to the rotation and on the way back. that's 3 hours a day of commute. total distance is about 20-23 miles. without traffic it's very do-able, would only be 45 minutes commute which i would be fine with, but the traffic kills it

because of the distance i don't think i'd want employment opportunities at this location so that's out in terms of benefits taking this rotation. however, i could gain some connections and insight while i'm there and maybe doing this rotation will open other doors regarding mail order for me, hopefully opportunities that are closer to where i live. the only reason i wouldn't take this rotation is because of the commute. if i do take this rotation i'd have to tolerate 5 weeks of potentially 3 hours of driving in traffic per day, should i take the rotation?

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[Unsure90]

If you've always been interested in mail order, I would just sign up for the rotation. You won't have this kind of opportunity again once you graduate. The best part of being a student was being able to freely experience different pharmacy settings.

Even if the commute is bad, I would suck it up. lol. Besides some rotations let you start earlier if you let them know about your commute time. I remember I used to have 1-1.25 hour commute in the morning going to 2 different rotations (PBM, hospital). I asked my preceptors if I could start/leave earlier and they were like sure. No biggie. It shortened my commute by 20-30 minutes in the morning.

You can also try carpooling with other students at your rotation too so you can drive in the carpool lane.

 

[Jbrl]

Ditto the previous post. Just do it. Some ideas:

1. Relocate temporarily. Crash with friends. Sublet.

2. Leave early and return home late to skip traffic woes. Go to a Starbucks/Panera before and after - have work or movies handy.

3. Alter hours agreed upon. E.g. 10am-6pm or 8am-4pm.

 

[beautifulrobot]

Barring some exceptional circumstances (don't have a car/can't afford gas/have a health condition that would make it very uncomfortable or unhealthy to spend that much time in a car/have to be back home by a certain hour to take care of dependents, etc.), I really don't see any good reason to skip out on this opportunity just because of the inconvenient commute for 5 weeks. Honestly, an hour and a half commute each way is the reality for a lot of working adults, and really isn't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things (i.e. people do it for years and survive). The other consideration is if you don't take this rotation what is the alternative?

 

[BMBiology]

Don't let the distance get in the way. Use Airbnb if you have to.

If it is out of the way then that means less competition for a pharmacist job. It is sure better than retail hell.


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[Amicable Angora]

If not this rotation, what would you take?

 

[Amphetamine Salts]

thanks all for the replies, i haven't thought that i might be able to alter hours such as 7 or 8am to 3-4pm. that would allow me to bypass traffic. if not this rotation i would have to take a random acute patient care rotation in some hospital that i could care less about. since i would much rather do this mail order rotation i'm going to take it

 

[npage148]

It's only 10-15 miles one way? Ride a bike. Even 20 miles is rideable in 90-120 min. Same time as driving. Much more enjoyable

 

[steveysmith54]

Mail order jobs are typically scarce and are not in the suburbs. in fact a lot are in industrial areas and are in remote locations. Most people have to move for that kind of a job. If you are serious about working for mail order upon graduation, i recommend changing your expectations and mindset about moving. I think this is a tremendous opportunity to not only get your foot in the door, but also evaluate if the job is right for you

 

[quickpic007]

i've been interested in mail order since 4-5th year of pharm school. there's an opportunity for me to take a mail order rotation. normally i would immediately jump at this but the issue is the commute will be very long. with traffic i'd be looking at potentially 1 hour and 30 mins of commute going to the rotation and on the way back. that's 3 hours a day of commute. total distance is about 20-23 miles. without traffic it's very do-able, would only be 45 minutes commute which i would be fine with, but the traffic kills it

because of the distance i don't think i'd want employment opportunities at this location so that's out in terms of benefits taking this rotation. however, i could gain some connections and insight while i'm there and maybe doing this rotation will open other doors regarding mail order for me, hopefully opportunities that are closer to where i live. the only reason i wouldn't take this rotation is because of the commute. if i do take this rotation i'd have to tolerate 5 weeks of potentially 3 hours of driving in traffic per day, should i take the rotation?

Just do it #winning