What should I focus on?

[cuddlefish78]

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I will be starting my P1 next fall. I have recently started looking at my options for residencies. What should I focus on during my years in pharmacy school to beef up my applications to residencies?

 

[desklamp]

I will be starting my P1 next fall. I have recently started looking at my options for residencies. What should I focus on during my years in pharmacy school to beef up my applications to residencies?

I've heard people say so many different things but...

1) Grades- keep it above 3.0 at the very least. Don't need to kill yourself for a 4.0 or anything like that, but > 3.5 seems pretty safe. Don't listen to people who say "Grades don't matter"....obviously they matter to some extent, and why limit yourself to residencies who have low GPA cutoffs?

2) Leadership/Pharmacy org involvement- as in, be able to describe some initiative you took. not just "I was VP of X org and we did bake sales."

3) Service- free clinics and health fairs are great for honing clinical skills and very rewarding. All service is great, but I assume relevancy to your future career would be double bonus points.

4) Research- Just so you know (Because I recently found this out) many schools, esp in Cali, actually REQUIRE their students to do research and complete a manuscript. As such, you will be competing with many intelligent students who have this on their CV PLUS possible publications. So I would try hard to at least complete a project (clinical research is easier to collect data for) whether it's a review paper, case report, retrospective review, PK, abstract for ASHP/ACCP etc.. Also, research develops much needed critical thinking skills and expands your therapeutic knowledge.

5) Difficult and varied rotations your P4 year - as in don't do 5 rotations at CVS, Walgreens, etc.

6) Networking- obviously there's some component of "who you know".

7) Work experience

8) Start identifying your letter of recs early- maybe P3 year, definitely beginning of P4 year.

I'm not a resident, I'm just a P4 so take this with a grain of salt. However I've been to enough forums and talks on how to be a stand out residency candidate to see the trends. How many of these things you focus on depends on how competitive of a residency you want to apply to of course. However a lot of people applying to residencies that I've met have a healthy mix of all of the above, making them very well rounded candidates. I imagine things will only get more competitive as the years go on.

 

[GoldfishPharmD]

^ All great advice. With work experience, I would try to find a job in a hospital, but any work experience is better than none.

 

[deleted205891]

I would actually put work experience as the #1 priority. Try hospital, but even retail experience is much better than no experience.

 

[UHcougar12]

I came to the forums to ask this question as well! I recently got accepted and will be attending next fall. In regards to work experience, many have advised not to work during P1 because of how overwhelming it can be. Can anyone put in their 2 cents about that? If not working, I'm sure I'll atleast try to do research and get involved with organizations.

 

[pharmerjohn]

I've heard people say so many different things but...

1) Grades- keep it above 3.0 at the very least. Don't need to kill yourself for a 4.0 or anything like that, but > 3.5 seems pretty safe. Don't listen to people who say "Grades don't matter"....obviously they matter to some extent, and why limit yourself to residencies who have low GPA cutoffs?

2) Leadership/Pharmacy org involvement- as in, be able to describe some initiative you took. not just "I was VP of X org and we did bake sales."

3) Service- free clinics and health fairs are great for honing clinical skills and very rewarding. All service is great, but I assume relevancy to your future career would be double bonus points.

4) Research- Just so you know (Because I recently found this out) many schools, esp in Cali, actually REQUIRE their students to do research and complete a manuscript. As such, you will be competing with many intelligent students who have this on their CV PLUS possible publications. So I would try hard to at least complete a project (clinical research is easier to collect data for) whether it's a review paper, case report, retrospective review, PK, abstract for ASHP/ACCP etc.. Also, research develops much needed critical thinking skills and expands your therapeutic knowledge.

5) Difficult and varied rotations your P4 year - as in don't do 5 rotations at CVS, Walgreens, etc.

6) Networking- obviously there's some component of "who you know".

7) Work experience

8) Start identifying your letter of recs early- maybe P3 year, definitely beginning of P4 year.

I'm not a resident, I'm just a P4 so take this with a grain of salt. However I've been to enough forums and talks on how to be a stand out residency candidate to see the trends. How many of these things you focus on depends on how competitive of a residency you want to apply to of course. However a lot of people applying to residencies that I've met have a healthy mix of all of the above, making them very well rounded candidates. I imagine things will only get more competitive as the years go on.

This is really helpful and informative. Thanks! 🙂

 

[deleted205891]

I came to the forums to ask this question as well! I recently got accepted and will be attending next fall. In regards to work experience, many have advised not to work during P1 because of how overwhelming it can be. Can anyone put in their 2 cents about that? If not working, I'm sure I'll atleast try to do research and get involved with organizations.

With that attitude, all the jobs will be taken by the time P2 year rolls around. You should work, just don't try to work 20+ hours a week.

 

[GoldfishPharmD]

It may seem overwhelming at first, but honestly P1 year wasn't very hard to me in terms of workload. There's enough time to work ~20 hours a week.

 

[cuddlefish78]

I used to work full time and overload my xlass schedule. I will have no problem working through pharm school

 

[desklamp]

This is really helpful and informative. Thanks! 🙂

Np! Happy to help.

Also agree with everyone saying that job + P1 year is optimal and doable. It varies depending on your college but P2/P3 years were actually worse than P1 for me in terms of workload.

 

[KARM12]

If you can't hold a part time job and do well in school, you probably won't cut it as a resident.

 

[UHcougar12]

Thanks for the input, I do want to work during P1 to gain all the experience I can get. I have always worked/researched while taking full time classes and believe I can still do my very best.

 

[joetrisman]

If you can't hold a part time job and do well in school, you probably won't cut it as a resident.

This.