With the celebration over of matching I am now reflecting how and what it took to be where I finally am today.
The first 3 people to email us at msrxgeek@gmail.com will receive my secret to leaving a unique impression at residency showcase
Here are some points describing how I was as a pharmacy student/residency candidate:
- I served in a multitude of leadership roles including serving as President-Elect and President of a well-known organization and also served on state-affiliated councils
- I utilized being involved to also serve in the community whether it was participating in health fairs, conducting brown paper bag events and also my most favorite… participating in a medical mission trip to Uganda.
- I also interned at a Hospital since my first year of pharmacy school and gained a lot of valuable clinical hospital experience
- I was a bit of an over-achiever, I was inducted into Rho Chi the pharmacy academic honor society and also Phi Lambda Sigma the leadership honor society
- I was involved in many research projects with professors throughout my pharmacy school years and presented many posters at national and state conferences
- My GPA was above a 3.8 (remember GPA is just a small portion)
- I also worked super hard in obtaining a publication in the American Journal of Health System pharmacy which you can read more about here
These are just a few things I can remember off the top of my head to show you the type of residency candidate I was, doesn’t mean you have to be like me to get a residency. There is no real formula on how to obtain a residency. I feel a large part of it is fate and where you are meant to be. However, if it is clear that you are an individual who desires residency for a certain purpose and has worked towards one…your chances are good!
Residency Application Process
I remember being so nervous starting my PhORCAS application. November 1st was when PhORCAS opened and immediately my gears started shifting. I drafted letters to send to people who knew me well over the years asking for letters of recommendation as I apply for residencies. This part i’m happy to say was easy for me as I had many preceptors and professors tell me ahead of time to reach out to them for letters. So one piece of advice I would share from this is, make connections with professors and also potential preceptors you may see at conferences. One of my preceptors that wrote me a letter I actually met at an oncology conference before I had a rotation with her.
Beginning of P3 year I wrote a list of places I may potentially want to apply to for residencies and tried my best to ensure I would do rotations there, so I could have a sense of the pharmacy environment. Doing rotations at potential places for residency could be both good and bad. It works in your favor if you were an excellent student during the rotation. I definitely believe that helped me and possibly others as well.
During Midyear I created a book of all the programs I was interested in, weighing both their pros and cons and I made sure to utilize the residency showcase to ask all my questions. I also used residency showcase as a time to connect with residency program directors (RPD’s) and to make sure I would leave a unique impression. (P.S The first 3 people to email us at msrxgeek@gmail.com will receive my secret to leaving a unique impression at residency showcase).
Overall Residency showcase was exhausting, but I got all the answers I needed. After residency showcase was when I started to complete the portions I could control such as obtaining my transcripts, filling out work experience, awards and more. Ultimately I ended up applying to 8 places only. Originally I was only going to apply to 6 but decided to increase my opportunities by applying to 8. I applied to two states I was interested in doing a residency in. Out of the 8 places I applied to I received 4 interviews and accepted all of them.
In the future I will post a blog about my residency interview experience so stay tuned and subscribe to the blog on your right hand side to be alerted of future posts!
But overall I loved all the places I interviewed at but there was one in particular that stood out to me the most and that was who I ranked as my top choice. And as some of you may already know, I ended up matching at my top choice which was a blessing.
The whole residency application process is quite endearing, it takes a lot of work and money but it is worth investing into in order to achieve your career goals. My advice is to not limit yourself, increase opportunities for yourself as much as you can and build your network.
Thanks for reading!
— Ms Rx Geek
Kgrant