2011 Match: The Stats Thread

[All4MyDaughter]

This thread is for students who matching into residencies to share their stats (anonymously if desired) so that other students interested in residencies can see what types of qualifications are generally favorable to residency programs.

You can post your stats in the thread under your own SDN user name or send them by Private Message to All4MyDaughter for posting. As an SDN staff member I am under the staff NDA so your information is safe.

Things to include (suggested):
-GPA
-Type of PharmD program (3 or 4 year)
-Geographic location (region or city if desired)
-Activities
-Leadership positions
-Community service
-Work experience in the field of pharmacy
-Work experience outside of pharmacy
-Number and type of residencies applied to
-Number of interview invites
-Where you actually matched (type of residency, geographic location, etc)


Prazi - anything else we ought to include?

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[Praziquantel86]

Thanks for putting this up! I think that should cover the basics, anything else might just make things messy.

GPA: 3.65
Type of Program: 4-year (University at Buffalo)
Activities: Research since P2 year in ID (4 posters, 2 pubs), PLS, WNYSHP/NYSCHP, ASHP, ACCP, IDSA
Leadership: Served on state, local, national (ACCP) and school committees. Class and student association president.
Community service: Active in local drug disposal initiatives
Work: Hospital internship (3 years), retail tech and intern (7 years total)

I applied to 9 programs, mostly University-affiliated. All had PGY-2 programs in ID. Interviewed at all 9, ranked 8. Matched at my number 1 (northeast U.S., well-known University teaching hospital but not affiliated with a college of pharmacy)...I would have been happy anywhere I ranked, though.

 

[dingerx]

I'm posting for my wife:

-3.9
-Pharm.D. 0-6 program
-SPA, APhA, ACCP, publishing
-Big Brothers Big Sisters
-4 years pediatric inpatient
-6 residencies, 6 interviews
-Teaching hospital, Northeast

 

[All4MyDaughter]

GPA - 3.65
Program - 2 years at University of Kentucky, withdrew in good standing; transferred to Sullivan University to finish
Activities/Leadership/Community service - almost no school related activities; Administrator for SDN; founder and manager of several charity funds and initiatives in my daughter's memory; 10+ (nonscholarly) publications about various healthcare related topics; owner of a small management consulting business
Pharmacy experience - 4+ years at local VAMC (outpatient and inpatient); interned at Walgreens and Kroger before that
Other experience - former nonprofit and student affairs administrator; masters degree in Higher Ed administration

Applied to:
-PGY 1 in Community Pharmacy/Ambulatory Care (interviewed/ranked/#1 choice/matched)
-PGY 1 in Managed Care (declined interview)
-PGY 1 at multifacility community health care system (interviewed)
-PGY 1 at VA hospital (interviewed)
-PGY 1 at public psychiatric hospital/cosponsored by college of pharmacy (interviewed)

My major interests are Ambulatory Care related. I like diabetes management, management of chronic heart failure, MTM, and working one on one with patients on a long term basis. I also happen to really love psychiatry but am not crazy about other types of inpatient medicine. So my rank list was focused on those factors. I ranked 3 of the 4 places I interviewed. The 4th place was a great program, just not a good fit for me. I also believe I would have like the Managed Care residency but the interview was scheduled late in the interview season and I ran into some health problems/complications related to my pregnancy. Since I was already pretty sure of my number 1 choice, I decided to decline the interview.

 

[janeno]

Here are my stats:

-GPA: 3.78
-Type of PharmD program: 4 year
-Geographic location: Midwest
-Activities: Research experience, Rho Chi, member of various state and national organizations, member of a multicultural pharmacy organization, participation and placement in a multidisciplinary competition
-Leadership positions: coordinator of a case competition, secretary of Rho Chi, started a new patient care project
-Community service: few patient care events
-Work experience in the field of pharmacy: pharmacy intern at retail for 3 years, TA for a pharmacy course, research in clinical pharmacy
-Number and type of residencies applied to: I applied to 7 residencies with main focus on inpatient pharmacy but with available electives in ambulatory care. I applied to a variety of programs: teaching university-affiliated, teaching not university affiliated, private, and community hospitals. I was not 100% sure what type of program/setting I wanted to be in.
-Number of interview invites: 6 interview invites, and I ranked all of them
-Where you actually matched (type of residency, geographic location, etc): I matched to my number one choice - teaching not university affiliated hospital in Midwest. The program provides an opportunity to complete rotations in both inpatient and outpatient settings.

 

[cycloketocaine]

-GPA: >3.5
-Type of PharmD program (3 or 4 year): 4 year
-Geographic location (region or city if desired): The plains
-Activities: Multiple orgs, research (3 posters and 2 publications)
-Leadership positions: >10
-Community service: Immunization Clinics, Health Clinics, and Silent Auction Organizer three years in a row
-Work experience in the field of pharmacy: 4 years as a certified pharmacy tech before school, been working as an intern at an indy during school
-Work experience outside of pharmacy: Tutoring
-Number and type of residencies applied to: Applied to 7
-Number of interview invites: 7
-Where you actually matched (type of residency, geographic location, etc): I matched to my number 1.

 

[hopeful_dr]

-GPA: 3.98 (number 5 in my class )
-Type of PharmD program: 0-6; however, I completed four years of undergrad at the same university with a major in Biological Sciences before transferring into the pharmacy program to spend an additional four years at the university
-Geographic location: Northeast
-Activities/Leadership/Community Service: RhoChi, ASP, APhA, ACCP, ASHP; tutored students for the departments of pharmacy practice, pharm chem, and pathophysiology; participated in a few community outreach events; placed second at school's local clinical skills competition; winner of NACDS Student Scholarship
-Work experience in the field of pharmacy: 5-year intern at local community chain pharmacy

I applied to nine PGY-1 programs, all with a focus on in-patient clinical pharmacy, with quite the mix- some newly accredited and some unaccredited and some with a very long history; majority were affiliated with big name universities (including pharmacy schools); however, only one-third of the programs had PGY-2 positions in addition to PGY-1. Offered interviews at 7 out of the 9 programs, but declined one interview; ended up ranking four programs.

I matched at a university teaching hospital in the Northeast with many of the preceptors having an affiliation at my school of pharmacy; in retrospect, I should have made them my #1 choice because I realize now that the place I matched at was my best interview and I had a good feeling about it after the interview. I am very excited to start the program, and I hope that it fares to be a great opportunity.

Thanks so much for this; this was a great idea!

Oh yeah, for my interviews, I used two books that I highly recommend to all who plan to apply, whether residency or not: The Pharmacy Professionals Guide to Resumes, CVs, & Interviewing, 2nd Edition by Thomas Reinders and 301 Smart Answers to Tough Interview Questions by Vicky Oliver. These books were awesome; the first book had a whole chapter that was ~20 pages long that had possible interview questions, most of which were asked, and the second book was true to its title.

 

[ttopping]

GPA: 3.65
Type of Program: 4-year (University at Buffalo)
School Activities / Leadership: Dean Student Ambassador , TAing, member but no officer roles for APhA, ASHP, ASCP
Research / Publications: Helped with data collection for a research project presented by classmates, 2 unrelated publications in progress
Extracurricular: Member of a traveling UB club sports team for 5 years, working toward my 46 high peaks in the Adirondacks (NY)
Work: 2 years in retail, 1 year inpatient, had to leave inpatient for geographical reasons
Other: I had a great lineup for APPEs which really helped: Hospice/Palliative, Informatics, Cardiology, ID, Critical Care…and one outpatient retail

I applied to 6 programs: 4 were VA hospitals outside of NY, 2 were larger university affiliated teaching hospitals. The VAs had a mixed focus of inpatient and am care, the other 2 had a mostly inpatient focus (one more so for internal medicine, the other had more critical care).

I had 3 interview offers and ranked all 3. I would have been happy to go to any of the programs. They all had different qualities and yet I liked them almost equally (made ranking very difficult). I know my CV isn’t crazy competitive, but the interview is generally where I stand out more (just as important in my opinion). A lot of my qualities don’t necessarily translate to paper.

I matched at my #1, a large university affiliated teaching hospital in Western NY (not Buffalo)

 

[psychoandy]

Looking at this thread as I scramble really explains a lot...obviously limitations due to sample size and biased sample, but very interesting. and since i'm still scrambling I am going to be a little more vague than some of you who matched.

GPA: <3.0 (not to excuse this, but i have a half decent sob story for it requiring 2 leaves of absence with good standing. but this makes my trasncript look bad)
Type: 0-6, Northeast
Activities: typical student member of organizations, but nothing else; did have a decent poster at midyear
Leadership: none that wasn't work-related
Community service: some mentoring
Pharmacy work experience: 1 year retail + 4 years at academic medical center, consistently part time through school, heavy operational exposure (not just filling pyxis and hangin in the hood)
APPEs: 2 critical care, inpt palliative care, IM (all at big universiy hospitals) infusion clinic, retail
My interests: critical care/operations management/cardiology
Applied to: 11 programs, all top-tier teaching hospitals with as little amcare as possible, half of which were not in the Northeast
Number of interviews: 2 (both went well, IMO, but were at the end of interview season)

Reasons why I think I didn't match:
-GPA: almost 100% sure my app didn't pass screening bc GPA is easiest metric to throw out weak applications
-not enough extracurriculars/research
-my standards are too high relative to my stats
-not enough cheerleading on my part regarding work experience

In terms of the actual matching process, I really feel like I was ranked as 2nd tier, but due to prestige/awesomeness of the programs, anyone who interviewed would have picked it #1, and thus whoever the program ranked as their top picks matched.

Lesson: Grades>work experience, unless you take it to the next level at your work and have something concrete to show for it (monographs/guidelines/research). And judging by the tentative results here, don't apply for big name programs unless you have at least a 3.5 + standard residency materials. Maybe a 3.25 with really good recs, research, things that really push you over the top, etc. Also, it helps if you don't apply local; both of my interviews were out of state.

 

[miceheart]

-GPA: 3.7
-Type of PharmD program: 4 year
-Geographic location: East (Maryland)
-Activities: Have a Ph.D Degree with 5 publications. Some school activities, not very involved.
-Work experience in the field of pharmacy: 2 years at big teaching hospital-inpatient
-Number and type of residencies applied to: 9
-Number of interview invites: 3, ranked 2
-Where you actually matched: North, University affiliated hospital, strong association with school of pharmacy.

 

[sd3]

GPA: pass/fail system
Pharm/Ph.D: southern california with 11 published articles.
Activities: not involved much.
Work experiences: not much
Fellowship: applied to one. Got it.
Residency: applied to 3. Interviewed 3. Withdrew from the match.

 

[ucrx]

-GPA: around 3.9
-Type of PharmD program (3 or 4 year): 4 year (2+4 school)
-Geographic location: New England
-Activities: LKS, APhA, CSHP, pharmacy student government, PLS, Rho Chi, research (1 publication, involved in 4 projects)
-Leadership positions: treasurer of LKS, PSG rep for CSHP
-Community service: tons with the organizations
-Work experience in the field of pharmacy: retail for 8 years (independent and 2 chains)
-Work experience outside of pharmacy: chemistry tutor, dining hall student employee

For PGY1, I applied to around 8 programs (all teaching hospitals, although not all directly affiliated with med or pharmacy schools). I got 5 interview offers and attended 4. I ranked 3 programs and matched my #2 at a large hospital in DC (all acute care).

For PGY2 (oncology), I applied to 7 programs and interviewed at 4. I ranked all 4 and matched at my #1, a large SOP-affiliated program with both inpatient and clinic settings.

 

[NormalSaline]

GPA=3.6
-4 yr program
-Geographic location: east coast
-Poster presentation @ midyear ~700 patient retrospective analysis
-Leadership positions: class social chair
-Community service: 3 months of volunteer work P1 year and a manager position at a homeless shelter during my 3rd year*** I think this was a huge + on my CV
-Work experience in pharmacy: retail 5 years, summer internship @ VA after P2 year
-Work experience outside of pharmacy: lots, not listed on CV except homeless shelter job
-Number and type of residencies applied to: 9 total, all inpatient focused
-Number of interview invites: 5, in general I did not receive invites from the huge, university affiliated/more prestigious programs who were probably not familiar with my school
-Where you actually matched: #1 choice, big city in the midwest

 

[p-rog]

-GPA: 3.98 (2nd in my class of ~125)
-Type of PharmD program: 4 year
-Geographic location: Southeast
-Activities: Was in about 6 organizations but I never did anything in them. Involved in 4 research projects (2 basic and 2 clinical) with 2 poster presentations at Midyear and no publications
-Leadership positions: one single activity (health fair chair)
-Community service: 1 activity per year of pharmacy school (3 total)
-Work experience in the field of pharmacy: retail for 3 years
-Work experience outside of pharmacy: none on my CV
-Number and type of residencies applied to: applied to 6 industry-based clinical research & drug development fellowships and one combined residency/MS degree (all 2 year programs)
-Number of interview invites: 2
-Where you actually matched: fellowship where I spend the first year at the SOP and their university hospital and spend the second year with the pharma compnay (clinical trials)

 

[JJRAZ]

-GPA: 4.0
-Type of PharmD program: 4 yr
-Geographic location (region or city if desired): Southwest
-Activities: Rho Chi President, ASHP member, APhA member, Member of state pharmacy organization, no real involvement except for Rho Chi.
-Poster: residency caliber senior project presented at ASHP Midyear
-Leadership positions: Rho Chi President, tutoring, kinetics test reviews
-Community service: misc stuff during school, coached HS baseball
-Work experience in the field of pharmacy: 6 years retail, avg 20hrs/wk while in Pharm School
-Work experience outside of pharmacy: not included on CV
-Number and type of residencies applied to: 5 programs located in southwest. acute care inpatient at teaching hospitals. Two were on University campuses, two VAs, and one private teaching hospital.
-Number of interview invites: 5
-Where you actually matched (type of residency, geographic location, etc): University based teaching hospital, has 8 PGY1 spots and 7 PGY2 spots.

 

[Farmercyst]

GPA - 3.3 B+ avg
Program - 4 year University of Southern California
Organizations - APhA, ASHP, CPhA, CSHP, IPSF, AMCP x 4 years
SIA x 1 year
LKS x4 years (New Member Coordinator, President)
Multiple HFs (osteoporosis, HTN, Diabetes screenings mostly)
1 poster at NOF/ISCD symposium 2010
Pharmacy experience - 3+ years at community pharmacy on campus (sterile/extemporaneous compounding, immunizations,medicaid, MTM, travel clinic)
Other experience - 8 years customer service experience in utility industry, various religious leadership positions, Eagle Scout, merit badge counselor, married with 3 kids
(most of which left of the CV but introduced in some LOIs depending on site)

APPEs:USC Univ Hospital Acute Care (Cardiovascular Surgery ICU/Stepdown floor)
LAC+USC Drug Info
LAC+USC Pediatrics
Children's Hospital Central CA Pharmacy Systems (aka staffing)
USC Ambulatory Care Clinics (indigent population DM, HTN, Astma primarily)
Target Pharmacy Community rotation

Applied to:
Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles
St Louis Children's Hospital
Vanderbilt University associated Children's Hospital
Arkansas Children's Hospital
Children's Hospital of Central California
Long Beach Memorial/Miller Children's Hopsital Ped's focused

Scrambled to:
Loma Linda University Med Center
St Francis Med Ctr (Tulsa, OK)
TX Children's PGY-1/PGY-2 Admin
Western University Community Pharmacy
University of Iowa Community Pharmacy (x3)

Italics=Interviewed

Still nothing. Hope to find out this weekend about Univ of Iowa, haven't heard from Western in > 1 week now.

 

[Redcamalot]

Wow, all I have to say is NNNNNEEEERRRDDDDS

I decided to make an account and reply because I matched to one of the largest hospitals in the country with an associated pharmacy school and major center for the area. It was my first choice. I do not feel as though I am a stand out candidate on paper.
Things to include (suggested):

-GPA 3.6 no rho chi or awards
-Type of PharmD program 4 yr, only 3 yr undergrad no bs degree
-Geographic location east coast
-Activities none with pharmacy school. Did some volunteer work with parks and recreation and in my other hobby areas
-Leadership positions none. Absolutely zero I was not in any clubs except ashp to get cheaper rate at midyear. I attended 0 meetings. Just mentorship to students w outdoor activities
-Community service just the ippe that was required for school. Like i said I had some community service with the parks and rec
-Work experience in the field community pharmacy only. No hospital except appe and ippe through school
I applied to five places, got four interviews. Ranked four. Got my first choice.

For me my strength is in my personality and interview skills, as well as the cases I had to work and defend. I also took the time to write an amazing letter of intent, several program directors commented on how great it was. My cv was not 10 pages long, I could fit everything on a couple pages. There is hope for normal people.

 

[PharmD Strike]

GPA: 3.7
-Type of PharmD program: 6-year
-Geographic location: Tallahassee, FL
-Activities: APhA, Phi Lambda Sigma, Rho Chi, MHIRT Fellow (Researched in Africa for 6 weeks), Research the entire P4 year, JHHI Health Fairs, Relay for Life organizer, NCPA Student Chapter at FAMU founder, and very active in church. Plus Married!
-Leadership positions: Parliamentarian of Phi Lambda Sigma, Committee Board Member for the Grievance Council,
-Community service: Health fairs, drug disposals, charity work, etc.
-Work experience: 3 years as a pharmacy intern.
-Work experience: Mentoring
-Number and type of residencies applied to: 7, Duke Hospital, Ohio State University, University of Kentucky Hospital, Ashville VA, Tallahassee Memorial, Tampa General Hospital, and UNC Hospital. All very good programs but I was not offered an interview because of reasons I cannot state. I do not want to get the programs in trouble. . TMH was my only interview and of course my #1. God played a role in this so I'm grateful. The clinical pharmacy team are beast and I hope to learn a whoooolllleeee Lot! I will also be in the process of becoming certified in Pharmacotherapy. Later, in Oncology
-Number of interview invites: 1
-Where you actually matched: Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. Very intense residency...Im ready for it.

 

[docusate stat]

Just wanted to give some 'average' applicants some hope...

PGY1
-GPA: 3.3
-Type of PharmD program: 3 yr
-Geographic location: West coast
-Activities: research, class liaison, some faculty committee work, couple publications
-Leadership positions: committee cochair
-Community service: health fairs
-Work experience: technician x 1 year, intern inpatient + retail x 2 years
-Number and type of residencies applied to: 8
-Number of interview invites: 6
-Where you actually matched: 1st choice, Northeast, large university private teaching institution

PGY2 Oncology
-Number and type of residencies applied to: 6
-Number of interview invites: 4
-Where you actually matched: 1st choice, West coast, large university based teaching institution

 

[Dr Coke]

I just thought I'd tag in on the "average" Band-wagon

Things to include (suggested):
-GPA 3.1
-Type of PharmD program (3 or 4 year) 4 year program (2+4)
-Geographic location (region or city if desired) East Coast (Virginia)
-Activities:
1st Runner Up Clinical Skills Competition (during my 3rd year- yes even underachievers can be nerds )
Member of SNPhA, APhA, and ASHP
USA Registered Amateur Boxer
-Leadership positions:
Class Parliamentarian,
Researcher for Research Grant proposal to NIH
Toxicology Fellow
Resident Assistant
Committee Co-Chair for various school projects
Member of SGA
-Community service: several various school service projects, as well as others w/ local fraternity chapters
-Work experience in the field of pharmacy:
7 years community pharmacy total (started at age 16 I knew I was gonna be around drugs at a young age )
-Work experience outside of pharmacy: Musician, RA, Peer Counseling
-Number and type of residencies applied to: 3 PGY1 with Pediatric Emphasis, 3 General Practice PGY1, Rutgers Fellowship for Pharmaceutical Industry
-Number of interview invites: 4
-Where you actually matched (type of residency, geographic location, etc)
PGY1 w/ Pediatric Emphasis in Sunny FL! I'll also be getting a teaching certificate, but I haven't decided if I plan to do PGY2 to further specialize or go into academia.


I don't have the highest GPA by all means, but I think that anyone who is a well rounded candidate stands a good chance of matching for residency. It certainly helps to have a high GPA when trying to match, but up until I went on rotations and realized how much I loved working in hospitals I thought I was gonna be at a community pharmacy using my thumbprint for the rest of my life.

 

[Rx Ninja]

-GPA: 3.0
-Type of PharmD program (3 or 4 year): 4 year
-Geographic location (region or city if desired): Midwest
-Activities: Member of a few national pharmacy associations, attended 1-2 meetings a year
-Work experience in the field of pharmacy: 6 years ambulatory infusion
-Work experience outside of pharmacy: Military (healthcare)
-Number and type of residencies applied to: I applied to 8. All were large hospitals with multiple PGY2 positions
-Number of interview invites: 5
-Where you actually matched (type of residency, geographic location, etc): I got my 1st choice at a large university-affiliated teaching hospital on the east coast

I do think my GPA definitely prevented me from getting through a few preliminary screenings, but I have some great experience that showed in my CV and letters of recommendation. The sites I interviewed at were all competitive and well sought after. I worked a lot during school, and I didn't participate in as many organizations as a lot of people, but I did go to 1-2 national meetings a year that were important to me. I too encourage the "average joe" to give it a shot!

 

[sherlockRX]

bleh

 

[tl11]

Honestly, I almost feel embarrassed to post this compared to everyone else. But hey, I need to give those less competitive candidates hope.

-GPA 3.69 (when applying, all 6 years)

-Type of PharmD program (3 or 4 year): 2+4 program at LIU

-Geographic location (region or city if desired): northeast

-Activities: Phi Delta Chi, NYSCHP, ASHP, apha, rho chi

-Leadership positions: only some within my fraternity

-Community service: St. Judes, Health fairs

-Work experience in the field of pharmacy: > 4 years in hospital

-Work experience outside of pharmacy: nothing significant

-Number and type of residencies applied to: 7 PGY-1 pharmacy practice residencies

-Number of interview invites: 4/7

-Where you actually matched (type of residency, geographic location, etc):in the northeast, but a bit more south. PGY1 pharmacy practice at a large academic institution.

IMO, I think the important components to get an interview are excellent recommendation letters from well-established professors (at least one), a perfect CV with as many activities (although I didn't have that many) and a nice, well-written letter. Pretty much, all of the components of the application.

But from there, the interview is what really gets you to be highly ranked by the institution. Show that you are fun, enthusiastic, know how to work, and work well with others and you should do well. This applied to the places I interviewed at at least...

 

[moolman]

Let me give some more "average" GPA people some hope.

I matched with a highly competitive California residency, GPA is below 3.5, a few student activities and some work, no publications or research.

I thought my letter of intent and interview skills outweighed anything else.

I personally know 5 people as of now in my class who matched that had below a 3.0 but these people are very well rounded individuals and can interview very, very well. They wrote awesome letters of intent, etc. These 5 matched in California at VA's and Kaisers. Tough programs. Grades aren't everything. While they might open the door for you to get an interview, a good letter of intent and interviews will get you farther. Cause after you get an interview, its all equal. I can tell you another 5 people in my class in Rho Chi and didn't match at all, bad letter of intents, personalities that are not good at interviews, etc.

 

[drugsRx]

Oh my thank goodness! I was beginning to freak and lose hope...I'm pretty much on the same page as you! I hope I get one next year!

 

[quimicosoy]

DAMN! you guys are super nerds, I am P1, just two months in school, but I can see that I will have to start working on other things besides grades.

Good to know who you are dealing with!

 

[desklamp]

god this thread makes me cry inside.

how did so many of you get publications? did you have to gun for it with your research mentor? were you first or second author?

 

[minette]

Anyone applied to a pharmacy management residency?

 

[pharmstud]

Congrats to all those who got it, and good luck to the rest of you!! Great post btw

 

[Farcus]

Would you guys say it is too late for a 3rd year right now to have a paper published? How realistic is it to work on a paper while on your fourth year rotation?

 

[cycloketocaine]

Would you guys say it is too late for a 3rd year right now to have a paper published? How realistic is it to work on a paper while on your fourth year rotation?

I did one. I am still trying to get it published. The one I published during school was started my second year. You could probably get one ready and submitted, which you could put on a CV. You could also get a poster out of it at Midyear next year. Getting one actually published takes a while, usually a year or two.

 

[Farcus]

I did one. I am still trying to get it published. The one I published during school was started my second year. You could probably get one ready and submitted, which you could put on a CV. You could also get a poster out of it at Midyear next year. Getting one actually published takes a while, usually a year or two.

I'm working on one for midyear next year that I know will be done but I was hoping more for publishing =/.

 

[stumbleine88]

Might be a silly question, but when people post their GPAs, is that including rotation/APPE grades as well?

 

[RX86]

Might be a silly question, but when people post their GPAs, is that including rotation/APPE grades as well?

I wish we had letter grades. Pass, Fail, Superior. With only a Fail decreasing your GPA. Nothing for the other two.