I was wondering if anyone has input regarding obtaining a residency after graduating from a pharmacy school with a pass/fail system. The pharmacy school which I will be attending (USN) considers "passing" to be a 90% or above but I am not sure if this makes a difference in terms of applying to a residency program as there is still no GPA to look at.
Residency after school with pass/fail system
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I am sorry, I can not answer your question. I am sure somebody else will. The only thing I can say is that today residencies are very focused on GPA, so it probably will be tough if you don't have one. Pretty much all students from my class who matched this year had stellar GPA.
I was just wondering, if 90% is a passing score, what happens to students who don't get 90% and above? Do they fail? If they fail, what is the next step? I am not familiar with this system. In my school getting 90% and above is very hard. Many times I missed 90% by just 0.5%, and it made a difference in a letter grade. Very frustrating. But fortunately it was not considered a failure.
I was just wondering, if 90% is a passing score, what happens to students who don't get 90% and above? Do they fail? If they fail, what is the next step? I am not familiar with this system. In my school getting 90% and above is very hard. Many times I missed 90% by just 0.5%, and it made a difference in a letter grade. Very frustrating. But fortunately it was not considered a failure.
I have never heard of this??? Wow, your chances will most likely not be good. Your program is outside of the realm of normal; therefore, you will be hard to assess with other candidates on paper.
At UCSD, It is only pass/fail system. As I know, all of students graduated from UCSD, have no problems to get into any residency/fellowship programs. When you apply, try to present yourself as a competitive applicant. If you get the interview, it is time for you to shine.
Good luck,
Good luck,
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Are there a lot of P/F schools? I would think it would be easier to get residency interviews if your school is well known vs. a newer school. But I don't know if this applies to many schools, or just a few.
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I'm of afraid I'll be at a huge disadvantage for attending a pass/fail school. I really like Pacific University and want to stay in the Portland area, but if it means potentially not getting a residency because of not having a GPA....I don't know if I should consider attending this school.
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Anecdotally, it definitely hurts. Program directors that I've spoken to about this just don't know what to think about these students. For a smaller program with less applicants, it may not matter as much as they don't have so much information to sort through (or options of their own). Larger programs may not even bother with trying to tease out what kind of student you were.
Sucks, but it's the truth.
Sucks, but it's the truth.
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I've posted this information before - but It is relevant to this discussion.
My class graduated 86 pharmacists. Somewhere between 20-30 ( cannot remember how many anymore) attended midyear. All but one or two matched, coming from a pass/fail school.
You will get plenty of speculation on this board; none of it is fact. The relationship you cultivate with the program you are applying to has a MUCH greater impact (as compared to schools rep). If you have zero interactions with a program, why would they ever take a chance on you (regardless of which school you come from).
Best advice: Quit worrying about the impressions of people on this board. Talk to the programs you are interested in. Find out what they want to see. Question(s) answered.
My class graduated 86 pharmacists. Somewhere between 20-30 ( cannot remember how many anymore) attended midyear. All but one or two matched, coming from a pass/fail school.
You will get plenty of speculation on this board; none of it is fact. The relationship you cultivate with the program you are applying to has a MUCH greater impact (as compared to schools rep). If you have zero interactions with a program, why would they ever take a chance on you (regardless of which school you come from).
Best advice: Quit worrying about the impressions of people on this board. Talk to the programs you are interested in. Find out what they want to see. Question(s) answered.
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How can I "cultivate with the program", aside from talking to them at midyear, if programs I'm interested in all mostly over 100 miles away, some over 400 miles away?
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One of my classmates matched with a residency in California. Her only face to face contact with them was Midyear, but she stayed in touch and let them know her interest and that she wanted to relocate to the area. She applied there, interviewed and matched.
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So is there any use contacting programs before midyear, or should I just wait until midyear, meet programs there and then stay in touch afterwards?
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I didn't go to midyear, so I can't really say. But my gut tells me you are more likely to make an impact/lasting contact by meeting face to face at midyear. If there are local programs you are interested in, it might be good to start developing those contacts before midyear, like during rotations. Of course, if you want to try to set up any away rotations, you'll need to do that networking way before your last year.
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So almost 1/3 of you class matched into residency? That statistic sounds quite astounding. Our graduating class of only 90 only had about 5-10 people match into residency. (not sure how many people applied, but it was probably about 25-30) In addition, a good 8-10 people I talked to (i don't know everyone in the class) didn't even get one interview for a residency.
How did your class excel so much at getting residency? Pacific isn't a very old school, and it has a 3-year program right? (thus I am assuming they don't have tons of established clinical rotations yet) What do they do to prepare you over there?
What are they putting in your water over at Pacific?
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My candidate status school had similar success. I think perhaps 10 to 12 (maybe 15?) people applied. Class size is < 70. I know of one who received no interviews, but this person was a VERY poor candidate. I have heard of one or two who didn't match (and didn't have any luck in the scramble). One person is still interviewing for scramble positions. The rest of us matched, most at our #1 and #2 choices.
In terms of what the school did, we had a residency prep class that was available as an elective. I didn't take it though. Our dean wrote recommendation letters for most of us (if requested) and we have a lot of really good clinical rotation sites, especially for a new school. We are in every local hospital and our base is an academic, level I trauma center. We also have spots with faculty in a large multifacility hospital that specializes in heart/lung, orthopedics, rehab and transplant services. Plus the local VAMC hosts a number of our students. So we get great exposure and make contacts that help with the application process.
But in the end, I think it's more about the students applying for residency and their individuals qualifications than where they went to school.
In terms of what the school did, we had a residency prep class that was available as an elective. I didn't take it though. Our dean wrote recommendation letters for most of us (if requested) and we have a lot of really good clinical rotation sites, especially for a new school. We are in every local hospital and our base is an academic, level I trauma center. We also have spots with faculty in a large multifacility hospital that specializes in heart/lung, orthopedics, rehab and transplant services. Plus the local VAMC hosts a number of our students. So we get great exposure and make contacts that help with the application process.
But in the end, I think it's more about the students applying for residency and their individuals qualifications than where they went to school.
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I matched with my first choice, if grades mattered that much I would not have matched at all. I would say a lot of the people in my class that matched were not in Rho Chi, I personally know 4 people in my class below a 3.0 that got residencies, decent ones in CA, not in the sticks, ie. VA's.
Most of matching I felt was about personality and how you presented yourself. I'm keeping it short but grades are not on the top of the list of things that are important, I'm living proof.
Most of matching I felt was about personality and how you presented yourself. I'm keeping it short but grades are not on the top of the list of things that are important, I'm living proof.
