Pharmacy Residency Podcast: Residency Interviews and Advice: Recent Episodes
Tony Guerra
The Pharmacy Residency Podcast, with your host, Tony Guerra, has interviews and advice on building your professional brand, network, and a purposeful second income. Interested in being a guest on a show about pharmacy residency? Email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com The Pharmacy Residency Podcast is part of the Pharmacy Podcast Network.
TLDR: Skip the grief process for now, take on Phase II, and email me if you want some quick advice tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
Here’s a list of the top reasons students get turned down for pharmacy residency programs, not necessarily ordered by most common to least common based on why you in particular did not match:
- Weak or Unfocused Letters of Intent A poorly written or generic letter of intent is one of the most common reasons candidates are overlooked. Programs want to see clear, specific reasons for your interest in their residency and how your experiences align.
- Poor Interview Performance Even strong candidates can falter in interviews if they fail to communicate their skills, goals, and personality effectively.
- Inadequate Clinical Experience Limited exposure to diverse rotations or insufficient patient care experience can make you seem unprepared for the demands of a residency.
- Weak CV or Resume Even with solid experience, a poorly formatted CV or lack of emphasis on accomplishments can weaken your application.
- Lack of Strong References or a Poor Recommendation Residency directors heavily rely on references. If your letters are vague or uninspiring, it can raise concerns about your performance or professionalism.
- Poor Professionalism or Attitude Residency directors look for candidates who are adaptable, humble, and collaborative. Arrogance, lack of teamwork, or failing to follow up can severely hurt your chances.
- Low or Unbalanced GPA While GPA isn’t always a dealbreaker, a poor academic record may suggest you’ll struggle with the demands of residency.
- Limited Leadership and Involvement Programs often seek candidates who demonstrate initiative, collaboration, and leadership through involvement in student organizations or volunteer work.
- Weak Research or Project Involvement While research experience isn't always mandatory, a lack of engagement in presentations, posters, or projects can make your application less competitive.
- Not Ranking Programs Strategically This mistake is common but avoidable. Candidates may undermine themselves by ranking too few programs or focusing only on highly competitive sites without backup options.
Key Takeaway: Focus most on crafting a compelling letter of intent, preparing thoroughly for interviews, and maximizing clinical experience. Strengthen your CV, build strong mentor relationships for references, and demonstrate professionalism throughout the process, but get back on the horse and start emailing programs . . . now.
Here's the website for the Interview Materials https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview
What to Do Once You Get a Pharmacy Residency Interview 1. Research the Program Dive deep into the residency program's structure, goals, and key rotations. Understand their mission statement and identify what makes them unique. This will help you tailor your responses and show genuine interest. Use the Excel file to match your APPEs to other residency rotations and offerings. Make sure you talk about PGY-2 if it's available. 2. Review Your Application Familiarize yourself with your CV and personal statement. Be prepared to discuss any experiences or projects you mentioned in detail. Highlight your achievements and how they align with the program’s strengths. Again, it's the match, don't highlight your achievements as look at what I did, but look at how we are similar. 3. Practice Behavioral Questions Expect questions like, “Tell me about a time you overcame a challenge.” Use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to structure your answers clearly and concisely. There is much more detail in the course about the ROCK STAR and RACE START questions and answers, you can also use those techniques on the supplemental questions. 4. Prepare Questions for Them Thoughtful questions show interest and engagement. Ask about mentorship opportunities, unique rotations, or the program’s approach to professional development. Avoid questions you could easily find online. The best questions keep the conversation going. 5. Brush Up on Clinical Knowledge Be ready to answer clinical scenarios or demonstrate your thought process in solving problems. Review key disease states, drug interactions, and treatment guidelines relevant to the program's focus. You can find the list of links to TLDR clinical reviews here: https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview
I just wanted to remind you that I’m still offering one-on-one help with letters of intent for residency applications. If you’d like to work with me, simply head to residency.teachable.com. Look for the interview course, sign up there, and then email me your letter of intent.
Make sure your letter is addressed and formatted according to the template provided in the free LOI course to your top choice. Include as much detail as possible—aiming for a page and a half is better than a single page because it’s always easier to trim content than to add more later.
When you send your email, I’ll also ask for some additional information, like your CV and a link to the program you’re applying to. I typically complete reviews within 24 hours, so don’t worry if your deadlines are coming up. I’ll make sure you’re all set.
The first letter review also comes with a template that can help you efficiently create the other 10 to 12 letters you might need for the remaining programs you're applying to.
What to Do If a Residency Recommendation Comes in Late Applying for a residency program can be overwhelming, especially when critical documents like letters of recommendation are delayed. These letters are vital as they provide insights into your skills, work ethic, and potential as a future clinician. If you’re facing the challenge of a late recommendation, don’t panic. Here’s how to navigate this situation effectively:
- Stay Calm and Assess the Situation Determine who the recommender is, when they committed to submitting the letter, and how late the recommendation is. Understanding these details will help you plan your next steps.
- Follow Up Politely Life happens, and delays are sometimes unavoidable. Send a polite reminder to your recommender, either via email or phone, and offer to provide any additional information or assistance.
- Use Multiple Communication Channels If email doesn’t prompt a response, consider calling or stopping by their office, if appropriate, to follow up.
- Notify Your Program Coordinator If the deadline is approaching, inform your program coordinator. Many application systems, like PhORCAS, allow for late submissions of recommendation letters and transcripts as long as the rest of your application is complete.
- Have a Backup Plan If your primary recommender cannot provide the letter, identify an alternative who can write a strong letter on short notice.
- Remain Professional Avoid expressing frustration or anger. Maintain professionalism, as your recommender is helping you by writing the letter.
- Plan for the Future Request letters well in advance, provide clear instructions, and set internal deadlines to avoid similar issues in the future.
You can handle a late recommendation with professionalism and grace by following these steps. Residency programs value applicants who demonstrate resourcefulness and composure in challenging situations.
What to Do If a Residency Applicant's Transcript Will Be Late Your academic transcript is another essential part of your residency application, providing programs with a record of your academic performance. If you discover that your transcript will be delayed, here’s how to address the issue:
- Contact Your Registrar Immediately Reach out to your school’s registrar to understand the cause of the delay and inquire about expedited options, such as rush processing or electronic submission.
- Inform the Residency Programs Notify the residency programs about the delay and provide them with an estimated timeline for when the transcript will arrive.
- Provide Temporary Documentation If possible, submit an unofficial transcript as a temporary measure until the official document is available.
- Use Expedited Shipping If the issue is related to mailing, explore expedited shipping options like FedEx to speed up delivery.
- Check Platform Policies Review the application platform’s policies. Many systems allow applicants to submit incomplete applications initially, with delayed documents added later.
- Plan Ahead Request transcripts as early as possible, confirm receipt with the application platform and ensure all outstanding fees are paid to avoid delays.
Managing a late transcript requires clear communication and proactive measures. By keeping programs informed and exploring temporary solutions, you can minimize the impact of the delay.
Both late recommendations and late transcripts can be stressful, but they are opportunities to demonstrate your ability to handle unexpected challenges—an essential skill for any future resident.
Welcome to the Pharmacy Residency Podcast! I just wanted to remind you that I’m still offering one-on-one help with letters of intent for residency applications. If you’d like to work with me, simply head to residency.teachable.com. Look for the interview course, sign up there, and then email me your letter of intent.
Make sure your letter is addressed and formatted according to the template provided in the free LOI course. Include as much detail as possible—aiming for a page and a half is better than a single page because it’s always easier to trim content than to add more later.
When you send your email, I’ll also ask for some additional information, like your CV and a link to the program you’re applying to. I typically complete reviews within 24 to 48 hours, so don’t worry if your deadlines are coming up. I’ll make sure you’re all set.
The first letter review also comes with a template that can help you efficiently create the other 10 to 12 letters you might need for the remaining programs you're applying to.
One quick tip: don’t limit yourself to just applying to four programs because of financial constraints. While budgets can be tight, applying to too few sites often limits your opportunities. Find a way to maximize your applications—it can make a huge difference.
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com. Again, I can turn your letter around in 24 to 48 hours, so deadlines are no problem.
Thanks for listening, and I’m here to help you succeed!
Free Residency Application DIY Course https://residency.teachable.com/
How to Win an Interview at ASHP Midyear Preparation is Everything * Research programs thoroughly before arriving. * Understand each program's unique features and align them with your career goals. * Prepare a succinct, engaging "elevator pitch" to introduce yourself to program representatives, but stop talking an listen after
Polished Materials * Ensure your CV is tailored, error-free, and professional. * Bring plenty of printed copies and have a digital version ready to share (you probably won't use them, but it's good to be prepared with what you have done)
Networking Like a Pro * Attend showcase events and take the initiative to introduce yourself to preceptors and residents, but focus on residents! * Engage in meaningful conversations, showing genuine interest in the program. * Follow up promptly with thank-you emails to reinforce your impression if you met someone and know their name and have something more you want to know
Acing the Interview * Practice common and behavioral interview questions, highlighting your clinical experiences and problem-solving skills. * Be ready to discuss specific cases, rotations, and how they prepared you for a residency. * Ask insightful questions to demonstrate your interest and commitment to the program.
Managing Stress and Staying Confident * Keep a positive mindset throughout the conference. * Plan breaks to avoid burnout and maintain your energy. * Stay organized with a schedule of key events and prioritized program visits.
Building Long-term Relationships * Use Midyear as a networking opportunity beyond just the residency showcase. * Connect with peers, mentors, and professionals to expand your support network. * Keep track of contacts and continue nurturing those relationships post-conference.
This podcast equips listeners with the tools they need to navigate the ASHP Midyear with confidence and professionalism, helping you maximize the chances of landing your ideal residency. Tune in to learn how preparation, networking, and resilience can make all the difference!
Free DIY Residency Prep Course Link: https://residency.teachable.com/
Coupon Code: MEMORIZING2024
If you want my one-on-one help with the LOI, sign up for the Residency LOI One-on-One Help and Interview Course and send your LOI to me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com for revision.
In this episode, we break down a Residency Application Rubric to help you assess your strengths, identify gaps, and build a winning pharmacy residency application. From GPA and clinical rotations to leadership roles and community service, we’ll guide you on how to prioritize and rank your experiences effectively. Whether you’re just starting or polishing up your final submission, this episode gives you the tools you need to feel confident and prepared. Tune in and make sure you’re on track to land your dream residency.
$95 dollar coupon is MEMORIZING2024 (all caps)
In this episode, I give my general recommendations for the residency process and give you the free code above for the Extreme LOI/Cover Makeover course focuses on crafting standout Letters of Intent (LOI) for pharmacy residency applications.
It includes templates, video guides, and editing assistance to refine LOIs, emphasizing clarity and professionalism. The course also covers CV writing and interview prep to help candidates increase their match success. Participants can access resources for a year. If you are interested in working one-on-one with me for LOI editing and revision, email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
For more details, and to use the coupon visit the course page.
The Extreme LOI/Cover Makeover course is divided into 12 key sections, focusing on:
- Personal branding and writing style,
- Structuring a compelling LOI,
- Identifying residency goals,
- Tailoring LOIs to programs,
- Highlighting skills and experiences,
- Demonstrating fit with specific programs,
- CV writing tips,
- Common application errors to avoid,
- Personal statement guidance,
- Interview prep,
- Finalizing documents, and
- Editing assistance and review options.
Each section aims to improve LOI quality for a stronger residency application.
In this multi-part series we're going to start looking at what makes residency applications stand out. One of the wow moments, is if you have your name as an author on a peer-reviewed publication, but there are other reasons to publish as well, including finding where your area of specialty is. Want to work with me one-on-one on your letter of intent, you can find some free resources here to get started. https://residency.teachable.com/
The lack of urgency with preparing for the NAPLEX and MPJE always bothered me. It's like here's the one thing that if you don't pass, you don't work, and students are completing APPE requirements instead of getting deep into their preparation. In this episode, I talk about how NAPLEX pass rates which were in the high 90s in 2009 are now in the high 70s. Only 1554 students last year graduated from a school of pharmacy with a pass rate in the 90s. Make sure you prepare early and often for the NAPLEX. I reference a pharmacology review course here: https://residency.teachable.com/p/mobile and that TLDRPharmacy has some great MPJE materials.
My wife and I matched in the old scramble (which is now more organized as Phase II) but 15 years later she is in an ambulatory care clinical position and I have been teaching in college for that same time, both jobs we love. In this episode, I talk about the importance of mentors and how those residencies available in the scramble can lead to an excellent career that is very work/life balance excellent as well.
Need help preparing for the NAPLEX, check out my online self paced pharmacology course here
https://residency.teachable.com/p/mobile
Phase II is about speed. With over 700 unfilled PGY 1 positions and only a few hundred more than that who will put in applications, you do have a very good chance in Phase II.
If you want my one-on-one help go to https://residency.teachable.com/p/phase2
My turnaround is around 24 hours.
The data show that you should have a better than 50% chance of matching in Phase II this year with the number of available positions, even better if you are looking for a community pharmacy position.
Have questions, email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
The odds of matching to residency are very dependent on the school of pharmacy you are going to, while the top schools match above 90%, the lowest schools match at 20%, so it's still a good idea to start job hunting before the match because there are hundreds of pharmacists getting the news on the exact same day.
If you need my help in Phase II, you can find my website here, I expect there will be close to 700 open positions after Phase I.
https://residency.teachable.com/
Good luck!
The biggest residency interview mistake is not focusing on being positively remembered as there are many applicants, and standing out takes the 5 Ps:
- People
- PGY-2
- Professionalism
- Purpose
- Practice.
With those in your tool belt, you can continue the conversation after the interview to ensure you are not forgotten.
Need my help, check out https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview
It's exciting and stress-relieving when that first interview offer comes in, but do you know what to do? In this episode, I've gone over the first steps and you can check out the course I have to see if it's something that you want help with your presentation PowerPoint and need email support. Sometimes you just don't want to ask your professors questions. Anyway, you can find the free Case Study document and link to the course here:
https://residency.teachable.com/
One point of annual confusion is whether one should do a residency or fellowship. In this episode, I turn to Keaton Higgins, the executive fellow at the Tennessee Pharmacists Association and University of Iowa graduate for his insights on the fellowship experience. You can contact him here:
https://www.tnpharm.org/about/tpa-executive-fellowship-in-association-management/
Need help with your LOI, sign up at https://residency.teachable.com/p/extremeloi
You can find the free template here, just hit "Preview." You just need to scroll down some.
https://residency.teachable.com/p/extremeloi
It's not your fault, but you can't say it's their fault, in this episode I help you walk the line to articulate you handle things as a professional. Got questions for me? tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
In this episode, I go over the factors that will stand as the headwinds against your matching vs. some of the tailwinds that will help you get there and it depends a lot on where you go to school and where you apply.
Some of these factors you can affect, some you can't, but the most important thing is to recognize where to spend your time over the next few weeks to get the very best chance.
Need my one one-on-one help, go to https://residency.teachable.com/p/extremeloi where you can find the free template I talk about in the video.
You just realized how many people you are competing against and how qualified they are. How in the world are you going to stand out? Start by worrying about the match rather than winning the "best applicant." Often the rubrics end up in multiple ties and it's the relationships that matter more than anything else. Need my one on one help, hit me up at https://residency.teachable.com/
If you're an introvert, you're likely dreading the interview. The key is to get out of your own head by becoming more interested in the other person than you are about trying to tell your own story. It may sound counter-intuitive, but if you put the other person first, you'll find yourself landing a residency in the fall. Here's the residency interview book:
https://www.audible.com/pd/100-Strong-Residency-Interview-Questions-Answers-and-Rationales-Audiobook/B07M9S9DYS?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-137816&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_137816_rh_us
Work one-on-one with me here: https://residency.teachable.com/
ASHP MidYear creates a ton of fear of missing out, but what happens is that students get there and find that they really missed an opportunity. The key is not to make the big 5 mistakes
- Not recognize it is the RESIDENCY showcase (not future resident showcase)
- Miss the resident poster presentations on Wednesday
- Apply for a prestige residency rather than focusing on the people
- Use a generic letter of intent or cover letter, and not get to know yourelf
- Not take advantage of the opportunity to improve your interview skills
Book Strong Residency Letter of Intent
https://www.audible.com/pd/B07ZL4Q7PX/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-169438&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_169438_rh_us
Tool like ChatGPT can provide a letter of intent in just a few seconds. However, that generative AI comes from the examples ChatGPT found from others and can result in letters that are very similar to other applicants. Your biggest concern should be if you are forgotten in a sea of applications. By using generative AI properly, you can gain an advantage. By using it wrong, you might be labeled a cheater and not considered. In this episode, I help you walk the straight and narrow.
We welcome Tae Kim to the Pharmacy Residency Podcast to give his tips on financial success and the step-by-step process to get to financial freedom.
This is Part 2 of 2.
Here is a link to his website:
https://www.youtube.com/c/taekimfinancialtortoise
We welcome Tae Kim to the Pharmacy Residency Podcast to give his tips on financial success and the step by step process to get to financial freedom.
This is Part 1 of 2.
Here is a link to his website:
https://www.youtube.com/c/taekimfinancialtortoise
We welcome Jim Dahle to the Pharmacy Residency Podcast to give his tips on financial success and the step by step process to get to financial freedom.
This is Part 2 of 2.
Here is a link to his book https://www.amazon.com/White-Coat-Investors-Financial-Boot/dp/B07T4KT9DQ/
We welcome Jim Dahle to the Pharmacy Residency Podcast to give his tips on financial success and the step by step process to get to financial freedom. Here is a link to his book https://www.amazon.com/White-Coat-Investors-Financial-Boot/dp/B07T4KT9DQ/
I've got a way that you can get a discount on this season's pharmacy residency letter of intent preparation, looking forward to taking this journey with you https://residency.teachable.com/p/extremeloi
It can cost you thousands of dollars if you fail the MPJE or NAPLEX and while residents would not lose pay, they could lose their residency placement. In this episode, Jerri Sanger, a P4 at the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy shares her advice regarding studying for the NAPLEX.
Want to check out a pharmacology review course, head to https://residency.teachable.com/
As student loans come back into student and resident's lives, I brought on an expert who can help you navigate the process. You can find him here: https://pharmdfp.com/
In this episode we talk to Joe Baker who wrote Baker's Dirty Dozen: Principles for Financial Independence. Selfishly, I wanted to know what to do to not only help my own kids with their financial futures, but how I can help pay for them. Joe goes through some of the decisions he made and is really entertaining with stories that stick. Here's a link to his book.
https://www.amazon.com/Bakers-Dirty-Principles-Financial-Independence-ebook/dp/B09SGN2S11/
NAPLEX Link:
https://www.memorizingpharm.com/
MPJE Link:
https://www.tldrpharmacy.com/mpje-resources
Passing the NAPLEX and MPJE is often a situation where you wonder how the time passed so fast and if you are prepared. In this episode, I go over several tips to get you through the exams.
Unicorn Job Book: https://www.audible.com/pd/Finding-Your-Unicorn-Job-for-Pharmacists-Audiobook/B07RSDRQK6?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-151638&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_151638_rh_us
It should only take ten years to earn a million, but how long does it take to keep a million? Twenty-seven years according to Dave Ramsey and the Money Guy. In this episode, I give you a different way to think about money and getting to a less daunting goal than 1 to 4 million in net worth.
They say it's not what you make it's what you keep. Here's an interesting look at how much pharmacists keep. One thing that keeps you moving forward is being in a job you love, here's some jobs other pharmacists love https://www.audible.com/pd/Finding-Your-Unicorn-Job-for-Pharmacists-Audiobook/B07RSDRQK6?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-151638&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_151638_rh_us
I predict around 600 matches for Phase II match day with around 75 spots left over for the scramble. I don't think there will be only 400 rejected applicants in Phase II leaving a lot of room for going after those 75 spots if you want them. If you just want to chat about your situation, email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
Check out the book here: https://www.audible.com/pd/How-to-Build-a-Pharmacy-Consulting-Business-Your-Rx-for-Finding-Freedom-and-Lo-Audiobook/B07L4B7BLC?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWU-BK-ACX0-135635&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_135635_pd_us
Everyone's financial journey is different, but there are some tips that you can use to better navigate uncertainty.
Here's a link to the Unicorn Jobs book if you're looking for something outside the box to help you grow your finances.
https://www.audible.com/pd/Finding-Your-Unicorn-Job-for-Pharmacists-Audiobook/B07RSDRQK6?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-151638&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_151638_rh_us
If you want to talk to Derek you can contact him at https://pharmdfp.com/podcast
Pharmacology Course: https://residency.teachable.com/
NAPLEX Pass Rates start at 21% and average out at 80% and MPJE Pass Rates start at 25% and average out at 77%.
While it may not be fair, RPDs would do well to at least ask how your NAPLEX and MPJE preparation is coming along and I make a recommendation that RPDs should bring their cohorts together in an MPJE group to learn the laws as failing either can be disastrous. If you are going to the VA, get licensed in Idaho so there is zero chance you will fail the MPJE.
Conversations fly back and forth between RPDs and candidates way before the application window opens. Make sure you have a good email of interest to help build, sort, and qualify your final list to apply to. You can find the template here https://residency.teachable.com/ and if you want my one-on-one help with your LOI and emails, sign up for the Phase 2 course and email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
While the quality of residency applicants has gone down dramatically, residency sites are not lowering their standards and we have tremendous opportunities for good students to still get residencies.
Check out https://residency.teachable.com/p/phase2 or contact me with questions! I'm so excited to help you guys turn this tough day into an April victory!
I am introducing a pivot to the show in this episode, where it will become the Pharmacy Residency and Money podcast, where we will talk about career, health, and wealth related to residency.
Residencies will be relatively easy to get, with an over 80% match rate in the near future and into the 90s over the next three years. My role has moved from helping applicants just get a residency to earning one that is better for their career, health, and wealth with better culture, hours, and pay.
Two books I've written include
Finding Your Unicorn Job
https://www.audible.com/pd/B07RSDRQK6/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-151638&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_151638_rh_us
Debt-Free Pharmacy Student
https://www.audible.com/pd/B0BFKMMX1F/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-322749&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_322749_rh_us
To start off, I recommend you also listen to another podcaster I follow and know, Derek John Delaney, a certified financial planner who has the PharmD Money Podcast, Episode 50, about retiring by 50 if you want to hear his thoughts on retiring at a somewhat early age.
https://pharmdfp.com/podcast
What do you do while you are waiting for Match Day? In this episode, I go over some ways to calm your mind and look to the future. Need my help for Phase II, hit me up at https://residency.teachable.com/p/phase2
Don't bother trying to game it. Put your honest 1st, 2nd, and 3rd picks in there and focus on those. I'm telling you, you're 91% likely to get one of those three. If you need my help for Phase II, go to https://residency.teachable.com/p/phase2. Your chances are good, it will still require a good application, but Phase II is a viable thing this year. Contact me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com if you want my one-on-one help.
Interview Course: https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview
How many interviews DID you get?
How many interviews SHOULD you get?
knowing these answers helps predict whether you will get ranked by your favorite residency sites. The odds are in your favor, but a few thousand will still go without a residency. However, I predict Phase II will have many spots available if you still want to go after it. In this episode, I go through the data to get you some answers.
Need my help, email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
Interview Course: https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview
I go through several recent Reddit posts to answer questions that are top of mind. The big thing is that if you didn't get an interview or only got a few, you need to figure out why. Here are the top reasons
-
Toxic Recommendations
-
Too many out-of-state applications
-
College has a poor match rate
-
LOI is generic
Need my help, email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
Would you like to be the applicant who has the spot-on answers for a clinical case or residency interview question? In this episode, I show you how to predict many of the questions and areas you'll be asked. You can find the free download here:
https://residency.teachable.com/courses
A great presentation starts with well-formatted slides. In this video, I go over three very simple tips to improve your residency or residency application presentation. If you want me actually to edit your slides go to:
https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview
where slide editing is part of the course bundle.
As the Google doc fills up with screening interviews, days programs will send out interviews, and actual interviews, the big key for this first round is winning your cohort. Many times you don't have to beat everyone; you just have to be in the top couple of students in your group and the best way to do that is to know how you're scored and earn points. In this course, I go over that method which you can get for 25% off using the code PODCAST25OFF
https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview
Need same-day help with an LOI or supplemental essay, send it to me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
You can get the free version of Phone Interview Survival Tips here on December 31st, January 1st, and January 2nd
https://www.amazon.com/Phone-Interview-Survival-Tips-Introverts-ebook/dp/B07M76PMX5/
or the audiobook here
https://www.audible.com/pd/Phone-Interview-Survival-Quick-Tips-for-Introverts-and-Extroverts-Audiobook/B07NPXWXQF?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-142847&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_142847_rh_us
The first interviews are going out, but don't expect most to come until the first weeks of January; however, with the anecdotal evidence we have a lower residency applicant volume, you might get your invitation a bit sooner and more of them.
You can find all the free resources I talk about here, including the link to the Google Doc:
https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview
Don't push submit because you're exhausted! I'm turning documents around in 24 hours; if you still need help with your LOI and/or supplemental essay, just sign up here https://residency.teachable.com/p/extremeloi
I work through holidays, just getting up really early to do this stuff as I know how important it is. Questions? Hit me up at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
How do you communicate late recommendations as preceptors hit the holiday break? I have an email template for you here https://residency.teachable.com/p/extremeloi
I am turning around LOI revisions in about 24 hours for each one, so it can be pretty quick if you have a deadline approaching.
How do you communicate late transcripts as colleges of pharmacy are closing? I have an email template for you here https://residency.teachable.com/p/extremeloi
I am turning around LOI revisions in about 24 hours for each one, so can be pretty quick if you have a deadline approaching.
Derek Delaney is the founder and president of PharmD Financial Planning. PharmD FP is a fee-only, fully fiduciary financial planning firm that specializes in helping pharmacist families plan their tax-efficient retirement dream. Derek holds multiple advanced designations and credentials, including the Certified Financial Planner certification and the IRS Enrolled Agent designation. Derek has also been featured in several national publications, including the Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, and Financial Planning magazine. Derek is married to a pharmacist (Kortney) and has two kids. He lives at the same intersection of pharmacy, money, and life as other pharmacist families do throughout the country. You can find him at https://pharmdfp.com/
If you want my one-on-one editing and help with supplemental essays, email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com I charge $25 per 250 words via Venmo or PayPal.
Answering supplemental essays is hard as you haven't written many narrative essays in pharmacy school. The best way to answer many of them is to use the STAR framework in behavioral question interviewing so that your answer has all the pieces it needs
S. Situation
T. Task
A. Action
R. Result
Here is what was on the Word Document in the Video
University Medical Center – New Orleans –
Reflect on a challenging situation (personal or professional) that required you to question your values or assumptions and utilize your knowledge and reasoning. How did you deal with the situation? What did you learn from the experience?” STAR Interview
UNC Health
All candidates, please answer question 1
- Describe an intervention, change, or contribution that made an impact on patient care and/or a pharmacy practice, and what you learned from the experience. STAR Interview
All candidates, please answer 1 of the questions below:
- Describe a personal challenge you have faced, one which you feel has helped to shape you as a person. Examples include a moral or ethical dilemma, a situation of personal adversity, or a hurdle in your life that you worked hard to overcome. STAR Interview
- Describe the personal attribute that you are most proud of that would benefit your co-residents and colleagues at the UNC Medical Center (Humblebrag answer / STAR Interview)
Situation – Introduce the Situation to set the scene and provide context
In media res – in the middle of the story
- Descriptive detail – multiple senses, e.g., sound or smell – baby monitor screamed like an 18-wheeler’s horn // food bank with a hungry man coming to help his family
- Time frame – 4 minutes without oxygen / one day left of food
Task – Describe the task. What needed to be done and why?
- Clear the airway, call for help, administer CPR – get the child breathing again
- Get this person some food or some food
Action – Explain the action you took.
- CPR – a mistake by just breathing into the mouth vs. nose and mouth / pyloric valve stenosis / only saw the feet of the first responders, which were the police and later the EMTs
- Talking to a supervisor to get them a day or two of food and then show them how the process works with a distribution center
Result – Describe the result in terms of the benefits realized.
- Wrapping the story – surgery the correct and the success of the child now
- You would educate more people about the food issue and how they can resolve it
You can be sure that you're going to get strengths and weaknesses questions from your residency interview, but it's best to talk to your preceptor about where they see your strengths/weaknesses as well. You can check out 100 questions for that residency interview here:
https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview
You're probably looking for guidance on writing a letter of intent and finding a lot on the internet. This document from this college of pharmacy has good advice but a bad attached letter. In this episode, I show you how to make a bad letter into a good one, and a wordy letter into a concise one. What you're really trying to do is create a readily transferable story for the reader to give to the residency committee.
https://www.chapman.edu/PHARMACY/_files/career/documents/how-to-write-a-letter-of-intent.pdf
If you need my one-on-one help, go to https://residency.teachable.com/ and sign up for the Extreme LOI makeover course.
Midyear madness is upon us and those that keep their heads about them will do very well. The most important things to do at Midyear are
- Apply to the Right Places
- Meet the Right People
- Send the Right Materials
In this episode, I review the best ways to accomplish this relationship-building in a genuine way that can help you earn the residency you want. If you're looking for my one-on-one help, go to https://residency.teachable.com/
Midyear will wake up your imposter syndrome as you start to think that all the other applicants are better qualified and prepared than you. In this episode, I talk about the importance of establishing your identity before you get there. You can get the free 12-minute LOI Prep video here https://residency.teachable.com/p/extremeloi
In a recent LinkedIn post Saley Traore-Uwalaka, PharmD, BCPS mentioned that residents might be failing their NAPLEX / MPJE for other reasons than the NABP issue. In this episode, I talk about how to avoid this disastrous situation.
Join the email list here at
https://www.pharmacyresidencypodcast.com/
In this chapter, we take a deeper dive into Respiratory System pharmacology with a fill-in quiz. You can find all the episodes here at https://www.memorizingpharm.com/oer
You can find the Memorizing Pharmacology: A Relaxed Approach book here:
https://www.audible.com/pd/Memorizing-Pharmacology-Audiobook/B01FSR7HLE?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-059486&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_059486_rh_us
Melissa Turner's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-melissa-turner-pharmd/
Website: www.tarheelpgxconsulting.com
Dr. Melissa Turner graduated from Meredith College in 2008 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and from Campbell University in 2013 with her Doctor of Pharmacy. After graduation, she began working as a staff pharmacist for CVS and was there until May 2021.
Dr. Turner is a graduate of the PGx Consulting Confidence Academy, completed her Certificate in Pharmacogenomics from RxGenomix in April 2021, and opened her own business, Tarheel PGx Consulting, in September 2021. In March 2022, she completed a course in nutrigenomics from PureGenomics.
The mission of her company is to provide patients with personalized medication and nutrition management based on their genetics. She is a member of the North Carolina Association of Pharmacists, the NCPDP Precision Medicine Subcommittee, and the Campbell University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Alumni Board.
Dr. Turner loves teaching her patients about how their genetics can affect their nutrition, health, and wellness and the medications they take.
The book Perils of Polypharmacy can be found here:
https://www.audible.com/pd/B0BG98JWZ3/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWU-BK-ACX0-323817&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_323817_pd_us
You can work with me one-on-one here:
https://residency.teachable.com/
In this episode, I review some of the many characteristics of a residency application that matter in improving one's odds. But, instead of generalizing, you want to use these attributes to make sure you are applying them to the right place.
What increases your odds of matching? increased applications, interviews, research abstracts, and GPA.
What pharmacy school characteristics matter? Public, older schools, higher NAPLEX pass rates, and affiliations with academic medical centers.
But, there are clear exceptions, many of the best matching schools are private schools with no AMC affiliation. Some colleges with terrible NAPLEX pass rates earn residencies at a high rate. Knowing where you stand is key.
Here's the Reddit link for the incorrect NAPLEX scores, I'm so sorry for anyone this happened to https://www.reddit.com/r/PharmacySchool/comments/yq32ws/official_notification_from_nabp_regarding_exam/
In this episode, we hear from Amy (Youngji) Lee and Mary Ngo about the nontraditional residency application and journey.
Looking for one-on-one help with your pharmacy residency letter of intent, interview presentation or CV go to https://residency.teachable.com/
Get your free LOI template by joining our email list at https://www.pharmacyresidencypodcast.com/
Check out our residency books at https://www.pharmacyresidencypodcast.com/books
Connect or message me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonypharmd/
One very good listing of available virtual showcases, note many happen in November, so don't miss out. Here's the link
https://twitter.com/SC_Pharmacist/status/1587435125486362627
Need my one-on-one help with your written and presentation aspects of residency, hit up https://residency.teachable.com/
My big three tips are in there as well, the showcase is a marathon, not a sprint, don't be a gunner, be a winning runner!
The most important thing that will set up your chances for residency is the college you go to. Here is the LinkedIn Article
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/pharmacy-residency-top-30-list-persistence-rate-guerra-pharmacist/
and how to get a hold of me for one-on-one help with writing your LOI, Cover Letter, CV, or interview
https://residency.teachable.com/p/extremeloi
I am predicting many colleges of pharmacy will achieve a 100% residency match rate in four years as the pharmacy school enrollment decreases by about 500 students a year for the next three years including this one and then a cliff drop of 1800 in one year significantly impacting the number of residency applications. It's still tough to get certain residencies, but those just wanting a residency will find the process much easier. Need help crafting your letter of intent, hit me up at https://residency.teachable.com/
PGx Pharmacist Jamie Wilkey sped through her entrepreneurial run in two years to develop a successful new career that gives her the flexibility to be a present parent and partner. In this episode, we meet one of the LinkedIn Influencers who gives daily advice on helping make your pharmacy life a better one.
Here is her LinkedIn link:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-jamie-wilkey/
and her newsletter opt-in:
https://jamiewilkey.carrd.co/
I answer 20 prepharmacy questions that incoming students have. If you are interested in the prepharmacy program at dmacc email me at aaguerra@dmacc.edu
If you're looking to try to graduate debt-free from pharmacy school, or at least do better than $140K for public and $200K for private, you might want to check out Utah's new program for free tuition first year and in-state for the following three. It's in line with the book Debt Free Pharmacy Student
Match rate matters not only in getting a residency, but understanding the strength of a program. Applying to a residency in a state like Michigan with three strong matching schools is harder than applying in states with weaker rates. The key is to understand how your match rate, literally, matches up with the sites you are applying to. If you are interested in following the newsletter on LinkedIn, you can check it out here https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/pharmacy-residency-podcast-6980187862440849408/
The first thing you want to do as a residency applicant is look to see what your college of pharmacy's residency interview rate is to inform the number of applications you need and how much time you should spend on your letters of intent, CV, and recommendations.
Need my one-on-one help go to https://residency.teachable.com/
The first step in getting a residency is earning an interview. While many focus on the match rate, there can be no match without an interview.
The Top 15 Pharmacy Schools to Earn a Residency Interview look absolutely nothing like the Top 15 schools on the U.S. News and World Report list of best pharmacy schools. Here are the top 15 schools as listed in Pharmacy School Rankings for Residency.
- AUHS - 100%
- Husson - 100%
- Cedarville - 100%
- University of Puerto Rico - 100%
- UCSF - 97.14%
- Thomas Jefferson - 97.06%
- University of Findlay - 96.00%
- Wayne State University - 94.44%
- UNC - 94.32%
- University of Iowa - 94.12%
- University of Rhode Island 94.03%
- NEOMED - 94.00%
- Drake University - 93.75%
- Binghamton University - 93.55%
- University of Connecticut - 93.33%
You can find the rest here in the eBook preview
https://www.amazon.com/Pharmacy-School-Rankings-Residency-Applications-ebook/dp/B0BCWT6VFB/
Making $25 an hour doing something other than pharmacy can be a relief when you're a pharmacy resident trying to get by, but is there a better way to make sure you can pay your bills in residency?
In this episode I outline many of the ways you can ensure you can afford to do a residency by looking at cost of living, commute, and staffing. A 15 minute commute each way is 3 1/4 weeks of 40 hour a week work each year, so time literally is money.
Need my one-on-one help with a letter of intent, go to https://residency.teachable.com/
Midyear is one of those FOMO events where students feel like they can't get a residency without going.
There are four genuine reasons to go such as
- Presenting a poster
- Engaging with residents during their poster presentations
- Eliminating residencies from your preferred list
- Finding lesser known residencies
There are reasons not to go such as
- Impressing sites with your questions at Showcase
- Getting a CV in the right hands at Showcase (they often recycle them)
Either way, Vegas is an experience, if you have the money, sure, it's a great trip, but your money is better spent on well crafted applications and the time away from APPEs if often difficult to catch up on.
If you want my one-on-one help, find me at https://residency.teachable.com/
or email tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
I'm going to go over an in-depth analysis into the state of Iowa's residencies and my premise is that you can learn a lot from a residency by the alma maters of its residencies. While there is an expectation for meritocracy and opportunity for all, there is a huge difference between college admissions where you are looking to study somewhere and earning a job placement, a residency.
Iowa, like many other states, has over half of its residents coming from schools within the state, but when you look at the individual residencies you'll see a few different mixtures. Still, residencies often want their residents to stay on and if you're from Iowa or the Midwest, that's much more likely that you'll take a post residency graduation position there.
Here are those mixes:
- All residents are University of Iowa graduates
- All residents are only University of Iowa or Drake grads (in-state)
- Residents include in-state and out-of-state pharmacy graduates (AMC)
- Residency has NO in-state graduates
When you look at the rankings of the schools that the students come into these residencies, to earn a placement, you really needed to be in the top 1/3 of the country in match rate for most, but as an out-of-stater at some sites, you needed to be top 20 in the country like Michigan (14), Minnesota(20), UMKC (11), or MCW (6) to earn that placement.
I got the rankings from my book: https://www.amazon.com/Pharmacy-School-Rankings-Residency-Applications-ebook/dp/B0BCWT6VFB/
In many ways, the first part of the residency application process is about not getting rejected a little more than getting accepted, so in this section I give a rundown of the biggest mistake students make in trying to save some time.
I've got a limited number of free audiobook codes for pharmacy residency podcast listeners which you can listen to a free 5 minute sample here:
https://www.audible.com/pd/B0BFKMMX1F/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-322749&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_322749_rh_us
and get the free code here:
https://www.pharmacyresidencypodcast.com/debtfree
Please do take the time to write a review if you take a code, but there's no obligation.
I wanted to give you a preview of the book Brandon Dyson from TLDRPharmacy.com and I wrote with a Top 100 questions list for residency interviews. You can find the audiobook preview here. We will be including 100 video questions in the Rock Star Interview course as well that you can find here: https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview
Student loan forgiveness is here, most likely, but the real concern is what to do when the pause comes. Will pharmacists re-enter the job market making it harder for new graduates as they realize they need more money to pay off their loans? Check out this book on pharmacist jobs that could help you find a unique job if things do get tight Unicorn Jobs for Pharmacists
Keeping everything organized is a bear and a good Excel cheat sheet can help. I take it a step further and give you a sheet that allows you to see just how well you match with a site and with their resident crew. Find it here https://www.pharmacyresidencypodcast.com/matchrates
I have created a new template for 2022, you can grab it here at https://www.pharmacyresidencypodcast.com/
I just published the pharmacy school rankings for residency for this year and I share some of those rankings in this episode
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BCWT6VFB/
This is the book and sorted data I use to advise those whom I help as they decide where to apply and how to best do it.
Where you go to school matters so much in applying for residency as those relationships are huge in earning a placement. In this episode I go over how to analyze where your school matches well and who is generally going to be a resident at certain sites. Need my one-on-one help with your letter of intent or residency interview presentation go to https://residency.teachable.com/
In this episode we go over how to preserve one's mental health while getting excellent grades with P4 Lynn Bui from the University of Iowa.
Much of what my courses and my one-on-one help does is reduce the ambiguity and stress associated with having to do something for the first time (apply for residency) and having so much riding on it.
If you want to get regular Tuesday emails from me, go to http://pharmacyresidencypodcast.com/ and sign up for my email list, I'll start sending out free residency and career books next month for those on the list.
If you want to join the residency email list for this residency cycle, the temporary link is
https://www.memorizingpharm.com/residency
I'll be putting everything on http://pharmacyresidencypodcast.com/
after next week and the direct link to the courses is here https://residency.teachable.com/
Midyear hotels range from $31 per person with double-occupancy all the way up to $300 a night, but now is the time to book those hotels with ASHP. Also, I'm now getting requests for LOI help that I start now, I will limit the number of people I help to provide the best service, you can find more details here https://residency.teachable.com/p/extremeloi
In this last episode with Sydney Day at the University of Iowa she surprises me that she was able to get an interview for a part-time academic position with her experience here. If you're interested in talking to me about the APPE or participation in teaching, email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
Becoming debt free is achievable, but how fast you get there often depends on a few key habits. In this episode, P4 Sydney Day and I talk about the habits that can get you to the promised land. Questions for me, email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
It may seem like you're doing fine, but really time is one of our greatest enemies when it comes to doing the best work, staying out of debt, or earning a residency. In this episode we'll talk about how to get some of that time by with P4 Sydney Day from the University of Iowa. Need help with your residency application, hit up https://residency.teachable.com/
I interview Sydney Day, a University of Iowa finance graduate and P4 about the smart things one can do to get through pharmacy school expenses. Need help with editing for abstracts, papers, or presentations contact me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
They say applying to and going to residency is like a marathon, well as Marathon runners, P4 Sydney Day and I talk about the similarities and the way that marathon training can help. You can get to the free pre-residency audio academy here if you're interested in residency, but want to know a little bit more. https://residency.teachable.com/p/preresidency
Part 2 of Cracking the Clinical Case Includes the Four Major Points you need to cover with any patient review with UIowa P4 Miah Thompson. I also introduced Eric Christianson's Thrill of the Case which you can find here on Audible, a collection of more patient cases to improve your clinical acumen.
https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Thrill-of-the-Case-Audiobook/B07KPNN11C?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWU-BK-ACX0-134208&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_134208_pd_us
As inflation carves up our paychecks, I talk about the way that I distribute the three types of money in my life: 1) Peace of Mind Money 2) Real Estate Money and 3) Investment Money. Really, it's about adding value to others lives in a way that many of these pharmacists with part-time jobs, side hustles, and flexible careers have in the book Unicorn Jobs for Pharmacists. https://www.audible.com/pd/Finding-Your-Unicorn-Job-for-Pharmacists-Audiobook/B07RSDRQK6?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-151638&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_151638_rh_us
Here are the first steps in approaching clinical cases and getting experience handling them with Miah Thompson from the University of Iowa. You can find the Pharmacotherapy audiobook here:
https://www.audible.com/pd/B07G7HTG82/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWU-BK-ACX0-124338&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_124338_pd_us
What do you do about money as you graduate? I've got an hourlong video from YFP's Tim Ulbrich as well as an audio episode I did with the real estate team which lets you know what's up 25 years later. I'll talk more about what I do day to day in coming Less Stressed Pharmacist episodes. You can find the videos here: https://residency.teachable.com/
Whether studying for the NAPLEX in your first months or residency or spreading it out in APPEs, there are ways to make sure you maximize your time. I interview Miah Thompson, a P4 who is getting NAPLEX studying done right out of the gate in her first APPE. Make sure to check out the free course in https://residency.teachable.com/ with the pre-residency audio academy. Need to get a hold of me, tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
In this episode we talk about Seven Strategies to Improve your LinkedIn profile including:
-
Professional photos
-
Summary blurbs
-
Education, expertise, industry experience
-
Relevant skills
-
Growing your network
-
Sharing relevant content for your feed
-
Custom URLs
Connect with Miah Thompson here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/miah-thompson/
and me, Tony Guerra, here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonypharmd/
If you are place-bound, sometimes it's better to do a remote rotation, if you're interested give me an email at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
2021 NAPLEX and MPJE Scores are out, I sorted them on an Excel Sheet which you can find in the Pre-Residency Audio Academy here https://residency.teachable.com/ The big thing with studying is to make sure you have a consistent order to approaching pathophysiologic states and don't blow off the MPJE, it's deadly with only 4 out of 5 passing on the first try and 1 in 5 colleges of pharmacy are in the 40s, 50s, and 60s for passing.
Four reasons fewer students are going to pharmacy school include fewer students in the pipeline, unrest about declining enrollments, massive debt/tuition, and lack of current quality data. All this may mean increased opportunities and salaries for current pharmacists and students.
I'm on with Nate Hedrick, the Real Estate RPh, who gives us some insight into the challenges and triumphs of pharmacists interested in real estate. You can find him here https://realestaterph.com/
There are 5,040 different ways to order just 7 physiologic classes, so by taking the time to memorize a specific order will help you in anatomy and physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacology, and patient care. Here is a link to the audiobook that you can get free through Audible if you've never been a member https://www.audible.com/pd/Memorizing-Pharmacology-Audiobook/B09JVBHRXK?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-281667&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_281667_rh_us or the course which you can get half off with the code HALFOFF. https://residency.teachable.com/p/mobile
Residency Moonlighting can be lucrative, but also burn you out pretty quickly, I recommend thinking about other ways to make a living that are more re-energizing as others have done in my Unicorn Jobs Book https://www.audible.com/pd/Finding-Your-Unicorn-Job-for-Pharmacists-Audiobook/B07RSDRQK6?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-151638&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_151638_rh_us
After Phase 2 we see 74 unfilled PGY-1s and 146 unfilled PGY-2s (Total 220 unfilled residencies), a dramatic increase over the 53 total after last year's match. We are moving to graduates having a position of strength as pharmacy school numbers continue to drop where they will have more choice in residencies with regard to pay, working conditions, and location. Need help with the Top 300, check out the pharmacology self-paced course here: https://residency.teachable.com/
Eric's Book - https://www.amazon.com/Meded101-Guide-Nursing-Pharmacology-Christianson-ebook/dp/B09XJB4NRL/
Self-Paced Online Pharmacology Course - Discount HALFOFF - https://residency.teachable.com/
Online Credit Pharmacology Course in Summer - https://www.dmacc.edu/programs/pdp/pre-pharmacy/Pages/online-pharmacology-class.aspx
This week there's a HALFOFF sale on the self-paced pharmacology course you can find here with 10 hours of videos and hundreds of questions to help you through pharmacology class. https://residency.teachable.com/p/mobile
I memorized the Top 350 drugs in a certain order to help me pass the NAPLEX, I finished by the halfway mark, but that order helps you access that part of your memory easily and I teach that method in this book https://www.audible.com/pd/Memorizing-Pharmacology-Audiobook/B09JVBHRXK?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-281667&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_281667_rh_us and course https://residency.teachable.com/p/mobile
Often we think of the law exam as an asterisk, but 1 in 5 don't pass it and TLDRPharmacy.com has either non-filled out or filled out cheat sheets for every state that you can find here https://www.tldrpharmacy.com/mpje-resources
You can find the link here in the Pre-Residency Audio Academy, this is something that's really important to discuss with those applying to residency now in Phase II and in the next cycle. https://residency.teachable.com/
As you are thinking about residency or moving into Phase 2, one of the most important aspects is your leadership. Courtney Sullivan from Loma Linda University comes on the Pharmacy Residency Podcast to talk about her journey. Need help with Phase 2 or want to join the pre-residency audio academy for free, go to https://residency.teachable.com/
The average match rate was 72%, but that's a little misleading as only 58% of those who entered the match actually earned an interview. Need help with Phase 2, hit up https://residency.teachable.com/p/phase2 or email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
Phase II openings in PGY-1 doubled and in PGY-2 tripled, there are many opportunities for Phase II this year and many fewer applicants going after them. Need my one-on-one help go to https://residency.teachable.com/ or email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com with questions
Email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com or just sign up at https://residency.teachable.com/ for the Phase II course, I will turn your LOIs around in 24 hours. Just send me your LOI, your CV, and a website link to your first choice as Microsoft Word documents and I will work to get it back to you right away.
A little bit of digression this episode, if you want my help check out https://residency.teachable.com/ I'll send another episode when it's match day.
The founder of Your Financial Pharmacist joins me to talk about student loans and other aspects of your financial planning as you graduate from college or residency. You can reach him at https://yourfinancialpharmacist.com/ and check out the episode on https://yourfinancialpharmacist.com/10-financial-discussions-every-couple-should-have/
The founder of Your Financial Pharmacist joins me to talk about student loans and other aspects of your financial planning as you graduate from college or residency. You can reach him at https://yourfinancialpharmacist.com/ and check out the episode on https://yourfinancialpharmacist.com/10-financial-discussions-every-couple-should-have/
There are a lot of reasons to end your residency match journey, in this episode I outline why you would and wouldn't want to withdraw from the match from money to better opportunities. Leave your questions and comments on TonyPharmD and I'll answer them. Need help with Phase II https://residency.teachable.com/
There are valid reasons to feel imposter syndrome (phenomenon) and anxiety, but most don't realize how prevalent these feelings are amongst students. So give yourself some grace, you're not alone. Need help with Phase 2, hit me up at https://residency.teachable.com/
How many sites to do other students rank after they get interviews in this episode of the pharmacy residency podcast. Need help with your job cover letter or Phase II, hit up https://residency.teachable.com/
Rankings are a nightmare when it comes to what to do, but by looking at the other side, how residency sites can go down to their choices that can be in the 10s or 20s, you get a better picture of how rankings work. Need my help visit https://residency.teachable.com/
Pharmacist, Improv Comedian, and Speaker Cory Jenks from https://coryjenks.com/ comes to the Pharmacy Residency Podcast to help you learn more about presenting on your feet, writing your first book, and building a decade-long career in ambulatory care. You can find his book here https://www.amazon.com/Permission-Care-Building-Healthcare-Culture-ebook/dp/B09PZB9MF8/
You can find the Google doc here in the Free Pre-Residency Audio Academy General Resources tab https://residency.teachable.com/ Feel Free to Comment on TonyPharmD on YouTube
I'm helping those in my Pre-Residency Audio Academy (Free to Join) and others in my paid courses with their scholarship essays, and in this episode I give some advice on outlining and writing an essay that will earn the $5,000 scholarship. https://residency.teachable.com/
There are always a few rejections that really hit hard because you thought you had a good relationship with a site and I contrast pharmacy school admissions with medical school admissions as a way to see if med school is a choice for you instead of residency. Need Phase 2 help, check out https://residency.teachable.com/
One option instead of residency is medical school which at seven schools can be free. So if you are down because you didn't get a residency interview, maybe consider moving towards medical school. https://residency.teachable.com/
An applicant with more interviews will likely have a higher chance to match, but where does that number start? It depends a lot on where you go to pharmacy school. I go over the numbers and how to figure your odds in this episode. You can find the document here:
https://residency.teachable.com/p/preresidency
Part of my background as an English major and graduate student was helping students with presentations and what makes for a great slide deck and what doesn't. I have been helping those in my https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview course if that's something you need help with. Email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
The clinical cases are a source of fear for many applicants, but generally, there are a certain group of pathophysiologic states that are generally tested and TLDRPharmacy.com has excellent material (most of it free) that can help you crush those clinical cases
I saw a need for helping P1, P2, and P3 students get a broad understanding of just how hard the residency application process is and have a free course at https://residency.teachable.com/ inside the course the first 25 charter members can grab a free audiobook code.
I just wanted to do a quick episode to provide some reassurance that it's common for those who successfully match to get rejected up to 75% of the time. They are not rejecting you as a person, but that the fit is not quite right. Need my help https://residency.teachable.com/
It's tough to know that after years of college, your rejections may come from a single person's written opinion of your fitness as a future resident. In this episode I go over what to do as you move towards Phase 2. https://residency.teachable.com/
It's a lot easier to apply in Phase 2 or for regular positions if you know what was weak in your application. An interview rejection indicates you are in the lower 20% of applicants, so it's important to make sure your new application shores up those weaknesses. Need help, my new Phase 2 course is here https://residency.teachable.com/p/phase2
Keaton Higgins from the University of Iowa is definitely one of those great pharmacy students that can't be contained by a traditional job, we talk about ways to make sure your career matches your passion and how to find the mentors to get there.
Here's a link to the Unicorn Jobs book https://www.audible.com/pd/B07RSDRQK6/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-151638&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_151638_rh_us
The fear of missing out is real and in comparing yourself to others, you can put yourself in an anxious emotional state. I talk about what you can do to get out of the funk. https://residency.teachable.com/ if you need help with the process.
Clinical cases are a chance for the residency interview committee to assess if they can trust you with their patients, so focusing on how you present rather than being perfectly correct is the way to go. Need more help with the interview, go to https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview
There are many things you can do to increase your confidence especially in a virtual interview, I have highlighted a number of them in this episode using TDLRPharmacy.com blog post as a guide. Need one-on-one help, https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview
You can find the email template on how to ask an RPD if your application was received at https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview under "Free Resources" Long story short, not all applicants are showing up on the program side WebAdMIT.
I'm so confident in my interview course and email support and how important understanding the points system is, that I'm guaranteeing an interview and match. I also talk about the importance of understanding information asymmetry and how to use it to succeed in the interview and against your competition. https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview
The pre-screening interview can be a little disappointing, but know there are some definite ways you can take advantage of this rapid-fire way of evaluating candidates. Need help with the residency interview? Check out https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview
Crazy that there is a low application turnout down 25 to 50 percent this year according to reddit. Take that chance at a site you might not have thought you could get. Need my one-on-one help? Go to https://residency.teachable.com/ or email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com with questions
The first interview offer posted on the Google doc on 12/28/2021, if you need help with last minute extra applications hit me up at https://residency.teachable.com/ or email tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
You can find these free templates at https://residency.teachable.com/p/extremeloi or you can also sign up for last minute help if your preceptors tell you that your LOI is not up to par.
You can click here to get to the audiobook https://www.audible.com/pd/B07XTK2XW3/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-164007&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_164007_rh_us or if you need one on one help with the interview go to https://residency.teachable.com/
From December 25th, 2021 to January 6th, 2022 I will turn your Letter of Intent Revision around in 24 hours. Sign up at https://residency.teachable.com/ then email me your LOI, CV, and residency website link to tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
Residency Interview Google Doc Link https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1S6kZk72ntmS_Ddxui8gQw3chi3m117o1ONQtHVEshZM/edit#gid=410613073
Need one-on-one help in 48 hours or less, go to https://residency.teachable.com/ or if you got questions, email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
You want to go beyond titles when articulating what you've done as a leader and these five principles are a great way to do it. If you want to do the actual course, you can get $100 off by using the code Corey100 here https://plei.thinkific.com/courses/star-sundays
I give some really good book recommendations regarding understanding what you can do to better a relationship whether marriage or otherwise. If you want some help with your letter of intent or CV, go to https://residency.teachable.com/ or email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
The letter on the ACCP website was meant to be an example not a template for use in letters of intent. If you did use that letter, I have gone through it to raise the Grammarly score from an 83 to 100 and tightened the language, corrected the grammar, syntax, and spelling so you can if you really want to. Want my one-on-one help, go to https://residency.teachable.com/ or email tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
You didn't mean to wait until the last minute, but here you are, no worries. After signing up at https://residency.teachable.com/ email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com with your LOI, CV, and a link to your residency sites and I'll get it done!
Because there has to be documentation as to how a residency applicant was ranked that is free from bias to protected classes, there is a points system at each residency site. I do a deep dive in this course https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview if you've got questions email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
There is an expectation that each student can manage all the tasks that a residency applicant has to do at a very high level, but that's not really true. With the holidays, number of applications, deadlines and APPEs, there just isn't time to do it alone. Need my help go to https://residency.teachable.com/ or email tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
You can get this Ambulatory Care book by myself and Callie Abramowitz, Pharm.D. "free, free" on Amazon on December 9th and 10th, just click on the buy for $0.00. It goes over everything you need to know about earning a top Ambulatory Care Residency. Need one-on-one help go to https://residency.teachable.com/
If you want someone to just give you some general pointers, send me your letter of intent to tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
I can quickly let you know where you're probably tiered relative to where you're applying and I'll give you three things you can work on.
What I do, is for lack of a better term, is just fix LOIs and edit them professionally. If you want to work one-on-one with me go to https://residency.teachable.com/
You're going to Midyear to develop a genuine connection with a number of residency sites and many expect the residency showcase to provide that. I assure you it won't, but there is a time when you can get true connections with your future residency site. Need one-on-one help with residency applications, check out https://residency.teachable.com/
Some PGY-2 specialties are much more competitive than others, but how can you tell? I go through the stats on availability, early commit, and looking at your own college's success scores to help you decide where to apply, a PGY-1 with or without an Early Commit may mean the difference between getting and not getting a PGY-2. Need one-on-one help? https://residency.teachable.com/
Here's a Free Residency Book Link to help you get started with your applications, some use it for reflection, others use it to get that cover letter started. Enjoy!
In this episode, I get a one and one-half page letter of intent down to one page. Need one-on-one help, sign up at https://residency.teachable.com/
Grammarly is a great tool, but you have to know quite a bit about English grammar and syntax to use it well. In the second episode, I go over the non-Grammarly things that need to be fixed. Need one-on-one help, sign up at https://residency.teachable.com/
It may seem like it's too far away, but talking about PGY-2s and board certification makes a lot of sense when you are moving towards a specialty PGY-1 like at a children's hospital. Need my one-on-one help? Go to https://residency.teachable.com/
IHS and VA are some of the most sought-after residencies especially for ambulatory care pharmacists, however, over half will NOT be at the ASHP showcase, check out their availability here
https://www.pbm.va.gov/PBM/education/IHSVA_Virtual_Residency_Showcase_Participant_List.xlsx
Some PGY-1s provide a strong elective group that can give you an advantage when applying to a PGY-2 or allow you to simply get that specialized career without a PGY-2. Need help on your LOI or CV, contact me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com or go to https://residency.teachable.com/
ASHP reduces their rates. Need help with your LOI, CV, or Interview, check out https://residency.teachable.com/ Want to learn more about Michelle and Long Term Care, check out the Facebook group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/LTCPharmacistConnection
ASHP reduces their rates. Need help with your LOI, CV, or Interview, check out https://residency.teachable.com/ Want to learn more about Michelle and Long Term Care, check out the Facebook group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/LTCPharmacistConnection
Here's a preview of the Top 300 Drugs book I wrote and the narrator Aaron Smith, here's a link where you can get the book free if you've never had an Audible book before https://www.audible.com/pd/B09JVBHRXK/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-281667&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_281667_rh_us
Although pharmacy school acceptance rates have moved to 88.6% from 81.4% 5 years ago, fewer students are going to pharmacy school as each of the last 3 years 500 students fewer have been listed as accepted applicants. Need help with your residency application, hit me up at https://residency.teachable.com/
Ultimately, you want to distinguish yourself as a candidate, but there are two, not one key ways to do this and failing to include details that make clear you've done your homework can be disastrous. Want to work with me, go to shttps://residency.teachable.com/
If you're looking for the types of positions that pharmacists can have longevity with financial freedom, flexible hours, and personal fulfillment here is a great list https://www.audible.com/pd/Finding-Your-Unicorn-Job-for-Pharmacists-Audiobook/B07RSDRQK6?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-151638&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_151638_rh_us
Program showcases are starting in early October also called Virtual Information Sessions. I talk about how you can find them and take advantage of the early start on residency applications. Need to reach me https://residency.teachable.com/ or tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
Make sure to check your NAPLEX Score if you failed to ensure that you really did, this is on Twitter and Reddit, but the big thing is to make sure you don't lose a job or residency because you actually passed when you thought you failed.
It's overwhelming to have 4,000 positions available in residency, I give some tips on how to get a little closer to the right residency for you. Need to reach me tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
If you've ever though about becoming a physician, it's still possible. The residency application process and medical school application process are eerily similar in percentages and so forth. Want to get a hold of me, tonythepharmacist@gmail.com or https://residency.teachable.com/
I've had students ask for email and phone support with the residency application process, you can sign up here if you like https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview
While it looks like residency pay seems somewhere in a certain range, when you look at cost of living, it changes quite a bit. However, if you can find inexpensive housing, most areas of the country are relatively similar in other categories. While it may seem strange to look backward from where people you can live with are, that may be a tactic to get into areas you might not otherwise consider. Check out https://residency.teachable.com/ for one-on-one help with the residency process.
On August 30th, ASHP announced Midyear will be virtual, this poses a lot of opportunities for those students that understand what this means for the way programs recruit their next class of residents. Visit https://residency.teachable.com/ for one-on-one help with LOI, CV, and interview.
I go over why I believe graduates of public Colleges of Pharmacy have an advantage over Private Colleges in interview percentage, match rate, and overall rate of earning a placement versus those who started the process. Want my one-on-one help visit https://residency.teachable.com/
If you've never been to Orlando for Midyear there are some things you want to know about where to stay and how to save some money. Need help with your Letter of Intent or Interview, connect with me at https://residency.teachable.com/
So much is made of rankings of the pharmacy schools as a whole, but when we talk about paying the least amount of money for the best chance at earning a residency placement, those lists get turned upside down. Find the sheet I use at https://residency.teachable.com/
You have a lot more control over how well you do in the residency admissions process than you think. So much depends on where you go to school, where you choose to complete your rotations, and where you apply. Need one-on-one help go to https://residency.teachable.com/
Long Commute? Check out these resources. Books are free if you've never been on Audible before, but of course, the podcast and YouTube channel are free:
Memorizing Pharmacology Podcast: https://apple.co/3r579RG
Memorizing Pharmacology Audiobook: https://adbl.co/3kkc3ct
Memorizing Pharmacology Mnemonics Audiobook: https://adbl.co/3r6ZX7A
Pharmacotherapy Audiobook: https://adbl.co/3AXYqVX
Pharmacotherapy Casebook: https://adbl.co/36yfHXT
If you have trouble contact me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
Long Commute? Check out these resources. Books are free if you've never been on Audible before, but of course, the podcast and YouTube channel are free:
Memorizing Pharmacology Podcast: https://apple.co/3r579RG
Memorizing Pharmacology Audiobook: https://adbl.co/3kkc3ct
Memorizing Pharmacology Mnemonics Audiobook: https://adbl.co/3r6ZX7A
Pharmacotherapy Audiobook: https://adbl.co/3AXYqVX
Pharmacotherapy Casebook: https://adbl.co/36yfHXT
If you have trouble contact me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
Welcome to the pharmacy residency podcast. I wanted to talk a little bit about another podcast that I started the Memorizing Pharmacology podcast, as well as four books that can help you through your APPEs, especially if you have one of those long commutes where you kind of just need to absorb that information osmotically is that how it would be a basically making it audio book university? So again, I'm Tony Guerra, a pharmacist, and I wanted to talk a little bit about the pharmacology podcast and then some other books that may or may not be free depending on if you're an Audible member. So, of course the podcast is free. It's the Memorizing Pharmacology podcast. And what I'm focusing on is the drug prefixes and suffixes to kind of increase your inventory of medications. So, if you know the -tidine suffix, which is episode two then, you know, famotidine, nizatidine, cimetidine, and ranitidine which, you know, has been taken off the market.
But again, good to know that it is off the market and what the issues are with that one. But then again, you've also got to kind of differentiate a little bit because famotidine is quite a bit safer than cimetidine now the active ingredient in the new Zantac. Cimetidine has all those CYP interactions. And I talk a little bit about those, or for example, episode five is the -prazole suffix where it can get really confusing because sometimes on note cards you'll see -azole as a suffix. And, you know, from chemistry that -azole is just a functional group. It has nothing to do with that. Prazole is for proton pump inhibitors like Omeprazole and esomeprazole. And then you've got -piprazole, which is an anti-psychotic. So, you've got Abilify and Rexulti, brexpiprazole, and then you've got -conazole, which is fluconazole, itraconazole, ketoconazole, which is an antifungal. So, there's some confusion about how to use the suffixes properly, but if you do use them properly, then instead of learning one drug at a time you can learn many, many drugs at a time. So, for the puzzles we're talking about, I think there are six proton pump inhibitors for the conazoles, I think there's at least five azole antifungals that are really in use. And then the H-2 blockers, there's three that are in use. And so, by learning those three suffixes, you know, you learned many, many, many medications, and then having that conversation keeps everything in your brain in good space, because I talk about this in the episodes to
Always chart the medications your patients are on in order from, and always using GMRINCE, GI, gastrointestinal, M, musculoskeletal, R, respiratory, I, immune, N, neuro, C, cardio, E, endocrine, by using the exact same order every time, what happens is one, you can catch duplicates a lot easier. Maybe on the chart, you saw the brand name for an ACE inhibitor and then you saw the -pril ending on a generic of a different one. And no one caught that they were the same because one was brand, one was generic or something like that. So again, that's really helpful. So, but memorizing pharmacology podcasts, that's just going to kind of keep you up to date. As I worked through this and really what I'm doing is I'm just recording this for my pharmacology students. I teach multiple pharmacology classes every semester, if you want the whole book and just a seven hour listen that's the Memorizing Pharmacology book, that's the most popular one. In just a day you can pick up the seven primary pathophysiologic classes that gastrointestinal musculoskeletal, respiratory, immune, neuro/psych, cardio, and endocrine. I kind of include renal and also some specifics to like male and female hormones and things like that. But Memorizing Pharmacology, everybody loves that one.
Then if you want to kind of get into the weeds as a pharmacist or pharmacy resident read this one ready by Michael Lenz. He read Memorizing Pharmacology Mnemonics. So, if you really want to get into a little bit more about memorizing those side effects and things like that, Memorizing Pharmacology Mnemonics is it.
And then I worked with Eric Christianson, who is the meded101.com guy on creating an Audible pharmacotherapy book, clinical pharmacy pearls, case studies and common sense, which is extremely popular, as well. So, it depends on what level you really want to start. And I know that as you're kind of going into your APPEs or even the beginning of your residency, you're like, oh my gosh, am I going to remember everything I need to know? And especially for anyone thinking BCGP or that kind of thing the pharmacotherapy book has patients on many dozens of drugs and talks about those kinds of clinical pearls that you need to know.
And the fourth book is one that just nobody can find, but it's excellent as well. The Thrill of the Case, which is a really cool title, but I begged him to change the title to The Thrill of the Pharmacotherapy Case, because it's just impossible to find because if you put in the Thrill of the Case it auto-corrects in Google to the Thrill of the Chase. And this one is similar to the pharmacotherapy book and more case studies, more drug interactions, more clinical pearls when you're talking about medication management then if you just want to, you know, follow my channel TonyPharmD, I have 31,000 subscribers and some people just like to subscribe to this because as soon as the Pharmacy Residency Podcast episode goes, you can, you'll get it on YouTube, or it'll let you know.
If you got to push the bell, though, you got to subscribe to the bell, and then if you want the Memorizing Pharmacology podcasts, these also automatically upload load to that site as well. So, five resources for you Memorizing Pharmacology Podcast, Memorizing Pharmacology, A Relaxed Approach, a seven hour audio book, which you can get free, even if you've if you've never been on Audible before, they'll give it to you free. And I think on Amazon, they'll actually give you two books Memorizing Pharmacology Mnemonics, if you are a bit more advanced, maybe P-3. And then if you are kind of P-r or resident pharmacotherapy with Eric Christiansen on that one as well, or the Thrill of the Case for something a little bit different, and then you can always just follow the TonyPharmD YouTube channel.
But I wanted to make sure that you're aware of all these free resources and availability on Amazon and Audible that if you've never had a book before they will always give you that first one for free. I got questions for me, tonythepharmacist@gmail.com. I was just looking on a Google search and it's kind of funny tonythepharmacist comes above PhORCAS when you put in a pharmacy residency podcast. So, I just thought that that was kind of neat that many of you are listening and I mean, I know the stats, but again, I appreciate it. And if you do have the chance, please do subscribe to the podcast, do subscribe to the TonyPharmD channel. It makes it easier for Apple to know that, okay, we need to put this out there so that more people are able to get this great content. Okay. So, thanks again. And we'll talk to you next time.
I received the green light to submit a book chapter on prepharmacy and pharmacy residency admissions and am looking for co-authors. Email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com if you are interested.
Here are the seven residency books I've written and you can access them here at https://pharmacyresidencypodcast.com/
Sometimes it's easier to see how someone else has done something and then work from a template. You can find easy to use templates at https://pharmacyresidencypodcast.com/templates/
Visualizing the Endpoint and seeing yourself accepting a residency appointment is a great place to start as you move towards a residency application. Need help, drop by https://residency.teachable.com/ or email tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
Having the right APPEs not only impacts your ability to get a residency interview but to succeed in the interview. The easiest way to determine if your APPEs will match up to the residencies you want is to start now. If you want to work one-on-one with me sign up for the Extreme LOI Makeover course here: https://residency.teachable.com/
Eric Christianson of MedEd101.com joins me for an hour to talk about board certification timing and success. https://www.meded101.com/
In this episode I recommend a book, a non-traditional job website, and free courses you can take as you pivot from your residency application to other avenues. Here's the book link read by a nontraditional pharmacist https://www.audible.com/pd/Finding-Your-Unicorn-Job-for-Pharmacists-Audiobook/B07RSDRQK6?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-151638&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_151638_rh_us
University of Iowa P4 Jaycee Mandernach and I answer some questions from pharmacy student leader P2s and P3s about the Residency Application process. Find all the residency resources at http://residencyschool.com/
The Phase 2 Interview Score depends a lot on your Case/Clinical in addition to your traditional Interview, I go into detail of some of the aspects you need to know. If you want to see the full course, head here: https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview
Why are the Phase 2 Odds so bad and what to do about it. If you have questions, email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
We bring in Tim Ulbrich, CEO of Your Financial Pharmacist (YFP) with a discussion of side hustles that work for pharmacists and some financial planning resources and tips.
Transcript:
All right, welcome to the pharmacy residency podcast a member of the pharmacy podcast network I am going to have the CEO of your financial pharmacist on Tim Ulrich who I will let him introduce his details or where he is currently but I’ve met him a couple of times and just somebody who has dedicated really much of his outside work life to helping students and pharmacists and residents to have a great financial life so Tim welcome to the pharmacy residency podcast thanks tony for having me appreciate the opportunity um could you tell me just a little bit about yourself any background that you want to share especially as it relates to residency most of those that are listening to us are going to be future residents current residents or maybe our pgy2 and or looking for a job right now and then how you've had residency in your life and then some of the residents that you've talked to on your podcast yeah absolutely so short bio is a pharmacist by training I graduated from Ohio northern university go polar bears did residency in community ambulatory care at Ohio state and have been in the academic world for about 12 12 years now after falling in love with teaching during my residency experience and really having an opportunity to explore many different things during residency which is one of the great advantages of doing a one or two year residency program um and have kind of evolved that that career to pursue some entrepreneurial interest both on the academic side entrepreneurial interests and growing programs starting new initiatives and then in the work of starting uh your financial pharmacist why I serve as a co-founder and CEO and we're really on a mission as you highlighted to help as many pharmacists as we can pharmacy professionals student pharmacists pursue their path towards financial freedom however they would define that and we can certainly get into more of that as well and for me you know residency really personally was an important year of exploration you know one of my mentors uh recent Remington uh medal award winner Mary Alice Bennett my residency program director uh was really instrumental in my experience as a resident but also in my nudge to go into residency you know I had found myself my final year of pharmacy school burned out like many uh students might especially during this year right with the covet pandemic and what those students are experiencing and I had just finished an international rotation opportunity in Kenya uh had just gotten uh married had had a uh variety of apply experiences that really pushed and challenged me and I just got to a point of like I’m ready to graduate I’m ready to be done with this whole thing and thanks to some good mentors and others said hey Tim I really think you should think about residency and this was much later in the process and I would recommend any student consider it this we're talking like late November December you know last minute decisions and um which is partly why I’m so passionate about advising people to be early on in this process and be prepared long story short landed at a great program at Ohio state had some great mentors really explored clinical practice got to explore teaching progressive ambulatory care models but that year of exploration really led to the next step which was okay I love teaching and I want to explore that further which led to the next step of I really love more of the academic administrative work and so I think that year of exploration was so critical for me and I think so critical to what I hear from many residents or those pursuing residency and many of whom we've had as guests on the YFP podcast okay well let's talk a little bit about the finances of being a resident and my experience was quite a bit different where I uh matched with my wife at the same time but I was a decade out of school uh and that's when uh I did it and it was during the financial crisis so any job was actually a good job at the time but that residency allowed me the time to kind of explore if I wanted to do teaching and I ended up teaching at a community college but what I wanted to ask you first was the very first thing that I think many of them think is look at the student debt load yep look at what's going on and you know everyone right now who has stock that has anything to do with the Dow Jones is a genius as the markets continue to rise every single day the green line is just there every single day uh people are getting loans forgiven or there might be some loans forgiven and they might have this FOMO fear of missing out by actually being in residency where they'll exponentially grow as a clinician but the rest of the world will seem to be passing them by uh tell me a little bit about you know maybe investing for the long term uh in terms of residency yeah and I appreciate tony the investing uh example here in reference as we think about career investments and you know I think back to my experience thirty one thousand dollars was my resident salary in 2008-2009 uh so they've come up right we've seen an increase uh and you know I would actually argue today that divide is not as significant as we have seen you know salaries uh remain somewhat stagnant in some cases decrease and resident salaries come up right so that that FOMO is certainly still there but I think it's perhaps not to the same degree it was I remember feeling that in a significant way and I think a couple you know words of advice here would be you know really thinking about the long play the long picture the long-term goal in mind and there's lots of good information resources I’ve done some research in this area looking at the value of a one year of a community residency which was my background and what does that mean for career opportunities and goals and what does that open up and it opens up a whole lot in terms of opportunities but also it opens up a lot in terms of you know folks looking at things like career satisfaction and upward mobility of their you know degree over time and I think one of the challenges we have as pharmacists is that generalizing here is that often we see folks come in at an entry level position and the upward mobility of both role opportunities and of salary may not be there and uh you know one of the advantages I think of a residency program depending on which path you go is that you're beginning to open up other doors and even within those doors you're opening up some options of where you may be able to grow and one example I think of is you know I serve as the program director for the MS HSPAL program at the Ohio state university and that's a two year combined PGY-1 and PGY2 MS degree and you know those graduates certainly a big investment of time right two years pgy1 pgy2 master's degree a couple hundred thousand dollars of debt you know not making you know significant salary but what we see of their career paths is really significant and so of course this is an individual decision for everyone and I think that pressure you know student loan debt is real what we saw a class of 2020 median debt load of 175 000 that's a big number you know and obviously we're in this time period right now with administrative forbearance which has lightened that load a little bit we're seeing some glimmers of hope with loan forgiveness and other things that are out there but I think that if we can tie the career plan and really keep the long-term plan in mind and also match that up with a good sound financial plan which is more important you know important for everyone of course but especially those that are pursuing residency where you have a lower income time period that we've got to be able to set that plan so that we can in the long run be able to succeed and take advantage of the career progression that we hope to see tony I’ll say I have a theory I have no evidence to support this so you can you can debate me on this but I have a theory from personal experience and talking with many pharmacists that even though you're sacrificing income for a year or two I would make a case that many of those folks end up financially better in the long run not necessarily because they are going to out earn peers in the long run although that may be true because of the comment I made around upward mobility but because I think it forces you to begin to learn some behaviors and patterns that have a long-term benefit right because if you go from zero income to 100 120 000 of income you know that that's a big jump and there can be challenges with learning how to manage that expenses can go up quickly if you go from zero to 45 or zero to 48 from a p4 student to a pgy1 you know you're forced on some level hopefully to figure out like things like hey I’ve got to set goals I got to work on my budget you know I’ve got to really hunker down on this emergency fund and so I think there's in some level it can feel overwhelming I think the more opportunistic way to think about that is this is a time period where I can really begin to set some important behaviors and habits that will benefit me long term with my financial plan you have always been a glass half full person and I think you would call yourself that that's right and I think that you hit the nail on the head which is all right well let's stop thinking that I lost this money from uh what I’m going to get versus uh what I’m getting in the future and both my wife and I did the community route and I ended up with I’ve been uh an uh professor for over a decade uh and then she's been with the VA and is now in academic detailing so I don't I think that you're absolutely right in terms of mindset and those kinds of benefits that come from residency well let's talk about actually affording the residency itself we'll start just very briefly about the actual cost I have seen too many times students submit four residency applications because that's what comes with it and I guess if we were going backwards like okay so we start at the very beginning with a 200 000 budget and then we spend 199 600 on the schooling and 400 on the residency application process and it just kills me to hear well I applied to four I was like why did you apply to four well because that's what we were allowed good gravy you know the average pays the average student applied I think to 11 or 10.5 something like that last time can you talk a little bit about investing in that first process you had a show episode 175 about reducing costs during the residency application but maybe at least reducing the cost so you can get a couple more applications in yeah absolutely and then on the episode you mentioned we had Dr. Sarah Cummins a pgy2 emergency medicine resident at University of California Davis medical center who had some great input pre-pandemic input on you know some strategies that any one of them may not seem very significant but when you're traveling you're going to events like mid-year lots of interviews you know some small things and hacks that you can do to help control that cost and I will say tony I’m a big fan you got to invest in and of course to pursue that opportunity and you know I think this is an area where folks might be somewhat short-minded short term-minded in terms of you know 400 versus 600 when what that could mean in terms of opening up more interviews and opportunities but we also have got to keep the finances in mind and so we've got to find the balance of these and I see too often the financial rails fall off in the fourth year or in the final year and lots of reasons about you know for this we see often uh tuition and fees go up in that final year people are moving for rotations yeah exactly you know moving other things so you know I think even anticipating some of that the reason I mention that is anticipating some of that and being ready for that and trying to budget for some of that I think can then allow you to be able to plan for some of those residency experiences and making sure you're making in the investment in that as you're suggesting yeah I’m with you know the four applications that come with the forecast process you know I know from my work for several years working with students to be competitive applicants while every student is different and part of this is you've got to really do a good self-assessment get some good mentors understand you know what your position is as a candidate uh what are the types of programs that you're applying to how have you done in terms of networking and making connections you know obviously somebody that had a really strong APPE rotation at a site versus somebody that is you know cold calling if you will that site very different right in terms of what that one application means um and same thing on the networking side you know I often tell folks that like the application as I’m sure you've talked about on this show the application should not be the place in which they learn about you as a candidate if that is true we have missed opportunities along the way in terms of being able to network and build some of those connections so I think there's a whole lot of strategy that even comes before the applications before it comes in the investment but once you get to that point I know from personal data working with them that you know on average and I don't know what the latest data tony is but you know eight to ten applications in some cases more uh in terms of folks that are going to have to have enough in the queue to yield enough interviews which then obviously increases the likelihood that somebody's going to match and match at a position that is a good fit for them I’ve worked with students that have submitted two uh as high as 21 22 and success has you know been different for the reasons that I just mentioned but your point is a good one you know if we look at 200 000 of debt this is not the time I think where we say oh we're going to save you know 50 bucks or 100 bucks but how can we really invest to make sure again if we're thinking about where might this open up the doors for the long run so what are you seeing tony you're in this more than I am today in terms of like average number of apps yielding enough interviews what is that data today um it actually I’m going to do the Tim baker it depends it depends but no it there's actually a little formula I put together where you look at the person's college of pharmacy match rate um versus for interviews or for uh the actual match and then you kind of look at where they are so if the average is 11 and you're right at the average you know with the 100 and let's just say there's 150 schools there aren't but um so like in Ohio state a student would probably only have to put out six or seven applications to get maybe three or four interviews because they have a little bit over a seventy percent match but if you're in maybe one of the lower quartile then you would really be looking at those 20 applications uh to get that but many times it's not just stamping out as many as you can it's like you said you have to do the research to say okay well let me just go look and see where people were accepted before and the one tip I would give uh you know your YFP listeners is um that it is very regional and it is absolutely you'll look at some places and you're like wow they only took from a single college of pharmacy and that might be because they only have APPE relationships with those colleges or you look like at Hopkins who says we only have these six schools that we bring into our you know longitudinal program and then half of the residents are from those schools so it I hate the Tim Baker depends but it depends it totally depends
In this video, I go over what should go into an email expressing your interest in a Phase 2 site. You can find the template in the Extreme LOI course here https://residency.teachable.com/courses
Match Day is here, congratulations to those that match, but for those 2500 that didn't go to https://residency.teachable.com/courses then contact me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com with your old LOI, CV, and your #1 choice for Phase 2 so we can get your LOI redone in less than 48 hours
We've worked together to create a residency webpage for Phi Delta Chi, please let me know what topics you are MOST interested in for future videos/episodes at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
Here is the link: https://www.phideltachi.org/page/residency_resources
AAAE, Tony
How should you rank residency sites where you interviewed? I give my though on seven areas that I think are most important.
- Relationship with the immediate supervisor
- Co-residents
- Location
- Electives
- Teaching and precepting opportunities.
- PGY-2 Availability
- Staffing Requirements
Need help with your Interview or LOI for Phase 2, go to https://residency.teachable.com/courses/
It's terrible to think about, but 1500 applicants who did not get an interview already know they will not match in Phase 2. What is troubling is that another 2500 applicants will learn, at the exact same time, they did not match. Here are my five steps for success in Phase 2 and where you can go for one-on-one help https://residency.teachable.com/courses
The Five Steps to Take If You Don’t Match
Introduction
These are the five steps to take If you don't match. I am Tony Guerra, PharmD of the Pharmacy Residency Podcast. And I want to talk a little bit first about the emotional impact of the match and then how little time you have to take that next step. And I'll tell you why. And it has a lot to do with the numbers, but let's first take a look at that [match] day and how you might feel if you don't match.
You're going to feel like you let your teams down, not just your college, but your friends, family, and everyone that has kind of supported you. Maybe you have an immediate family and you're married, have kids, all of these things. And you're going to have this feeling that you made mistakes and you didn't do well enough.
You also are going to feel that you let yourself down. You worked hard, but in hindsight now you might be able to see some of the opportunities that you had, that you didn't take. And under the duress of all the work that you had to do, it was really, really hard for you to make the right moves and you weren't able to do it.
The feeling is going to be one that your heart is going to be pulled out of your chest. The problem is that if you're going to apply for phase two, you have literally hours till the list comes out. And then just a few days until you have to get your application in to the next step, because when you go into phase two, the issue is that you have 2,500 other people that just found out that they didn't match - in addition to the 1500 people that already knew that they wouldn't match because they had no interview invitation. Now there are approximately 4,000 people that are going to try to either move into phase two or move into the job market.
It's pretty clear the road will be difficult. I work out and do CrossFit and two of the people that I work out with sometimes are pharmacy supervisors. They've already seen the uptick in applications of students who want to quotation fingers, get back to the community,. This is really saying, “the residency thing didn't work out, I gave it a shot. I'm not going to try for phase two.” But many people will try for phase two and they have about 96 hours from just before the weekend to the next week. You have to get your application in, as soon as it opens because there is such a flood of applications that even if the residency sites don't shut their site down, they will stop looking at applications because they're going to have enough.
As we move along it’s accelerated in phase two. It's more competitive, it's accelerated, and it's just tougher. Think about it as moving from a sport that was high school competition to now going to state or even nationals.
You have to revise your letters of intent, articulate clearly why this site and how you match and you have to change around your CVs, especially if you're changing from [applying to] acute care to ambulatory care, ambulatory care to community, community, to ambulatory care or something like that. The order of your APPEs is the biggest thing where you need to have the most relevant sites that you went to at the top. Let’s say for example, that you had it in chronological order and you were applying to ambulatory care sites, but you put your acute care sites at the top, which may or may not make a lot of sense or your electives at the top, just because they were first in order. That's not what you want to do.
The next thing includes the recommendations which I've talked about before. Not only do you have to let your recommenders know you're going to phase two, you also need to figure out if one of those recommendations or maybe more than one was toxic. Now it is absolutely the most painful thing to think that someone that you trusted did not give you a positive recommendation. But the question you have to ask yourself is, did you ask them if they would give you a positive recommendation? What is absolutely brutal, and this is one of those aspects I don't want to call a secret, but it's certainly something few talk about. Many times it is a faculty member at your own college that writes an honest recommendation. They're doing their job to write an honest recommendation, but the [unwritten] expectation is that if they are not able to write a positive recommendation after you spent a quarter of a million dollars on this education, it would have been nice for them to tell you, “I will write it, but I'm just letting you know that it would difficult for me to write a recommendation as positive as it might need to be for you to be successful in this residency search.”
I have done that clearly articulating the nature of the recommendation and said, although you've done well, I don't think that the recommendation I will give will support you as well as maybe someone who came after me when you knew a little bit better what was expected [in rotation]. So, you have this very small window to get everything done and you need a team.
I will be there from the time that everybody hears they didn't get it residency to the time where the application needs to be turned in. I'll be turning around letters of intent within 48 hours, usually sooner. And it's just going to be a matter of making sure that you know where your top site is, because what I do is I take that top site and help you make a letter of recommendation for that top site. And then I give you a template from that one so you can build your other letters and I can help you with those other ones if you want. But the fee for the course is for this one letter and if you want other ones, that's fine, but we can talk about that later. Right now, we need to focus on the team. Who are they?
Whether it's your pharmacy fraternity, your college pharmily, or your friends. This may be the hardest thing for you to do, but you must let everyone know you did not match. If you do this quickly, it will be like pulling the Band-Aid off really quick or diving into a cold pool where once you get underneath the water, it’s fine. You must let everyone know you did not match because of what's going to happen with social media. The majority of the social media feeds are going to be filled with people putting pictures up of the that they matched and where they matched.
But it is rare, and I mean one in a hundred or one in fifty that an applicant will l put up that they did not match. What applicants need to post, if they did not match, is that, “I need your help.” People cannot help you if they don't know you didn’t match.
What's going to happen when you tell a group whose primary responsibility is to help people that you need help? The first thing they're going do is reach out to you and, and try to help, and that’s what you need, from a little word of encouragement to a recommendation to them saying, “Oh my gosh. I can't believe you didn't match. Let's talk a little bit about what happened.” We might find that you applied to the top four sites and you only applied to four sites because that is what the initial application fee paid for. They can put a good word in for you, but they cannot help if they don't know.
Let's talk about the five steps for phase two and how you should approach it.
The Five Steps
- Read the Book
I've written a book I need you to listen to or read. The phase two book will take an hour. It needs to be your first step. Don't start looking at the menu of sites that are open. Don't start doing anything that would take you down the negative road of what did I you wrong. Just listen to my advice for an hour on what you need to do and what phase two is all about.I assure you that if invest that one hour in listening to the book, it will make it a lot easier for you to get to where you want to go a lot faster.
- Identify Sites
Then, and only then after you have that perspective, identify the sites in phase two that you are interested in. For example, you might live in a state where there might only be four or five available sites in that state.
In general, there are around 200 spots. There were about 3,500 to 4,000 spots in phase. Of those, there's about 200 to 250 left. The issue is that there were 8,000 applicants for 4,000 sites and now there are 4,000 applicants, potential applicants, It's not that many, for 250 sites. So, the competition is much higher.
- Contact Sites Before the Application
You must contact them about your interest. This is not an application. This is starting the conversation. Hey, I saw that you didn't have a match in phase two. I am also available. I just wanted to let you know that I will be submitting an application to you. Is there anything specific that I should know about your process and what you're doing? From these, you might get a conversation, but this is not a formal interview. You may get some informal interviews.
- Revise Your Letters of Intent, CVs, and Recommendations
LOIs.
You can send a past letter to tonythepharmacist@gmail.com to have me look at it and I can tell you in about five or ten seconds what the primary issues are and if I can help you. If you have a letter of intent that looks perfectly good, then it's something with your CV or your recommendations. But if I look at it and I see the UCSF template or the ACCP template, and I'm not going to judge you, but I'm just going to tell you that this is a generic letter of intent. We have a couple of hours to make this into a letter of intent that shows how you uniquely matched better to that site, better than anyone else. That's your goal.
CVs.
You need to, especially if you are changing from ambulatory care to community, community to ambulatory care, or acute care to ambulatory care, whatever it is, you need some revision, but maybe not as much as the LOI.
Recommendations.
And then the recommenders, you need to let them know right away. Hey, I'm going to need recommendations for phase 2. I want to go for it. Will you be willing to write a positive letter of recommendation for me? It is so important to put the word positive in because if they cannot, this gives them an opening that yes, I could write a letter of recommendation, but I don't feel that it would be positive at the level that you would need. And what that also does is tells you why maybe you didn't match in phase one.
- Immediate application.
You must apply when the applications open at that hour. Crash the servers. Do what you must because there are literally hundreds of applications going to these sites that maybe before they didn't get a lot of applications. They're going to get them now because the numbers are so overwhelming. Again, it was 8,000 applicants for 4,000 spots. Now it's 4,000 available applicants for 200 spots - an order of magnitude different. Let's walk through these steps.
Step 1. Read the Book – Expanded
First we're going to get perspective and listen to a book about a student who matched in phase 2. The book is called Crushing the Phase 2 Pharmacy Residency Match: Proven Tactics to Earn a Clinical Pharmacist Training Position. Before you can even start this process, you first need to believe, and I know that's cliché but you can match in phase 2.
eBook
If you have Kindle Unlimited, you can already get the eBook for free. It's part of your Kindle Unlimited. I have made it that way so you can have access to it. It's like 10 bucks if you get the eBook without Kindle Unlimited.
Audiobook
If you've never been on Audible.com before, you can get on and get this audiobook for free, or you can email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com. I have 20 free codes left. I've given a couple of them away, already to people that have asked me for them that know that they didn't unfortunately get an interview opportunity. But, I do have a couple of free codes left. I don't think it's expensive though. I think it's like $5 or something like that, but it is under $10 to get the audiobook. But what I need you to do is not only understand how phase two works, but I need you to hear a story about someone who did it, and this is the key. They matched in an academic medical center, one of the toughest residencies to get.
Parts of the Book
There's an introduction explaining the numbers from a year ago because it takes so long to write a book like this and get it published in audio format, but the information is still relevant. You will learn about match day, the four day weekend, 96 hours when phase two opens for applications and how you use match statistics to inform your application. So, if you're coming from a school that matches well traditionally, then phase two sites are going to be very excited about your application. For example, if you’re at Kentucky or UNC or Drake or Iowa or Minnesota, or UCSF and someone sees your application, then they will look very favorably on your application.
Are they just going to look at your school? Imagine if you got 200 applications in a single day and you have four residents and yourself who thought the process was over and now you and those four residents need to somehow evaluate 200 applications. What's the very quickest way to do it? Look at the top schools.
Dr. Key Gales, who worked for me for a couple of years helping as a college teaching assistant matched in phase two, not only in PGY-1, but in phase two of PGY-2. It's a story about someone who was well qualified, who did something that is very difficult to pull off. He applied to acute care sites, being very honest about his goal to be an ambulatory care. But I think he actually ended up wanting acute care after he began his residency. He matched to a highly sought after academic medical center, which is hard enough to do in phase one, which is nearly impossible to do in phase two. And I don't think that if he didn't come from Drake, one of the top schools in that year, I don't think he would've had a chance. But he was a Midwesterner coming to a Midwest site and I'll talk more about location later.
And then there's a chapter about another book that I've written called Finding Your Unicorn Job for Pharmacists: Financial Freedom, Flexible Hours, and Personal Fulfillment Beyond the Pharmacy Counter. The misconception is that a unicorn job is when there is only one of them. And what I am really saying is that it's a job that you create because it's exactly a perfect fit for what you want. But again, I made the Crushing Phase 2 Book intentionally just an hour so that you can get through it on the drive home.
Step 2. Identify Sites Expanded
The first thing you want to do is get your head around is that this is a people game, not a qualifications game. When you have 200 people applying for the same spot, that means that the director needs a way to sort it out. And I've talked to RPD after RPD, and they all say the same thing. It doesn't matter what we do with the rubric. Everybody's a couple points from each other. We need to know people and we need some kind of connection.
Sites Where You Know People
The very first place you want to go is where you know someone or where someone, you know, knows someone. And this is where it becomes so important that you were in an organization, especially if you were in a leadership position. And from that leadership position, you can reach out to other people. If you did an APPE at the site, you've already done a five-week interview and you can let them know, “Hey, I didn't match. Are you open to an interview?” You can communicate with them and get that started. But also, you can speak to your faculty, and say, “Hey, you know, I didn't match.” And they will help not just because it looks better for the school if extra students match, but because they genuinely have been building you up and developing you and they want you to succeed.
In-State Sites, then Regional, then National
I would definitely prioritize sites in your own state, then sites in your own region and then sites nationwide - in that order. It is really hard in phase two with the speed that all of this happens for someone in the Southeast to articulate their value to someone in the Pacific Northwest or someone in the Southwest to articulate their value to someone in new England. You have to build that relationships. Maybe with APPEs or through connections, but you might be in a state that has only one or two available spots and you'll expand to your region. And then from that region, you'll go nationwide. But again, we are going to start talking about contacting sites because the process really is going to start happening the day that that notice goes out at noon.
Step 3. Contact sites before application day.
One. Sites often schedule informal meetings before the application day, but they cannot accept your application, that has to go through PhORCAS. Don't think that good places aren't in phase 2. Maryland was in phase 2, which gets easily 200 applications per position. Cleveland clinic was in Phase 2 last year. There are many, many very good programs in phase 2. And they are there because they didn’t need to rank everybody that they looked at in Phase 1, because they know that there's going to be plenty of good applicants in phase 2. Yeah, it's going to be a pain, but they know that the quality of their residents will remain very high.
Two. An email of interest that allows you to see which sites are receptive to you. They really want to hear from you and this may sound strange, but you're going to be thinking, well, I don't want to bother them if they're going to have all this volume. Well, what needs to happen is that you need to contact them, make the application, and then build a relationship and you have to do this very quickly. I have heard of students emailing 30 or 40 sites and actually hearing back from maybe half that, 15 to 20, and then making applications to those where they got a positive response. And what that does is it halves your work, instead of hoping that these sites are going to be receptive to you, you're going to find the sites that are actually receptive to a quick email back saying, “I definitely think you should apply to our site. I think we're good fit.” Here is best practice. You should attach and put your information in the body of the email.
I remember when I was hiring during the housing market crash and I was still running a real estate practice. Because there were so many real estate agents going out of the business, I had plenty of work to do, and I was hiring, but I was getting all of these applications. And what I would find is that maybe they application was in Pages, which is Mac or Apple's word processing program. I couldn't open it because I had a Dell at the time. Now I have a Mac. Make sure that you put a relevant part of your cover letter or CV in the actual body of the email. So that instead of that need for an extra click, the director can quickly scroll down and immediately and see, “Oh, wow, they've got a bunch of these rotations that they've done at nearby hospitals. This person might be a really good person to interview. So again, attach and put the same information in the body of your email.
Step 4 Revise LOIs, CVs, and Recommendations – Expanded
LOIs
This is the book I've written it, The Strong Residency Letter of Intent: Writing to Be Interviewed with a Cover Letter that Earns the Invite. You must revise your letter of intent. The LOI is not why you are the best, someone will always have more qualifications. This is the number one reason that someone did not get an interview. They are trying to win a marathon against a marathoner and they are a 5k runner, or they don't work out much at all. There is always going to be someone more qualified.
What you must do is match them best and show how you are the best fit that the marathoner may not be a very good fit with a group that likes to play hockey. And I'm just making up some sports analogies.
Show don't tell how you match. Let's say there's a Children's Hospital that has an opening available. And you say, this is a story about my experience in the PICU. And I want to talk about the PGY-2 rotations that you have that are really something that I would love to build on the experience that I had in the PICU. That is showing why you are qualified. What is telling that you are qualified is to say “I want to do pediatrics.”
The big thing with this phase 2 is making sure that you are able to show them quickly in a scannable document. What that means is that the most important thing is in the first couple of sentences that you are writing a unique letter to them. You cannot pull off a generic LOI in phase 2, it's just not going to work.
The Illusion of Explanatory Depth.
A letter of intent is, and when you wrote it the first time you may have just taken a template, written a letter, made sure the grammar is right and sent it in. It's just a letter about you. It should be really easy.
This is the illusion of explanatory depth. So why is it so hard to write a good letter of intent? And this is an excerpt from the Strong Residency Letter of Intent Writing To Be Interviewed With A Cover Letter That Earns The Invite.
Here's a nerdy answer. Can you tell me how a microwave works?
You'd probably say sure, but then when i asked you to give me a detailed explanation with drawings, you would really struggle. This is the illusion of explanatory depth, which basically says, most people think they understand something better than they do until they have to explain it to someone else in detail and I should have put after that “or do it themselves.”
We need to write a cover letter that tells us about your past, about how your experiences match the site’s offerings. We need you to do it in a single page and please use 11-to-12-point font with one-inch margins and proper business formatting, making sure to double space between the paragraphs.
Okay. Got a little harder. Right?
So, when you try to write a letter of intent, you are the victim of this illusion. You've written emails, papers, maybe a resume or CV, but properly crafting a letter of intent that earns you an interview takes a specific skillset that you likely haven't honed. It's not that you couldn't do it if you were given enough time, but in 96 hours, you have to write maybe 10 letters. That's why people come to me because what I do is I help them write that first template, the perfect unique template to them, to that first site. Then I helped them with the template for the second through 10th letter.
While the people I'm working with are banging out those letters, no problem, getting them done and moving on to the CV and recommendations, fine tuning their emails to those people that they want to talk others are wondering what went wrong with their letter. I've read hundreds and hundreds of letters. It takes me seconds to figure out what was wrong. And it takes me a little while longer to make it right, but I assure you that I can. And if you've not worked with me before you just go to residency.teachable.com/p/extremeLOI and sign up for the course, email me your letter and CV and first choice residency and we will be off and running or contact me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com.
- I mentioned this before, you must prioritize the rotations they offer in the APPEs you match to. You don't have to list APPEs chronologically, which often makes no sense. And if you're listening to this on audio and can't see the image here is the image of someone who doesn't seem like they didn't match. They're relaxing on their backpack, on a beach, just typing with the waves in the background, what you want to do as you're doing the CV is relax.
As you're writing the letter of intent is acting as if you are going to match and that if you don't match, no problem. It's a very tough feeling to pull off. But what you want to do is not write this in this frenzy.
What I hear over and over again from the people I work with is that “I feel so much more confident. Now my anxiety is so much less. Now, at least I know that I did the very best I could in this area.” There are no guarantees or anything like that, but what I can do is change the feeling that you have from one of scattered, chaotic confusion, and lack of confidence for a better term, to a confident, well-articulated argument that you match to.
If you can't see the image, it's a soccer coach talking to a group of kids sitting down and showing the game plan. You want to gather your recommenders and game plan with them. They will fight for you if they really liked you and they want you to succeed. They will make the calls for you. You never know if in the background, someone called someone to say, “Hey, I think you should really take a look at this person. I know that they're going to apply.” Okay. What, what was the person's name? How do you spell that last name? Okay, great. And you say, no, that really doesn't happen. I assure you. It happens all the time. Pharmacy is a small world. We know a lot of people. When you have a preceptor and especially if they're in a specific field, they have an even smaller group, but they can let you know about some opportunities that you may not have heard of, or that are coming up. But again, the network, the organization that you have put your time into, that's where you really want to go and make sure that the recommenders know what they need to do.
- Apply on the first day - Expanded
Even if the sites don't formally close, the sites will stop taking applications. They will stop answering emails. If you've ever been in a community pharmacy where maybe two people called out and you don't even have time to answer the phone, it’s like that. You must apply on the first day and early in that first day as many Phase 2 sites have never done Phase 2 before.
Let's use the number 200 if 4,000 matched. Okay. That means that only 5% of sites would not have matched in the past year. And I know that this math is not exactly right, the way that I'm doing this, but that means that if we had 4,000 sites every year, and if every year, 200 didn't match, that means that it would take 20 years between times they didn't match. It is at least a rare event that Phase 2 sites have not matched. So, when you say, gosh, they seem really disorganized. What you want to do is provide the solution. Let me help you. Let me tell you why I can solve your problem. Let the other applicants go. I am your solution. Obviously. You're not going to write that, but that's what you've got to think is that, Oh, wait a minute. They're really struggling, they've got to scramble to get the interviews in, to get this job hire person hired, because if they don't get hired, the institution may cut that person from the budget. The volume is absolutely overwhelming on their side.
In this last part I want to talk about a sports analogy. And I don't want to call it little league because it's soccer, but my daughters are nine years old, and they've been very successful in soccer. And the reason is because of a small shift and a single book that I read, and yes, I've been coaching them. But when we started this and I mentioned this in the number of my books, I was not good. We lost games, a lot of games. We only won a few. And I said, okay, well, this is my fault. Let's see what are the things that we can do? And I became a student of soccer so that I could serve them at the highest level. Now I'm going to help you become a student of the Phase 2 process and how to do this in such a way that you can maximize your chances.
The book on soccer, the book is from Dan Blank, who was a Division I coach for a little while, but his fame actually came from being, I think, an NAIA coach where he clearly articulated what the things are that a student of the game would need to know. And I'm going to tell you three of those things and how they relate to the residency process.
The Holy Grail of Soccer and Phase 2 - Speed of play where everything is faster to tactics. We'll talk about the 50/50 throw-in ball and odds as you have to know where you stand based on your college. And if you're applying in-state / out-of-state and all of those things to know how many applications and where to apply
Right place, right time. The kids used to wear wristbands. And I bought them these wrist bands where blue would be the strikers pink would be the midfielders and then white would be the defenders or backs.
What we would do is we would set it up in such a way that they would know exactly where they need to go and we would make these shifts as we're transitioning people in. And they would know exactly what their role is as they went in, because they were getting this wristband now in COVID. We couldn't do it. But again, that's, the approach that we took.
Let me talk about the Strong Letter of Intent Book excerpt, as I relate to speed of play tactics and being at the right place and right time
In applying for residency, you don't realize your speed of play is not up to par until a professor rejects your recommendation requests, because she has too many already. When you spend weeks on your CV compared to hours on your letter of intent and recommendation, your tactics are off. The LOI and recommendation letters count much more than your CV and four years of school. When you try to talk with the residency director during the mob, that is the residency showcase you're not meeting in the right place and right time, meaningful conversations happen at the evening, relaxing state and college gatherings later in the day, I don't want you shut out. Like my team was in that game. I want you to be a member of the team to beat. You have to increase your speed of play, study, successful tactics, and put yourself in the right place at the right time.
Speed of play: Take everything you do and do it faster
In soccer. I remember this game so clearly, and I remember the other coach screaming at the ref, and there's nothing I could have done. And the ref couldn't hear him. My daughter was so fast at getting the throw in and throwing it in that she no longer cared if it was our throw in or the other teams. The ref, it was their very first time refereeing a game, but she didn’t stop my daughter who just kept throwing it in for us. This coach is just screaming and there's nothing I could do. Because everyone in the team knew where the ball was going to go, they didn't have to bother setting up. They were already running towards the goal.
The other speed of play aspect, which is a little bit tougher, and this is really more when you're kind of getting to 9 and 10 year olds and maybe 11 year olds is the one touch pass, where the ball comes to you and you don't sit there and wait with it, kind of look around and then make a decision. But rather you've already made the decision as the ball is coming to you. And in one touch, you make the pass so that the defender can't attack you or tackle you.
In residency, you must apply on day one of phase 2 and you must communicate before the application turn-in day. That is an increased speed of play. You are talking to them beforehand. You are not waiting, hoping that you’re going to submit the application and cross your fingers and hope for the best.
You are an active person, making sure to lean into your network and to talk to those people ahead of time and apply on the day.
Tactics
The picture is actually the daughter that does the throw in thing. I became a student of the game and I found out that in soccer, throw ins are a 50/50 ball.
That is whether you are throwing it in towards your team or not, you will lose the ball fifty percent of the time. In such a short field, if you throw it at their goal, instead of throwing it back to our goal, to maybe one of our players, to bring it up the field, you have not only gained 15 feet towards the goal, but not lost an additional 15 feet towards our own goal.
In residency, you must apply to local versus national first. That's your best chance where you have relationships. You want to apply where your pharmacy school has had historical successes. Some pharmacy schools traditionally have sent many, many students to residency. I've mentioned this before, but the top 10 schools send 500 students to residency. That is an order of magnitude of 10. If your school is at the bottom, you know that you must increase the number of applications and you must apply locally. You must increase your connections to the people who are making the decisions. If you're in the top, you must lean into the network. Take advantage of that. And hopefully you have a local site to apply to.
Right place, right time. Position yourself for success
In soccer. The shape must change in offense and defense, and it was completely my fault, but we lost the game because of just this tactic. When you are in offense, your defenders should be spread out and should be up closer to the midline which is the second image on the right. If you are defending, you should contract and you should both be really at the top of the goal box. For about six minutes of the game, I had wwo players that thought they were wings and not defenders. And it was up to me to clarify that and clear it and figure it out. And I didn't, and we lost the game by one, but in that six minutes, the other team scored four goals as they just attacked right down the middle, right down the middle. We just opened it up that lane for them because we were in the wrong shape, in the wrong position.
Local equals less risk for the residency site. And for the applicant, if they know you're from around here, then you'll probably stay around here, and it'll be a better deal.
How do we start? How can I help?
I have helped almost 200 students this season, in just this season. So, we're talking that of the entire national applicant pool to residency this year. I have helped 3% of that entire group. I will be helping students with letters of intent all weekend from the time they find out where to the time that you need to apply, I will be returning those letters of intent within 24 to 48 hours.
People ask, well, how many revisions do I get? You don't need them. I'm a PhD level trained English, major undergrad has done master's work and PhD work in English. I have taught Composition I and Composition II and Comp II is most important because it talks about the arguments and logos, ethos, and pathos. That is what you're really doing is making an argument as to why emotionally, logically and through evidence that you should be the one that matches.
Go to http://residency.teachable.com/p/extremeloi
It's $95, if you want to work with me. And if you are PDC, please let me know because a portion will be going to national. That's a new thing, but I just want to let you know that if you are a PDC, please let me know when you send me your old letter of intent and your CV. I will always look to see. So even if you don't tell me, I can see if you were the worthy prelate or in another position.
LOI Course
But it is $95 if you want to work with me, but I assure you that turnaround and the quality that you get. Ask somebody who's worked with me as I've worked with so many people. There's probably someone at your school that have worked with and my track record speaks for itself in terms of success.
I have had a student I've worked with who has, I believe, 15 interviews and another one, who was perfect, getting interviews at all the places they applied.
While I can't guarantee that you will get the residency position, I can guarantee that it will be the best that you can possibly do given the amount of time. And it will be a very high-quality letter, but that is my specialty. I can look at CVs and things like that, for an additional charge, but I I'd really recommend you use me for the letter of intent. I'm good at grammar and syntax with CVs and seeing what needs to be where, but in terms of formatting, that's just not my thing.
Interview Course
And then if you do get an interview, I do have an interview course, residency.teachable.com/p/ interview that will, in three hours, explain the point system to you. So, if you did have interviews and you asked, “Why didn't I match?” With the interview course you get up to six months of email support from me. So, if you have questions like this is my thank you email, is this grammatically correct? And I'll say, okay, well, no, it's not. Here's what it should be. And then I'll help fix it for you, or I'm trying to rank these. Can you help me with the rankings? Yeah, sure. I can do that for you.
Past Interview Review
If you want me to do this, and I only do this for a couple of people for $295, I will listen to up to an hour of your interview that you have had or a half hour of interview questions that you will answer. And I will provide my feedback on what happened, why didn't you match with the answers that you had. But again, that $300, that's kind of a premium service. I only do it with a dozen people. If you really want it, I'll do it. I do enjoy it, but again, I know that's a lot of money for someone that just spent a couple of hundred thousand dollars, but again, the payoff is of course, hopefully getting, the residency in Phase 2 but sometimes the easiest thing to do is just email me: tonythepharmacist@gmail.com.
Sometimes it might just be easiest to just contact me with a question that you have, and I'll let you know if I can or can't help you.
I apologize if you're emailing me during that busy time. I'm going to prioritize those that have already enrolled in the course and that have sent me their letter of intent and CV, but I'll try to do my best to help you, but the volume is immense during that weekend. and I've cleared my schedule for that so that I can honor that promise of returning a high-quality letter to you within 24 to 48 hours. But if you have a question now has been a better time to ask me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com.
Last month more future pharmacy students applied and sent in applications keeping residencies competitive. I've written a book with a physician that helps outline the best steps you should take as a student to ensure your spot in a residency program. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08WKQN1FP
If you are thinking about the Phase 2 pharmacy residency have a listen and contact me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com if you want to be one of the 25 audiobook reviewers.
I've made access to my new CV course available free for a limited time to my PDC brothers, use the password in the episode to get in here free https://residency.teachable.com/p/cv There is a day where our Phi Delta Chi student brothers will need us more than any other and that is March 19th, 2021, if they are on the tough side of match day. In this episode, I talk about what I think we can do to help as brothers for life.
When you have many more interviews than you expected, what can you do? You can find the Excel file here in https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview regarding sorting out your multiple interviews and eventually ranking them.
While many condemn social media as a liability, Reddit continues to provide many great pearls for succeeding in residency. However, out of fear, many residents and RPD shy away from posting, it's pretty obvious who made a post if there's only one resident at a site. Need help with interviews, check out https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview
If you want to do a 1/2 hour mock interview with me and to have me analyze all of your sites and provide 6 months of email support, you can find that option here https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview
Make sure you are either on my email list at http://residencyplanner.com/ Subscribe to TonyPharmD on YouTube or join the Facebook group to keep up with podcast episodes. https://www.facebook.com/groups/residencyplanner/
In this episode, I go over the six major milestones in the residency application process.
Foreign graduates applying to pharmacy residencies have a tough road, but it is possible, 7 out of 61 that were interested earned a placement. In this episode, I outline some of the best practices in getting that spot. https://residency.teachable.com/
While you put your heart and soul into your application, you may never hear anything back from some programs. The lower your application ranks, the more likely you'll hear nothing. In this episode, I cover how to communicate with a program that sent no formal email and how to improve your academic English. Need help with Phase 2, check out the courses at https://residency.teachable.com/
New website, http://residencyplanner.com/ where you can sign up for the email list to make sure you don't miss any episodes.
In this episode, I review the questions you should prepare for the RPD and residents and the importance of asking questions to show interest.
If you are in a position where you need to improve your application, you can do a part-time Academic APPE with me over early spring. Contact me directly at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
I am hiring some part-time pharmacy student help, please email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com after watching the video.
You got an interview, sort of. It's a screening interview. How do you get past it? In this episode of the pharmacy residency podcast. Want one-on-one help with your interview, go to https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview
I have posted a residency interview offer acceptance template and an interview followup template here at https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview
Unfortunately, the first residency interview rejection emails are now going out, but some are going out not because of lack of qualifications, but because of plagiarism in the applicants cover letter / letter of intent and / or CV. Use the "Watch Promo" here to learn to make your letter more original. https://residency.teachable.com/p/extremeloi
Interview offers have just started being sent out and the Google sheet is out to let you know which sites have started the process as you move through your journey. You can find that link and a couple others here https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview
Some colleges show employment data, some don't but you should know how your college of pharmacy did in the job market last year. Make sure to take into account whether it was at graduation or six months out when looking at percentages. My new residency and pharmacy job interview course is here at https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview
If you have a late transcript or recommendation, you can find a free template to communicate this with the residency program director here https://residency.teachable.com/p/extremeloi
Stuck on your Letter of Intent? My turnaround is now 24 hours as we hit the home stretch and New Year's. Sign up at https://residency.teachable.com/p/extremeloi or email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com with questions.
Some interviewees are going in nervous and cold and others have a wealth of information and feel very confident. Becoming a student of the pharmacy residency interview process can improve your odds of matching and ranking high with a site. Visit https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview to watch the free preview videos
As I have been helping PGY-1 applicants move on to PGY-2 with their letters of intent, I'm seeing missed opportunities to showcase what you've done and in this episode I go over those 5 Key Reasons PGY-2 Applicants fail to earn the placemen they want. Want help with your Letter of Intent, visit https://residency.teachable.com/p/extremeloi
Stuck on your cover letter or letter of intent with a tight deadline for a PGY-1 or PGY-2, no problem, visit the course at https://residency.teachable.com/p/extremeloi or email me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com
The holidays are here if you need help I offer faster LOI turnarounds and you can join our residency Facebook group. https://residency.teachable.com/p/extremeloi
I'm working on some residency site analysis tools, but if you want me to give my opinion of your chances of matching send me an email at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com with a single site, your LOI, and CV.
The toughest question to answer is if you are applying to sites where you will be ranked well and have a chance based on your college and their preferences. But whom do you ask for confirmation? I can give you a reasonable assessment and I talk about how in this new course to help you with the residency interview that includes email support. https://residency.teachable.com/p/interview
I go through the two methods you should use to answer the two types of residency essay questions, the RACE and STAR acronyms for the evidence based and behavioral questions respectively. If you need help with yours, contact me at tonythepharmacist@gmail.com or go to https://residency.teachable.com/p/extremeloi