everything you ever needed to know before heading to ASHP Midyear
Ah, the Residency Showcase. This is probably what you're going to Midyear for - but it’s hard to anticipate exactly what to expect. Don’t worry: we’ll walk you through all the essentials so you feel 100% prepared during Midyear week! (Be sure to check out our PRO TIPS, in red!) B E F O R E M I D Y E A R One important thing to remember before going: the Showcase is meant for YOU (the prospective resident) – to get the chance to chat with and check out dozens of residency programs in one venue. >>*Note: Prospective fellows: the showcase is not as much for you; prioritize your PPS interviews first. If you prefer, you can schedule your PPS interviews around Showcase so you can make both.) >>*Note: P1-P3 students: the showcase is also not as much for you. In fact, ASHP usually requests that if you are a P1-P3, that you wait until the second half of the Showcase to enter the room to be fair to the P4s.) The Showcase will be split between 3 sessions:
*IMPORTANT*: Each program will only be at ONE of the sessions (which was something I wish I'd known early on!). So be sure – if you know which programs you want to visit – TO CHECK WHICH ONE OF THE DAYS they’ll be showcasing so you don’t miss them. To help you do that, ASHP will release an official floor plan sometime before Midyear that will look like this: You can click on each of the 3 sessions and it will tell you which programs will be there on each day. You can match the program to its booth number on the left column, and then find them on the map. (PRO TIP: Print out and study this map beforehand for maximum efficiency. The Showcase room is pretty much mass chaos; so if you have an idea of the layout of the room/plan your route beforehand, you’ll feel that much more prepared.) To save you even more time during the Showcase, you can also decide which programs you most want to see beforehand. (PRO TIP: Most students will probably only have enough time to talk to 4 – 5 programs per session. Choose wisely!) Sometime before Midyear, ASHP will also release an Excel doc of all the participating programs (see below) and you can filter them by state, by type of residency, and by name. So for instance, if you were interested in only managed care residencies, you can filter for “managed care” and get those booth numbers quickly. (P.S. Check back with us closer to Midyear! Once ASHP posts any updated maps or floorplans, we’ll post the links here.) WHAT TO BRING TO THE SHOWCASE (Ranked in order of necessity):
A T M I D Y E A R Alright. You’re at Midyear, about to head into the madness. To give you an idea, the Showcase room will look like this: When you first walk in, there will be a huge sign that will tell you the booth numbers of each residency. However, there will be so many frantic, sweaty students crowded around it that you’ll be lucky if you manage to get 5 minutes to scribble down all the info you need before someone squeezes you out of there. ...But luckily, since you listened to pro tips and printed out your own map ahead of time, you’ll already know where you’re going, don’t you? :) So you can bypass that cluster of people and get a head start! All the booth numbers will be hanging in huge font on top of them. When you find the booth you’re looking for, you can either pick up a pamphlet / leave (if you’re just looking for general info), or you can stay and talk to someone who will be standing there. Who are these people? Generally they’ll have:
I really can’t think of a better way to describe it than: Essentially – just approach someone of your choice and “press A”.
What do you talk about? Tailor your questions to who you’re talking to. If it’s the resident, you can ask things like:
If it’s the director or other staff, you can ask:
(PRO TIP: Know when to walk away. Don’t feel obligated to keep talking to someone if you start feeling like this wasn’t what you were looking for. If you spend too much time talking to a program, it takes away from programs you really were interested in. Just thank them politely and say, “Thank you so much for speaking with me today!” before moving on to the next booth.) When you finish the conversation – get business cards from the people you talk to. This will help you write thank-you emails/cards after you get home, and give you a contact if you have more questions later on. If they have a sign-in sheet, leave your contact and email to show you were there. (PRO TIP: After talking to each program, step to the side somewhere and quickly write down what you talked about. Do this IMMEDIATELY (so the info is still fresh in your mind). There will be huge round tables at the edges of the rooms specifically for this purpose. Write down things you liked, things you didn’t like, your impression of the program or the people, etc. After you talk to a few booths, all of them start to blend together. When it comes time for you to decide which residencies to apply for, looking back on your notes will help you remember pros and cons for each one. A F T E R M I D Y E A R Send a thank-you email or card to every person you spoke with to thank them for their time. This is optional, but it’s a nice touch and can help you be a little more memorable! And this is where the business cards you collected will come in handy; you can find email or mailing addresses. And as usual, if you have any questions, let me know!
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Former First Lady Michelle Obama will speak at the Opening Session, Dec. 4Wow! 2017 Midyear Clinical Meeting just announced that former First Lady Michelle Robinson Obama, will host a conversation with registered attendees. From the ASHP website: Mrs. Obama served as First Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017, transforming the position and becoming a role model, champion, and inspiration for women, families, and young people across America and around the world.
As First Lady, Mrs. Obama launched and led four key initiatives:
One of the first questions I remember having about Midyear was: do I even need to go? Might sound basic, but it’s asked by more students than you’d expect! You’ve always heard from classmates and faculty about how important Midyear is for getting a residency/fellowship – but how much truth to that is there? Well, after a year's experience, I feel like I’ve compiled a decently accurate answer (usual disclaimer: everything below is 100% my opinion; take with grain of salt, etc.).
So first of all, let’s lay out exactly what Midyear has to offer. As a P4 student, I felt like it mostly consisted of two main areas of interest, that is: The Stuff Everyone Goes For™. Because, let’s be real – while the vendor exhibits and CE workshops are nice… that’s not what we as students are there for. For us, the essentials of Midyear can really be boiled down to: And that’s about it. If you or your friends have poster presentations, you’ll also have to attend that – but everything else at the conference is pretty much add-on. Now you might be asking, “How important is it for me to attend Midyear?” And my diplomatic answer would be: depends. In my opinion, it IS more important for some students than others. Who I think SHOULD go to Midyear:
Who I think SHOULDN’T go to Midyear:
tl;dr: How important it is to attend Midyear varies purely on an individual basis. While Midyear is a great opportunity for everyone, do not feel like it’s an obligation for you to attend. So do a little self-reflection, decide what you want to get out of the conference, and make your decision from there. If you have any questions (about Midyear, fellowship, or otherwise), let me know! ... what are my next steps?! Well, first of all - if you haven't done so already, nabbing an industry APPE rotation (like ours here at MedVal/PharmaWrite) could be a great place to start. This will give you an idea about whether or not industry truly is for you before you commit fully to attending Midyear or interviewing for fellowships.
If your school doesn't have any industry pharmacy APPE sites (like my school), ask an advisor how to set one up! They'll know how to connect you with companies around your area. Below, our MedVal/PharmaWrite fellowship director and previous fellow, Maryah Haidery, shares some advice on how to make the most of your industry rotation to help you get a fellowship after graduation! How do I prepare for an industry rotation? There usually isn’t much to do to prepare. If you know the department you will be working in (ex. diabetic products), it might be good idea to read up a bit on the products the company manufactures. You can also look up your preceptor on LinkedIn to get a sense of their background. What should I expect on rotation? My rotation was at Janssen Pharmaceuticals with the CNS team of the Drug Information Department. Typical activities included literature searches, compendia reviews, medical letter updates, PRC meetings, writing and updating training material for sales reps and listening in on phone info requests ***Important: Keep a running tally of all the projects you do as you do. This list will come in handy when you are updating your CV and preparing for fellowship interviews.*** I am not enjoying my industry rotation. How do I know if industry is right for me? Industry might not be right for everyone. But before writing it off as not for you, just remember that the experience is highly dependent on the type of rotation (you might be a great fit for regulatory affairs but hate drug info), your preceptor and what is going on in the company during your particular block (e.g., When I got there, one of the products was just approved for a new indication so there were a lot of things that needed updating and I was pretty busy but the girl who was there before me just ended up doing a bunch of literature searches and was pretty bored). Be prepared to spend a lot of time at your desk and at meetings. This may take getting used to. If you’re not feeling challenged, try and be proactive and talk to your preceptor and volunteer to help in any way you think might be helpful – for example if you see something that can be improved, offer to improve it. If you notice that someone is overwhelmed with a project, try and figure out if you can help. Bottom line, your industry experience can be as good as you want to make it. And if you don’t enjoy it, try and figure out if it’s that particular department that you don’t enjoy or the industry culture. If it’s the latter and you really don’t feel like industry is a good fit for you, that’s fine too. Better to figure this out earlier rather than later. What else can I do to make the most of my industry rotation? Network, network network!!! I personally am not the best at networking but meeting people and making a good impression is key in industry so you better get used to it. The only way to get better is to put yourself out there and practice. I was fortunate in that part of the Janssen rotation is actually setting up meetings with Pharm D’s in different fields (Drug Info, Med Affairs, HECOR, Regulatory Affairs, Drug Safety, etc.). But if your industry site doesn’t do this, I would definitely ask your preceptor if you could set up meetings with people – especially in fields that you are interested in pursuing a fellowship in. Looking up people on LinkedIn is a good way to prepare for networking and might give help you come up with talking points (e.g. you can reference a particular position or company they worked for or a research project they were involved in) Get a feel for the company culture. All companies are not alike and industry jobs are more than just doing the job at hand. While you are at your site, go to town meetings, poster presentations, speaker events and participate in any interesting committees or activities. Not only will this help you get a better sense of what an industry job entails, but it will also give you good talking points for midyear interviews. Does it matter if my industry rotation is after Midyear if I plan to go to Midyear? Yes and no. Contrary to popular belief, previous pharmaceutical industry experience is NOT required to apply for a fellowship at midyear. Theoretically, fellowship programs understand that some students may have difficulty getting industry experience before midyear or at all. But practically, It’s pretty obvious that if you have an industry rotation under your belt before midyear, it’s much easier to come up with talking points during interviews and when you say you want to pursue a career in drug info because you had a great experience during your rotation, it’s much more convincing that saying “you think you might be good at drug info”. But the bottom line is that interviewers at midyear are looking for you to demonstrate your problem-solving, team work, communication skills, professionalism, and working style. And while it might be difficult to convince an interviewer that you will be suited to industry despite not having completed an industry rotation, it is possible. Some industry-like experiences you can talk about if you are in this position:
Also remember that even if your rotation is after midyear, you should still ALWAYS do your best job at the rotation. It is still an invaluable opportunity to make connections and some students have even been offered direct positions in the company after doing a particularly impressive job. |
AuthorJonathan Mitchell, PharmD, MedVal/PharmaWrite 2019-2020 Postdoctoral Fellow Archives
October 2019
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