For general tips for residency applications, check out this detailed blog post.
For discussion on deciding between a PGY-2 or not, check out this Instagram post.
CV Tips
How to update your CV for PGY-2 applications:
- Keep
- APPE rotations – this is personal preference, but I preferred to keep them but remove rotation descriptions
- Pertinent pharmacy school experiences such as prior pharmacy work experience, leadership, research
- Volunteering – although not a requirement for residency I continue to keep this on my CV to show well-roundedness. There is also usually some volunteering or giving back to the community in residency
- Update/Add
- Education – update your pharmacy degree to show you completed it now (if you haven’t updated your CV since graduating)
- Professional training section – add your PGY-1 itself to your CV (I have also seen some people combine this with your schooling into one section titled Education and Training). If your program is ASHP accredited I would add that, as well as your RPD and institution name and location (city, state)
- Work experience – add your PGY-1 staffing position to your work experience
- PGY-1 rotations (completed and expected)
- Longitudinal PGY-1 experiences – consider things like involvement in medication safety, P&T, other committees, longitudinal clinic experiences
- Any new leadership experiences from PGY-1
- PGY-1 presentations – I would add anything that is beyond rotation topic discussions and small other discussions during rotation (add things like podium presentations, grand rounds, professional case presentations, professional large audience journal clubs, etc). Remember to be prepared to discuss anything that is on your CV, including if you presented on a particular journal article.
- PGY-1 research project
- PGY-1 leadership certificate in progress and any new leadership experiences
- Your pharmacy license should be added to your certificates section
- Remember to add anything from pharamcy school that occurred since the last time you updated your CV (I hadn’t updated mine since my CV from PGY-1 applications!)
- Remove
- IPPEs
- Non-relevant pharmacy experiences (use your own discretion on this, I didn’t really remove anything but all my prior items were pharmacy related)
Questions:
- Should you have bullet descriptions for things like rotations, staffing experiences, etc?
- It is up to you. I was recommend not to because not having them made my CV easier to read.
The pro to adding bullets is you get to describe what you did as other programs may not understand what that rotation involves. I personally did not have bullets because I knew I would discuss my experiences briefly in my letter of intent and more in detail during interviews. This didn’t hinder my ability to get any interviews so this is completely up to your discretion.
- It is up to you. I was recommend not to because not having them made my CV easier to read.
LOI Tips
Big differences for PGY-2 letter of intent:
- Answer WHY PGY-2 using PGY-1 and prior experiences
- How has PGY-1 helped make you a strong candidate
- Why not just stop at PGY-1? Why do you need a PGY-2? Think about career goals, interests, additional training and teaching opportunities, additional research project experience. Be clear that this is what you want and you know what you are trying to get yourself into.
I applied to mostly Veteran Affairs (VA) PGY-2 programs for my specialty of interest (Ambulatory Care). My LOI is specific to that but it still gives you a good idea of how it differs from PGY-1 application LOI even if you are interested in other institutions or specialty areas.
**Remember to NEVER copy someone’s letter of intent whether it is mine or any others on the internet – it is plagiarism and people will know it is not yours!**
LOR Tips
Who to ask:
- At least one of your letters of recommendation should come from your PGY-1 RPD. If you have unique circumstances where your RPD cannot write you a letter, such as a toxic work environment or they are on extended leave and unable to, consider asking someone else closely involved with the residency program or leadership such as a residency program coordinator or administrative leader. But if at all possible is should be your RPD.
- Total number of LOR should be 3 for most programs. I had 4 because I had great relationships with 3 particular preceptors but I would have been fine with just a total of 3 (RPD + 2 preceptors)
- Try to pick preceptors that can speak to your area of specialty you are applying to. For me, this was both my ambulatory care rotations, in slightly different areas and speaking to different strengths of mine. The third was in a inpatient general medicine rotation but could speak to my precepting experience and working closely/developing rapport with providers (which is so important for clinic as well).
- If possible, try to have rotations in your area of interest early on so you can ask those preceptors for LOR. This is not always possible so I feel PGY-2 programs understand but do your best. They want to know that you have had these experiences to confirm you are interested in this PGY-2 specialty.
- Your LOR ideally will be board certified and an expert in that specialty area but it’s not necessarily required! One of my letter letters for PGY-2 is a leader in ambulatory care, the other did not complete a residency but was approved to take BCACP and currently studying for it, and the last was board certified in cardiology.
What to provide your LOR writers:
- career goals, why that PGY-2 specialty, any programs you already know you are applying to, and deadline for them to submit (recommend giving them a slightly earlier deadline than your first one to avoid stress).
When to ask your LOR:
- In general, I prefer asking during mid-point evaluations or at least at the final evaluation. If you know at the start of rotation that you would like a letter of recommendation, you could ask then as well which allows them to give you advance experience and hopefully plenty of feedback to ensure you are performing high enough to earn that highly recommended letter.
- This may vary depending on when you know you plan to apply to PGY-2. You may be going through the early commit process or not know your intentions for PGY-2 until much later, so if this is the case just try to give them as much advance notice as possible and try to ask them if they do have time or not.
Final Thoughts
Applying to PGY-2 is more stressful in my opinion due to the added responsibilities of PGY-1 (if you are a current resident at the time).
Take it one step at a time and know that it will work out for the best!
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