Mary Mena, ’24

I am currently a P4 student who is in the Fellowship Application Process. It is a process that starts the summer of our P4 year all the way until the end of December to determine whether or not we got a fellowship position. The process includes preparing a CV, a letter of intent, and obtaining recommendation letters.

I was able to join our school's Drug Information Association (DIA) and Industry Pharmacist Organization (IPhO) which taught me about the different routes a pharmacist can go within the industry itself. I learned about the pharmaceutical industry and how pharmacists have a large role outside of direct patient interactions.

I wanted to specifically mention how Philadelphia College of Pharmacy has prepared me as a student to be a qualified candidate for fellowship programs. In school, we learned many skills that can be transferred to the industry such as collaboration skills as we work with our learning teams daily, communication skills through our presentations, and answering healthcare provider and patient questions through Drug information Responses. Overall, PCP has prepared me well with topics to talk about during my interviews.

When I joined DIA and IPhO as mentioned before, those helped me get involved. Through DIA I was able to attend a boot camp that taught me about the application and interview process for fellowships and gave me tips on how to be best prepared for anything that comes at us. In IPhO I was able to attend a networking event with student pharmacists from other schools in Philadelphia in addition to alumni from those schools and our school that obtained a fellowship. They were able to tell us about their journey and many connections were made as a result of this networking event.