Pharmacy student awareness, aspiration, and preparation for post graduate education (PGE) fellowship in US: A cross-sectional study

Abstract Introduction Fellowship opportunities are seen by pharmacy students and graduates as an option to assist in furthering pharmacy knowledge in a specific field or area of interest. Pharmaceutical industry fellowships are the most common pharmacy fellowship available to students. There has been little research on what motivates students to pursue a fellowship and what student characteristics may help predict interest in a fellowship. Methods A survey was distributed to P1, P2, and P3 students. The survey took 10–15 min to complete and contained 28 questions. The difference in students’ characteristics between fellowship interested students and non-fellowship interested students were examined using chi-square tests and t -tests for categorical variables and continuous variables, respectively. Logistic regression was used to examine predictors of pursuing a fellowship. Results Age, work experience, and attendance during a fellowship roundtable were all found to be statistically significant predictors of pursuit of a fellowship. Financial obligations, family obligations, and feeling unprepared were the most common reasons for not pursuing a fellowship. Discussion and conclusions Students earlier in the curriculum were more likely to express interest in pursuing a fellowship. Overall, students felt ill-prepared for the fellowship application process. In addition, fellowship roundtables may be useful for pharmacy programs to help students in their pursuit of fellowships.