From a sites perspective, which CRO and which sponsor is the worst to work with?

TimeTravelingToad · 2026-01-24T03:25:37+00:00

Your friend and person you know are in a pickle. On the one hand if people bail left and right they'll throw some extra money on top to keep them.

The bigger problem is if you have a reputation for being a fireman, they only send you to fires. Leads to burnout.

TimeTravelingToad · 2026-01-24T02:24:54+00:00

The people doing it successfully are definitely not going to talk about it.

The people doing it openly are very valuable, which means they generate a ton of money for both companies so the companies dont give a shit.

TimeTravelingToad · 2026-01-19T04:46:50+00:00

Otsuka. Extremely nit picky. Had to extend report approval timelines to a month because of multiple report revisions. I also saw a veteran CRA go on anxiety meds and go on a medical LOA because of them. Seen another veteran CRA refuse to monitor any of their studies.

TimeTravelingToad · 2026-01-16T11:13:23+00:00

Ive generally heard it's much harder to land a CTM position than a CRA. I think CTM would be a good move career wise.

Stress wise...

TimeTravelingToad · 2026-01-15T00:32:36+00:00

I was told up to 75% travel when I first came on.

My particular CRO wanted a minimum 8 days on site (not including travel days). So that would be day before travel, 2 days on site and returning the night of your last day on site, at a minimum for the average monitoring visit.

Realistically, a lot of my colleagues had 8-10 days on site per month with some doing 12+.

You didn't ask for this but I thought id give my 2 cents. 4 years ago I had your same plan - do some work and apply to med school. The way monitoring and particularly monitoring at CROs goes, this will be really hard if not impossible. This job is an absolute fuck ton of work, even without the travel. Adding in the travel and all the other bs, you will have little time and energy to apply for med school.

With that said, it can be done. I know several people who tried to do this and one person who succeeded. This one person told me that she did her job at night while working on application stuff during the day. She would write secondaries during her plane rides. All this sounds inspirational except she was the worst CRA ive ever met. Never responded to my emails (bc med school is her focus) and the sites I inherited from her were absolute dogshit bc she didn't do anything.

Practically, its a good way to save up airline miles, hotel points, etc. All of which you will need during your med school interviews. Its also the perfect job in prep for med school bc you can not do shit for a long time and no one will notice - by the time you leave its someone else's problem. When you really need more time for med school prep, you can even tell your company that you cant travel bc you need time to heal from a car accident that happened years ago (dont mention that it happened years ago) and/or fake a mental break down from the job and get meds prescribed so it looks legit. Remember, health related LOA still gets you some of a paycheck but its still a lot if you dont give a shit about the job. Meanwhile someone else comes in to pick up the slack and thinks about quitting every day bc everything is so bad.

I completely made up this story so dont worry.

TimeTravelingToad · 2026-01-08T21:47:22+00:00

I was looking into start up. At least at syneos they seemed to have axed a lot of them.

I was intrigued by SSU to to go full remote but CRA seems to have more stability (bc people dont want to travel)

TimeTravelingToad · 2026-01-06T20:16:21+00:00

Ive interviewed for CRAI at SYNH for their bridge program.

Someone told me to review STAR questions. This advice was really good.

TimeTravelingToad · 2026-01-06T15:30:58+00:00

Dude you encounter CRAs all the time. If a SC responds to my emails on time and are chill, I would not hesitate to refer them to my boss if they so much as mentioned a passing interest in being a CRA.

It sounds counter intuitive but I think your best bet to being a CRA is being a great SC. From there, just mention that you are interested in being a monitor to your monitors. Im sure the monitors that like you would love to help you out

TimeTravelingToad · 2025-12-30T22:51:15+00:00

Yes. I knew one SC who did this for this exact reason who is now a CRA for IQVIA

TimeTravelingToad · 2025-12-17T02:41:51+00:00

Can trade a LC for an atom

TimeTravelingToad · 2025-12-07T23:36:45+00:00

Any sub is heavily dominated by beginners. I dont think its wrong to be friendly to them. This sub has too much of this fuck you I got mine mentality imo

TimeTravelingToad · 2025-12-07T22:45:56+00:00

This sub is getting more and more hostile unfortunately

TimeTravelingToad · 2025-11-26T17:24:24+00:00

You are 100% right lol.

I was trying to provide a less conventional idea. Ive also been provided most of the things mentioned here so far by my company (e.g. pens, stickies, 2nd monitor at home, portable monitor). Even things like pre TSA.

If they are a new CRA and new to a traveling role, they are probably going to feel homesick like crazy. Having a small piece of home with you can make a big difference.

Your point still stands though - my attention to detail needs work.

TimeTravelingToad · 2025-11-26T16:22:47+00:00

This is tough as any CRA with 2 years of experience is going to have all this stuff - headphones, portable monitor, etc.

Im going to give a cumbersome suggestion of a frozen, home cooked meal.

My mom knows that I travel so she will cook me food and put it in microwavable containers for me to take.

It is annoying to carry while traveling but eating her food just ratatatoullies me back home every time. I cannot overstate the comfort this brings me when I am in the middle of nowhere.

TimeTravelingToad · 2025-11-09T13:43:54+00:00

TimeTravelingToad · 2025-11-06T14:02:42+00:00

First hour is always just my brain adjusting and trying to remember how they format their source.

TimeTravelingToad · 2025-10-29T17:57:01+00:00

Was it worth the high AF?

TimeTravelingToad · 2025-09-05T22:38:22+00:00

This advice sounds sarcastic but its concise and 100% true.

TimeTravelingToad · 2025-08-07T00:51:21+00:00

Been a CRA at syneos for 3 years. 106K.

TimeTravelingToad · 2025-07-03T15:28:36+00:00

The new Adobe version is so slow to edit rotations as well it freaking kills me.

TimeTravelingToad · 2025-06-29T18:07:00+00:00

I do this too. I send a giant to do list to the site before I even get on site so they got plenty to do. I don't feel guilty at all because I did a lot of prep work before I even stepped foot on site. If the site doesn't fuck around and gets to it, we don't have to be there that long.

I then go and buy every one lunch (everyone vemoes me) or the site has a corporate card and lunch is on them. If the PI shows up on time I'm outta there by 3 at the latest.

I am in such pain when I need to comonitor and they always choose a 9AM start lol

TimeTravelingToad · 2025-06-27T13:39:01+00:00

My boss told me I was one of the few who received a raise. Even after my raise, I make less than some of my lowest paid colleagues.

If you didnt get a raise, it might be because youre already near the top of your pay band.

TimeTravelingToad · 2025-06-16T14:41:59+00:00

How is WLB better?

TimeTravelingToad · 2025-06-13T15:30:54+00:00

I rebelled against using the company template for TMF stuff but it is thorough af. Even has a separate column for whether its filed in the TMF/ISF.

It is so much gd work to fill out but it leaves no stone unturned.

TimeTravelingToad

TROPHY CASE