The pharmacy school interview is an integral part of the application process as the admission staff, who already knows everything about you on paper, will finally be able to see how you will fit into their program. This is also your time to interview each pharmacy school, so be prepared to ask questions you may have about their program.
Most pharmacy schools do a good job of making the interview session as comfortable and non-stressful as possible. Usually current pharmacy school students will greet you and make conversation with you. Take full advantage of this opportunity to loosen yourself up and practice your speaking skills. By this time you should have already completed your speech requirement, so now is the time to make use of what you have learned in the classroom!
Prepare yourself by familiarizing yourself with what you wrote on your personal statement essay. In addition, it is a good idea to have a general idea on what kind of questions are going to be asked.
As soon as you meet your interviewers, take the initiative to build rapport / spark up a mini conversation (crazy traffic this morning, beautiful day, etc). Smile and split eye contact between all your interviewers as much as possible when you are speaking and keep eye contact on the person asking the questions.
Some General Interview Questions
1. Tell me about yourself
2. What was your favorite/most difficult course in college?
3. Who is your greatest role model?
4. What is a negative aspect about yourself? How have you worked on making it better?
5. Describe a moment you felt proud an accomplishment.
6. Why our pharmacy program?
7. What do you want to do after you graduate?
8. What do you do in your free time?
9. Why pharmacy, why not research or medicine?
10. What got you interested in pharmacy?
11. What are the most important attributes of a pharmacist?
12. What makes you stand out among other applicants?
13. What got you interested in pharmacy?
14. Give us an example of your leadership ability.
15. Is there anything you would change about your undergraduate experience?
16. Describe the importance of understanding diversity as a pharmacist.
17. What is the most positive aspect of pharmacy?
18. Give us an example of when you used your creativity to solve a problem.
19. What makes you unique?
20. Where will you be in 5 / 10 years?
21. Anything else we should know about you? YES, [list other positive aspects about you]
Be familiar with topics in health care and ongoing changes to pharmacy practice as you may be asked to give your opinion or specific questions on some of the major events that are going on now.
Other questions may be hypothetical questions that place you in a ‘difficult’ or ethical situation where you will need to discuss your course of action. There is usually no right or wrong answer, but make sure you are paying close attention to the question being asked so that you don’t miss anything. Take a moment to think over your answer before starting to speak.
I personally bought a book to have the correct mindset and strategy to answer even the toughest interview questions. I think this really helped me to nail my interviews. Check my Pharmacy School Interview Lens for a link to actual interview feedback and questions from each pharmacy school.
Don’t stress out, you’ll be just fine for your interviews!!
