Preparing for the Pharmacy School Interview

The interview can make or break your application. At most pharmacy schools, the interview portion of your application weighs significantly enough to push your application over the top to gain acceptance or push you down into the rejection pile.

Here are some tips to help you succeed at your interview
-Know what you need to bring to the interview session (pen, paper, id, resume, etc.)
-Take advantage of speaking to current students and your fellow interviewees prior to your actual interview. This will get your social skills warmed up and ready to go by the time you sit down and start telling two strangers why you should be picked out of the pool of well-qualified students.
-Definitely do look over StudentDoctor.net’s interview feedback section where students give their feedback and the questions they faced at interviews across the nation. It is important that you DO NOT make your responses sound rehearsed. Look over the essays that you have written as many questions will stem from those.
-Get a good night of sleep and eat prior to your interview. Being well rested and stomach not grumbling are definitely a plus.
-I personally purchased this book, The Medical School Interview: Secrets and a System for Success. Although targeted for the medical school applicant crowd, all the material covered in this book are relevant to the pharmacy school interview. The book will definitely help those of you who are unsure of your interview skills. I personally think I do pretty well at interviews, but I found the strategies and mindset provided by this book beneficial.
-Don’t get lost! Print out a map online of where you need to go and have a backup just in case you get lost (calling a friend to give you directions from a computer). I actually purchased a Garmin Nuvi 265wt GPS because I was traveling to a very unfamiliar area, and I did not want to get lost!!