University of Toronto, class of 2016

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So the orientation slides mentioned that the interviewers will only know us by our number. Can anyone confirm if we'd have to introduce ourselves to the interviewer upon entering the room (unless it's an acting station) or if this is prohibited, and we just start answering the question as soon as we go in?
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from the orientation slides: "will not be formal 'handshake' or introductions - due to: confidentiality, desire to get right into discussion, cultural diversity"
 
Yeah just go in, sit down and give them your number sticker and start your answer (or reread the question if you need to). I said a quick hello when I enter the door, but that's as far as I went in regards to introductions.
 
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Yay I passed my G Road test today. Now one thing off my checklist.

And, im not lying. Its as stressful as it seems, its either u get in, or u dont. so u have to be boss.
i applied last year to Dalhousie in Nova Scotia, same thing. They said my grades were high enough, but my interview below avg. So I dont get an offer of acceptance.

This year, i dont want to live that far from my family, so i just applied to UofT. Same thing, MMI.
In nova scotia, was differnt, u get names, and people wear name tags.

UofT betteer, more confidentiality and less room for personal introductions. Just right into discussions about the problem. The problem is not that simple, takes at least 30 seconds to read very carefully. Some are pretty detailed.

And no, im not lying about anything. I said u dont have to dress professionaly, but i said most people did. who said that u have to? Up to whoever.

And i did the work with other people, the ppl i worked with tried to make themselves sound so smart when doing the task but they were doing it all wrong, so i had to step up and correct him.

but dont take my word for it, everyone here telling u think of so much things before answering. u basically have to talk and use some common sense. explain.
 
to be honest, its 50% of acceptance right now, if someone doesnt get in, i dont know what to say, and that goes for myself to. this is one of the best chances in anything.
 
Nobody ever said you were lying, dude. I don't think anyone here believes that you are saying things with a malicious intent, but rather that you don't seem to know what you want in life. Your opinions are all over the place, and it really seems like you don't actually care about becoming a pharmacist.

As for the dressing professional thing, I firmly believe that it is important to dress well for the interview. 99% of the guys there were in suits (with or without a tie), while girls were either in 1) dress skirt + blouse, 2) dress pants + blouse, 3) pantsuit or skirtsuit

The few people that were underdressed stuck out like sore thumbs. I will now reference a classic Georges St. Pierre quote to explain why it is important to dress professionally:

"When you look good, you feel good, and when you feel good, you do good" (said in french accent)
 
PharmacyBoy said:
to be honest, its 50% of acceptance right now, if someone doesnt get in, i dont know what to say, and that goes for myself to. this is one of the best chances in anything.
Click to expand...

If someone doesn't get in, most of the time it is clear what needs to be fixed. Yes, the interview is the most important, however GPA and PCAT are also considered. If you don't get in, it is either because your marks, your PCAT scores, or your interview were weak.

If you had a high enough GPA and good PCAT scores, then you know it was the interview. If your PCAT was weak, re-write it and try again. If your GPA was on the low-end, then try to improve it.

When you don't achieve a goal, you have to be able to look at yourself and see where you can improve. If you don't get in, take responsibility for it and improve those weaknesses and re-apply.
 
kovey said:
Nobody ever said you were lying, dude. I don't think anyone here believes that you are saying things with a malicious intent, but rather that you don't seem to know what you want in life. Your opinions are all over the place, and it really seems like you don't actually care about becoming a pharmacist.

As for the dressing professional thing, I firmly believe that it is important to dress well for the interview. 99% of the guys there were in suits (with or without a tie), while girls were either in 1) dress skirt + blouse, 2) dress pants + blouse, 3) pantsuit or skirtsuit

The few people that were underdressed stuck out like sore thumbs. I will now reference a classic Georges St. Pierre quote to explain why it is important to dress professionally:

"When you look good, you feel good, and when you feel good, you do good" (said in french accent)
Click to expand...


This. When I did my interview last year, the entire group of candidates present wore professional attire, except one girl who wore casual. I didn't see her in my class in September...

Pharmacy is a professional program remember? Even in our practical labs, we are expected to wear dress shirt, pants, etc., as well as the pharmacist lab coat. Otherwise you are scolded and lose marks on your lab evaluations. The lab facilitators also look at you in a negative light afterwards. Thus, the faculty DEFINITELY emphasizes professionalism in the U of T program, and they get really annoyed when you aren't.

And pharmacyboy, I'm surprised that your collaborative partners tried to mess you up :( That's quite unlucky. However, please remember that there were two interviewers in the same room (each grading a separate candidate). They know if someone is trying to mess up the other person, so I would recommend a "cooperative" approach regardless if you have a good/bad collaborative partner. In year 1 labs, they dislike students who try to slip up their lab partners, and actually discouraged students from such actions in later labs.
 
bteng said:
Pharmacy is a professional program remember? Even in our practical labs, we are expected to wear dress shirt, pants, etc., as well as the pharmacist lab coat. Otherwise you are scolded and lose marks on your lab evaluations. The lab facilitators also look at you in a negative light afterwards. Thus, the faculty DEFINITELY emphasizes professionalism in the U of T program, and they get really annoyed when you aren't.
Click to expand...

Wait...so are students required to dress professionally for class as well?
 
RandomX said:
Interview is this weekend, hoo boy! For anyone that already had an interview, I'm wondering: how much clarification do the interviewers give you when you ask a question?

For example, if the original question was "What would you do during an apocalypse?", and I asked "What sort of apocalypse", would they specify with "zombie", "natural disaster" etc.? Or would they simply say "I can't tell you any more than that"?
Click to expand...

The scenarios are quite specific. Using your apocalypse example, it's more like this level of detail:

"A viral outbreak recently spread to Toronto that is turning people into zombies. You and your family are in a neighbourhood that's in proximity to an infected area. Your parents would like to barricade the house and hope the outbreak ends soon. Your sibling(s) disagree, and instead suggest leaving the house to find a safer place to stay. What will you decide to do?"

Hope that's a good example lol
 
Slimeywhimy said:
Wait...so are students required to dress professionally for class as well?
Click to expand...

Only for practical labs (which is simulating a pharmacy). This will be in the second semester (January to April). Not during any lectures or tutorials or examinations.
 
For someone who hasn't been that nervous about this whole process and just taking it as it came, I'm getting those butterflies in my stomach now!! :(

For ethical questions, do they want you to take one side only and explain why or consider what you would potentially do and consider the conditions that were not specified? Plus, I would they ask questions were you would be inclined to break the law. Such as a scenario where a patient is a couple of days early and is asking you to fill medication for a narcotic/controlled drug. Since you cannot, the patient insists they need it really badly and are in pain and give some story that they lost the last 2 pills or something. When you tell them you cannot bill through the drug, they say to advance them some pills and bill it the day they can bill since you can legally advance other drugs. What would you do?

BTW, that sample question they have, about you backing into someone's car in a parking garage. I can only think of 1 way to approach that question. Which would be to apologize, explain what happened and ask them to take down your information and ask if they would want to call the police. Not sure, how else you could deal with it :S

I think I might have a mini panic attack before this interview LOL
 
bteng said:
The scenarios are quite specific. Using your apocalypse example, it's more like this level of detail:

"A viral outbreak recently spread to Toronto that is turning people into zombies. You and your family are in a neighbourhood that's in proximity to an infected area. Your parents would like to barricade the house and hope the outbreak ends soon. Your sibling(s) disagree, and instead suggest leaving the house to find a safer place to stay. What will you decide to do?"

Hope that's a good example lol
Click to expand...

what in the world... ok now im really scared:scared:
 
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PacMakaveli said:
what in the world... ok now im really scared:scared:
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Don't be too worried. For such a scenario, I would first discuss the pros/cons of the parents' approach, then the pros/cons for the siblings' approach. Then discuss any how you would approach it (this could be siding with either approaches, or finding a "gray" approach that incorporates both extremes in a compensatory manner).

As long as you analyze various approaches, then explain why you would do X approach in particular, it shows your critical thinking skills.
 
cuteeenerd said:
For someone who hasn't been that nervous about this whole process and just taking it as it came, I'm getting those butterflies in my stomach now!! :(

For ethical questions, do they want you to take one side only and explain why or consider what you would potentially do and consider the conditions that were not specified? Plus, I would they ask questions were you would be inclined to break the law. Such as a scenario where a patient is a couple of days early and is asking you to fill medication for a narcotic/controlled drug. Since you cannot, the patient insists they need it really badly and are in pain and give some story that they lost the last 2 pills or something. When you tell them you cannot bill through the drug, they say to advance them some pills and bill it the day they can bill since you can legally advance other drugs. What would you do?

BTW, that sample question they have, about you backing into someone's car in a parking garage. I can only think of 1 way to approach that question. Which would be to apologize, explain what happened and ask them to take down your information and ask if they would want to call the police. Not sure, how else you could deal with it :S

I think I might have a mini panic attack before this interview LOL
Click to expand...

The questions in the actual MMI are not that detailed (like the drug example). If I recall last year, there was not a single pharmacy scenario given (so no drug situations). Scenarios are based on a variety of topics (health and non-health related). They might ask something related to education for instance, or allude to some current international headlines (but not actually specify a real life news event).

For ethics questions, like I said in prior posts, start with the "big picture" (talk about the pros/cons of approaches from extreme ends of the decision-making spectrum, then some possible "gray area" approaches between). Then from the approaches you talked about, narrow down and choose the approach you feel is the best (responses are subjective. No one answer will be correct. Just be sure give your reasons clearly and logically). I think of an upside-down triangle approach to each ethics scenario hahah... :laugh:
 
As the orientation given mentioned, the interview assesses on your ethics and communication skills. You will not be given a question specific to any practice in the field of pharmacy, but you will be given situations on pretty much anything where you have to assess, think critically and communicate effectively what you will do in said situation.

In any case, rest up and remember, everyone was nervous as well when they did their interviews in March, including me! :D
 
Oh okay thankss :)

But for the ethical questions, if there's a law or such involved, should we ever choose the solution that involves breaking the law?

ryanco64: How long is the interview in total? And lol, the waiting process is horrible, i dont like it :p
 
cuteeenerd said:
Oh okay thankss :)

But for the ethical questions, if there's a law or such involved, should we ever choose the solution that involves breaking the law?

ryanco64: How long is the interview in total? And lol, the waiting process is horrible, i dont like it :p
Click to expand...

I think that, in general, if you are presented with an ethical scenario where breaking the law could be involved, you should choose a solution that doesn't involve law-breaking. If I had a question like that, I would probably clearly state that I couldn't choose that course of action because it is against the law, however I would do my best to help the person by doing x, y, z. If it's a question involving helping a patient, you have to balance observing the law with helping the patient.
 
The interview circuit lasts an hour and a half (goes by quickly though). You'll probably be there for about 3 hours total because there is an orientation at the beginning and you have to wait for the stations to be set-up (especially if you're one of the later groups, starting at 11 am or 2 pm).
 
really long, leave the waking hours for interview. u will probably feel a little relaxed after the interview, but i kept thinking about it all day and couldnt eat.
 
errr, a very silly question: is baby pink blazer professional or do people usually wear black?
 
barakalucky said:
errr, a very silly question: is baby pink blazer professional or do people usually wear black?
Click to expand...
Elle Woods?!?! is that you?

I'd say probably not. Neutral tones are best and won't be distracting. Nothing is worse than sticking out in a bad way. Most girls incorporated color into their outfits by using a colored blouse or shoes in rich shades (burgundy, blues, purples).
 
barakalucky said:
errr, a very silly question: is baby pink blazer professional or do people usually wear black?
Click to expand...

Stick with the black. I was debating between black or beige for my own interview (even though both are neutral colors). glad I settled on black after I saw everyone. different colors do really stick out and not always in a "that's such a nice blazer color" way. Black definitely has a more professional look. You can incorporate color in other ways (such as shoes or blouse). And most people wore black pants/skirts.
 
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Thanks guys! Yup, I'm sticking with the black, definitely don't want to stand out!
 
Just a few more questions before tomorrow's interview, how many scenarios are there for each type of station? Also for the collaboration stations how do they decide who gives/receives the instructions?
 
one station = 1 scenario
10 stations in total
1 station acting, 2 collaboration stations (one where u give instructions, one where you receive)
if you give/receive instrutions depends on what section you are in.. but you will get a chance to do both (just at differerent stations)

good luck to everyone!
 
thx for the reply, so I'm assuming for the remaining 7 stations you have 1 debate and 6 discussions right?
 
YOU WILL ALL PASS WITH FLYING COLOURS.
and by "ALL" i refer to only the applicants who get accepted.
thereby, my first sentence is invalid and unhelpful.

but for those who didn't feel like they did so hawt on the interviews, don't sweat it too much. sometimes you want something to be so perfect that you forget that all you need is the bare minimums to get into pharmacy school. stay confident, back up your answers, leave a lasting impression. all of us 1T5's helping out tomorrow will do our best to make you feel comfortable before you walk through those elevator doors.
 
May the 12th be with you...doesn't work that well. :p
 
ryanco64 said:
Feels good for it to be over, eh?
Click to expand...

LOL the interview was definitely not a good experience for me:(

Also after the interview, one of the applicants in my group said the the interview counted about 20% last year. I was like whattt?? I thought i should've been much much bigger than that...
 
Now thats its all over, theres around 40 days before notices get sent out to everyone if they got accepted or not.

And i dont think that interview is only worth 20%, it will probably be worth alot more, maybe around 50% and grades worth 50%. They already eliminated 20% of applicants with the PCAT, because they did not min. req in all sections. Then they probably look at ur avg and interview score, calculate a new admissions score, rank everybody, and then take the top 240.
 
lbqjenny said:
LOL the interview was definitely not a good experience for me:(

Also after the interview, one of the applicants in my group said the the interview counted about 20% last year. I was like whattt?? I thought i should've been much much bigger than that...
Click to expand...

I would feel a lot better if that was the case, but I'm thinking it'll be worth more (not that there's any real way of knowing, imo). I answering everything standard-ish (by which I mean I spoke about the topic more or less for the time allotted), but I don't feel like I was at my A-game by a long shot. That's them grapes, I suppose.

Major thanks to everyone for all the advice and kind words, though! And yeah, if any potential 1T7 looks at this thread a year from now, wear a proper blazer/suit combo, lol :D
 
Hello everyone!

Thank you for the advices and opinions on how to prepare for the interview and how the process was in general.. it was really helpful to know how other people dealth with it. Having gone through the interview, im going to post some stats so that it can be beneficial to future students who visit the forum.

PCAT

Verbal ability: 40%
Biology: 88%
Reading comprehension: 76%
Quantitative ability: 62%
Chemistry: 95%
Composite: 82%
Writing: 3/3


cGPA: 8.55/9.0, which i think converts to about 3.8 or so on a 4.0 scale.
Interview: was either moderate/standard or just horrible ... it was really hard for me to tell how i did but i know for sure it wasnt excellent.







 
They dont look at GPA guys, they just look at percent avg. its NOT the same thing.
UofT Med School > GPA
UofT Pharmacy > % AVG
 
PharmacyBoy said:
They dont look at GPA guys, they just look at percent avg. its NOT the same thing.
UofT Med School > GPA
UofT Pharmacy > % AVG
Click to expand...

hey pharmboy :)
My university doesnt even release the percent for each course, meaning the only way they can look at my mark is through GPA
 
PharmacyBoy said:
They dont look at GPA guys, they just look at percent avg. its NOT the same thing.
UofT Med School > GPA
UofT Pharmacy > % AVG
Click to expand...

Not all schools release %. Coming from McGill, all I got were letter grades.
 
lbqjenny said:
LOL the interview was definitely not a good experience for me:(

Also after the interview, one of the applicants in my group said the the interview counted about 20% last year. I was like whattt?? I thought i should've been much much bigger than that...
Click to expand...

The interview for me seemed to be on the below average to okay side. But wouldn't it be a good thing if it doesnt count for that much when you think you didnt do that well on it?

But from what I heard is that it counts a lot more than grades after this point :(
 
hey everyone

i think i did well on the interview yesterday :)

was anyone else here in the 11AM session on saturday may 12th?? i met quite a few people there lol
 
PharmacyBoy said:
Now thats its all over, theres around 40 days before notices get sent out to everyone if they got accepted or not.

And i dont think that interview is only worth 20%, it will probably be worth alot more, maybe around 50% and grades worth 50%. They already eliminated 20% of applicants with the PCAT, because they did not min. req in all sections. Then they probably look at ur avg and interview score, calculate a new admissions score, rank everybody, and then take the top 240.
Click to expand...

Your PCAT is definitely considered again. The interview is the most important component, but grades and PCAT scores are re-visited to determine the best overall candidates. They calculate an admission index using all three components (exact percentages aren't clear, although I'm guessing interview is 40-50% and grades and PCAT are 25-30% each).

The PCAT and GPA cutoffs are very low, and that's deceiving because most people who get in are significantly above those cutoffs.
 
aljannah said:
hey everyone

i think i did well on the interview yesterday :)

was anyone else here in the 11AM session on saturday may 12th?? i met quite a few people there lol
Click to expand...

Yes we were in the same session.
ugh but i did unbelievably bad lolol!:p:p
 
Dont lose hope, always be optimistic :thumbup:

btw are there any OOP students on this forum which are applying this year?
 
I meant OUT OF PROVINCE, such as from BC or Alberta. Because there is only a limited quota which is available fo. OOP students, so ur not fighting for 240 seats, rather smthin like 10 I believe

If ure applying from a Uni in Ontario ur not considered OOP
 
they accepted most students with B+ avg, aka, 77-79%, not that significantly more...
 
aljannah said:
I meant OUT OF PROVINCE, such as from BC or Alberta. Because there is only a limited quota which is available fo. OOP students, so ur not fighting for 240 seats, rather smthin like 10 I believe

If ure applying from a Uni in Ontario ur not considered OOP
Click to expand...

Yes I asked them I am in that 10%.
That 10% includes both oop students and all the international students no matter where you did your undergraduate study. :p
 
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Oh okay, so is it 10 students or 24 students that they accept Which may be OOP?
 
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