CALIFORNIA NORTHSTATE COLLEGE OF PHARMACY
LENGTH OF INTERVIEW: 25 minutes
# OF INTERVIEWERS: Two faculty members
TYPE OF INTERVIEW: Two-on-one; closed-file
LOCATION: Sacramento, CA
DATE: Monday, January 28, 2008
PERSONAL INTERVIEW AGENDA
12:30pm to 1:00pm :: Meet with the Dean of CNCP
1:00pm to 1:25pm :: Interview (25 minutes)
1:30pm to 2:20pm :: Sample essay writing assignment (50 minutes)
2:20pm to 2:45pm :: 25-minute break session in the Office of Admissions and adjourn
Notes:
There were eight applicants including me on my interview day. We were split into three groupsthree people interviewed first (Group A), three people did their writing portion first (Group B), and two people were in holding for 25 minutes (Group C) until Group A was done interviewing.
We were interviewed by one of three possible faculty combinations: two professors, a professor and the Dean (well the Dean is also a professor of course so I guess this combination is the same as the first one haha), or a professor and a law student intern. I was interviewed by the professor and the law student intern.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
1) Please, introduce yourself to us.
2) What factors of pharmacy interest you? Why are you pursuing pharmacy?
3) What traits do you have that would make you a successful pharmacist?
4) With other healthcare professionals out there such as optometrists, dentists, and physicians, tell us how you discovered pharmacy. Are you determined with your decision?
5) What was the most difficult challenge in your life, and how did you overcome it?
6) (Follow-up): Did you do any research in trying to figure out what was wrong?
7) Tell us about a time when you had difficulty communicating with someone. How did you deal with the situation?
8) (Follow-up): So what happened in the end? Do you guys talk now?
9) What is your greatest strength and weakness?
10) If you saw your best friend cheating on an exam, what would you do?
11) Are you planning on entering a residency in the future?
12) How are you going to finance your pharmacy education?
13) What was a social struggle that youve experienced? Give us an example.
14) (Follow-up): You didnt try to form your own group of friends?
15) Do you have any leadership experience, like being an officer of a club?
16) I was just wondering, how are your interactions with your brother since he goes to UC Berkeley?
17) How did you hear about CNCP?
18) Your response for this question will not affect your admissions decision. We know youve interviewed at two other schools, but if it were a choice between CNCP and the other school you were accepted to, which school would you pick and why?
19) What are your plans from now until when you come to pharmacy school?
ESSAY PORTION
There was one essay prompt. The Dean uses a different prompt for every new interview day. Three to four pages of paper were provided and we had 50 minutes to write. Personally I thought this was a comfortable amount of time
🙂. The prompt was the following:
1) How can California Northstate College of Pharmacy increase awareness of the college amongst potential students?
FACTS AS OF JANUARY 28, 2008
Campus:
CNCP leased a building located in Rancho Cordova, CA to use as its temporary campus. Breakout rooms, student lounges, and areas for student organizations are already complete. The lecture hall is being renovated now, and I forgot if CNCP said the lab rooms are done or not. As a completely new school that has yet to obtain pre-candidate status, CNCP will be utilizing this campus building for about five years while its permanent campus is being built. Ultimately, the final campus will be in Sacramento, but that will not be for another five or so years.
The temporary campus is shown in the picture on the school website (
http://calnorthstate.org/page.aspx). The address is 10811 International Drive, Rancho Cordova, CA 95670. CNCP also has already started settling into its research facilities. Research equipment and the like are being moved in right now, but I forgot to ask for the addressI just know that the research facilities are located elsewhere from the campus building.
CNCP will officially move into the campus building beginning the first week of February 2008. Prospective students will be able to tour the building around March or later.
Accreditation:
CNCP was supposed to be in the building by the time ACPE came for the on-site visit in Fall 2007. However, the previous occupants were still in there even though they were supposed to move out. CNCP therefore couldnt move into the building, and so the Dean decided to withdraw CNCP from the January ACPE meeting until ACPE could see the campus with their own eyes (and not just pictures of it, but the real deal).
So, ACPE will visit CNCP again on April 23-24, 2008. The pre-candidate status decision will be announced in June 2008. The Dean said he is extremely confident about CNCP getting pre-candidate status, in fact even more confident than he was when he was at South University trying to get the candidate status.
Faculty:
There are 10 faculty members so far. Another two will be joining in February 2008. The projected faculty size by Fall 2008 is 15-20.
Curriculum:
The Dean along with the CNCP faculty are excited to start a brand new college of pharmacy from scratch. This was the result of a combination of 34 years of experience that the Dean has under his belt. Throughout his tenure at five pharmacy schools and three medical schools, the Dean was able to examine and analyze the styles of teaching from a diverse body of faculty and staff. However, he noticed one missing link, one that would make graduating students much more effective leaders and health professionals.
It would be doing CNCP and the Dean injustice if I tried to even continue. I could never say, and in such detail and intricacy, what the Dean told us during our meeting with him. Because I am unable to be objective here, I will just insert my opinion: I believe the curriculum will train students in a way that may be more rigorous than at other schools and colleges of pharmacy.
The Dean did mention something that the current Dean of pharmacy at University of MichiganAnn Arbor (I believe it was U of M) said to him: Man, David, if you do achieve everything you plan, you will have made the Doctor of Pharmacy degree a
real doctorate degree.
Applicants:
So far 48 applicants have been interviewed, and some have already been accepted. My interview group comprised of the last eight interviewed so far.
Class size:
The matriculating class will have 80 students.
Housing:
There is no on-campus housing in the temporary campus building. However, there are ample apartments and etc. surrounding the building within walking distance. These living areas are very nice too. The law student intern will be helping coordinating with rooming situations among students later on. As for the future permanent campus in Sacramento, I do not know if it will have on-campus housing.