dalhousie pharmacy

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pharm1993 said:
Even after our interviews our marks still matter. Each person gets a score : 60% based on marks and 40% interview score. Then the individuals with the top scores get accepted into the program
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Ohhhhh ok, post interview.
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Member1993 said:
To pick the people for the interview they take the top 200 ish people that applied based on cGPA (taking into account that they have taken the pre-reqs). It does not matter if you are taking 3rd year biochemistry and organic chemistry classes or if you are taking 1st year music, they only look at your cGPA and don't look at your classes (rather than the re-reqs you are required to take).

For your question about being "qualified" after receiving an interview your grades will be reassessed at the end of June. Your acceptance into the program is weighed 60% grades and 40% interview.
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Yup ... this makes me worry even more :shrug:

Anyway, good luck to everyone.
 
Are we sure that they are only calling about interviews until Friday?
I heard that in previous years they do it in rounds, and that some people won't hear until a week before the interviews start.
 
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Pharm308 said:
Are we sure that they are only calling about interviews until Friday?
I heard that in previous years they do it in rounds, and that some people won't hear until a week before the interviews start.
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I was told that they are giving interviews out until the end of this week... In previous years they started giving them out in March and it went until late April. This year they where back-logged a little bit (apparently from what others have been saying) and only started giving interviews out last Friday. If anyone hears what the cGPA cut-off was it would be great to know :)
 
I am not quite sure what the cut-off GPA was, but I know one of the applicant who was below 3.7 got an interview call. I heard that they accepted 180 students this year.

What I am concerned about is how many second year or above students get accepted? The difficulty level varies every year and the first year courses are considerably easier compared to a second year or third year/fourth year courses. Some courses are notorious and the applicant could have taken all hard subjects this term.

I guess the applicant should be wise in terms of selecting the courses? That said, would it be okay to select bird courses?
 
tnwlsful said:
I am not quite sure what the cut-off GPA was, but I know one of the applicant who was below 3.7 got an interview call. I heard that they accepted 180 students this year.

What I am concerned about is how many second year or above students get accepted? The difficulty level varies every year and the first year courses are considerably easier compared to a second year or third year/fourth year courses. Some courses are notorious and the applicant could have taken all hard subjects this term.

I guess the applicant should be wise in terms of selecting the courses? That said, would it be okay to select bird courses?
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Usually included in transcripts is a median or average of the class, or atleast they do that at Dal. But usually, though not certain, they look at the medians and compare yourself to the other students in the class that you took.
 
tnwlsful said:
I am not quite sure what the cut-off GPA was, but I know one of the applicant who was below 3.7 got an interview call. I heard that they accepted 180 students this year.

What I am concerned about is how many second year or above students get accepted? The difficulty level varies every year and the first year courses are considerably easier compared to a second year or third year/fourth year...
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That's a good question. From what I understand from asking around there are very few people who were accepted right after 1st year university. As far as 2nd/3rd year ... not sure about numbers at all. However, there are quite a few older people, and people who already have degrees. This makes sense though because these people have (just by virtue of time) more experience and have encountered more situations, etc etc. Definitely not saying a 1st year can't make it in but yeah.
 
tnwlsful said:
I am not quite sure what the cut-off GPA was, but I know one of the applicant who was below 3.7 got an interview call. I heard that they accepted 180 students this year.

What I am concerned about is how many second year or above students get accepted? The difficulty level varies every year and the first year courses are considerably easier compared to a second year or third year/fourth year courses. Some courses are notorious and the applicant could have taken all hard subjects this term.

I guess the applicant should be wise in terms of selecting the courses? That said, would it be okay to select bird courses?
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Forcestealer said:
Usually included in transcripts is a median or average of the class, or atleast they do that at Dal. But usually, though not certain, they look at the medians and compare yourself to the other students in the class that you took.
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I know people who had 3.4's that have gotten interview calls. It doesn't matter if you are taking your masters or if you are in your first year, it is all based on cGPA. Like I posted before people taking 2nd year and 3rd year biochemistry and organic chemistry classes will clearly suffer a GPA drop compared to a student taking lets say 1st year music. But sadly they do not examine each individuals classes (rather than making sure you took the pre-reqs).

I was told that they do not compare the students to the medians of the classes they took, it is solely based on cGPA. It is harsh but it is the sad truth.

I also wonder if you re-take a class will they look and say "hmmm clearly they are trying to improve and this shows dedication". Do they also look to see how many times people have applied before and take that into account?
 
Member1993 said:
Do they also look to see how many times people have applied before and take that into account?
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I know for certain that they do. I'm not sure how much it is worth in terms of points and what not, but yeah they do take that into account (as a positive).
 
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So apparently I was given wrong information before... I was originally told that today, Friday 12th, was the last day they where giving calls for the interview. I was just told today that it is in fact NOT the last day they will be giving out interviews.

I hope that the information I was given today was more accurate. :xf:
 
I called today and Margaret told me today is the last day for interview calls, not sure where you heard that^
 
Hope2Be said:
I called today and Margaret told me today is the last day for interview calls, not sure where you heard that^
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I did talk to her today and I got a different answer. I was told that calls were still being made and that letters had been sent to those not selected for an interview.
 
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I talked to someone else in the Pharmacy department earlier in the week, and was told that today was the last day they where giving out calls for the interview... Then today I called and spoke with Margaret and she told me that today was not the last day. :annoyed:
 
Member1993 said:
I talked to someone else in the Pharmacy department earlier in the week, and was told that today was the last day they where giving out calls for the interview... Then today I called and spoke with Margaret and she told me that today was not the last day. :annoyed:
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I guess the Faculty of Pharmacy is monitoring this forum and the mixed informations is just part of the selection process to see how we answer to this kind of situation. It's all part of the game. :bang:
 
I just got the e-mail with the interview information in case anyone was wondering!
 
Pharmacist2Be1 said:
I guess the Faculty of Pharmacy is monitoring this forum and the mixed informations is just part of the selection process to see how we answer to this kind of situation. It's all part of the game. :bang:
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Hahaha you say that as a joke but I know that U of A Medicine has looked through SDN Forums for feedback about their interview process ...
 
A friend of mine just texted me saying he just got off the phone with Margaret and she told him that they will indeed be giving out more calls for the interviews next week!
 
902 said:
Hahaha you say that as a joke but I know that U of A Medicine has looked through SDN Forums for feedback about their interview process ...
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But I do know of a guy who basically freaked out and published some comments on the Facebook page of a Faculty regarding the admission process and how long it was taking, the lack of information about it etc. Well, I got tell you that if I'm on the selection committee, I wouldn't need a Personal Profile Test or an interview to know this person can't handle stress and difficult situations.
Of course they (Faculties, selection committees etc.) all know how stressful this whole process is to all of us. The difference is how each one of us handle it.
And once again, congrats to all of you who've received your interview call. I'm still waiting mine (hopefully the calling period won't end today).
 
Pharmacist2Be1 said:
What kind of information does it have?
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Very general stuff. Where to go, time, what to bring, what happens when you get there, type of interview info., and a map so you know where.
 
Interviews are coming up fast. For those that got interviews, how are you guys feeling? Doing lots of prep or kind of just winging-it? For me, I was lucky enough to go have gone through the MMI twice already so I feel pretty ready for whatever Dal has in store for us.
 
I don't think I'm going to be doing too much preparing. I only finish exams on the 24th so I won't have much time. I've heard from a lot of people that preparation doesn't really help much with this kind of interview. Do you have any tips?
 
apedicelli said:
Interviews are coming up fast. For those that got interviews, how are you guys feeling? Doing lots of prep or kind of just winging-it? For me, I was lucky enough to go have gone through the MMI twice already so I feel pretty ready for whatever Dal has in store for us.
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Gotta get through exams first then maybe do some prep, but I'm trying not to stress too much about it. :oops:
 
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I'm starting to get a little nervous haha. I've read a bit into ethics but like you said everything seems very med related, I don't think most of the scenarios I've read would be applicable to pharmacy, but I guess they could ask those type of questions anyways just to get an idea of how you think.
 
CallMeMaybe said:
I'm starting to get a little nervous haha. I've read a bit into ethics but like you said everything seems very med related, I don't think most of the scenarios I've read would be applicable to pharmacy, but I guess they could ask those type of questions anyways just to get an idea of how you think.
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A lot of the ethical questions I've come across in previous MMIs have dealt with patients who stop taking their medication. In these cases it's important to consider the points of view of the pharmacist, physician and the patient. Just FYI.
 
apedicelli said:
A lot of the ethical questions I've come across in previous MMIs have dealt with patients who stop taking their medication. In these cases it's important to consider the points of view of the pharmacist, physician and the patient. Just FYI.
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Yeah I especially like the questions posed after each scenario. It helps you work through the thought process and point you toward a thorough interpretation.
 
... and now the wait begins again!
 
Haha yup. How'd your interview go? I found I started off pretty bad..I was so nervous my response was pretty scattered for the first couple but I think I had a couple good ones to make up for those and the rest were kinda average. It really wasn't as nerve racking as I was expecting though, especially after I got past the first two it just seemed like I was having a regular conversation.
 
Oh gosh yes it was miserable for me also at the beginning. Thankfully the person in my 1st station was pleasant and reassuring. Overall I thought it wasn't too bad. I definitely left some stations thinking, oops coulda said this or pointed out something else about the question. It seemed pretty fair though. Nothing was crazy difficult to work through when it came to ethical questions. I was sort of surprised at the number of people who got interviews.
 
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Yeah everything was definitely fair. I tried to do a bit of prep stuff before it but it didn't really help much. I think they gave out less interviews than they normally do so that probably works in our favour. I really have no idea how I actually did on mine though. Hopefully since there were less interviews they'll get the letters out quicker lol.
 
CallMeMaybe said:
... I think they gave out less interviews than they normally do so that probably works in our favour ... Hopefully since there were less interviews they'll get the letters out quicker lol.
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Yeah, I'd say ~30 less interviews than usual. Even though that makes the odds a bit better it's still disconcerting to think that 1/2 of the people (potentially you) in your interview group will not be getting in :scared:

I hope you're right about the letters though! One of the Pharm. students showing us around said she got her letter in early August :thumbdown: It would be miserable to wait that long. However, most said they got theirs early to mid June.
 
Yeah I heard to expect them around June. Hopefully none of us have to wait until August that would be brutal. But I guess I'd rather wait until August and be accepted than be rejected in June :p. I'm sure the time will fly by anyway.
 
I was just wondering if there is a deadline for when we need to submit our marks for this semester? does anyone know? still waiting on marks to come in :/
 
pharm1993 said:
I was just wondering if there is a deadline for when we need to submit our marks for this semester? does anyone know? still waiting on marks to come in :/
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I spoke to the admissions office and they didn't give me a legitimate deadline but they said send them in ASAP.
 
Anyone have any idea about when responses should be out?
 
Last year they went out in 2 waves, one in mid june and the other in mid july
 
Well, I'd say it's about that time to get nervous everytime I open the mailbox :p
 
Hey guys! I've already done the interview for the 2013 entrance & now waiting to hear whether I've been accepted. Is anyone else in the same boat?
 
Nova Scotian said:
Hey guys! I've already done the interview for the 2013 entrance & now waiting to hear whether I've been accepted. Is anyone else in the same boat?
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I think we all are. They should be sending the letters out very soon though.
 
I hope so! Maybe in the mean time we could start sharing some information on our applications...

Graduated from: Saint Mary's
Major: Biology
Applied to: Dal Pharmacy
cGPA: 3.65/4.3
 
Still anxiously waiting. Anyone heard when the lettered will be sent out?
 
Maritime Student: 3rd Year
Major : Biology/ Chemistry
cGPA : 3.67/4.3
 
BSc. from McGill
Major: Physiology
Applied to Dal, U of T, UBC
GPA: 3.82/4.0
 
Hi everyone.

BSc in Biology-Chemistry from UNB
cGPA 3.64/4.3
prereq GPA 3.89/4.3
 
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