Hey Guys,
For those of you that have ever been an interviewer for PharmD. candidates I was just wondering about your experiences.
What were some of the craziest answers you got from the students (the wanna-be PharmD's)?
What were some of the most interesting?
And lastly, when they were asked "Do you have any questions for us?" what were the most interesting questions and were you asked anything that totally stumped you?
Thanks guys!🙂
Tas
Hmmm....yes, I have. I'll have to think about them a bit....
The craziest answers for the question - why xyz school?
cuz its close to home, cuz it was on the list, cuz my counselor said I should, cus my parents want me to come here.....
The most interesting answers had to do with the students themselves & reflected on the question asked. One usually led to another. I've only done open interviews in which there was no set list....I was to get an idea of the candidate's readiness to handle the academic load, the setting, the responsibility, etc...& one question would lead into another which led me to learning about the student.
I've never been part of the "group" interviews some have described on here.
Likewise, my best interviews for jobs (I've never interviewed candidates for jobs - that would be Zpak), but the "best" interviews I've had for jobs have been those which have been "open" as well. It becomes a dialog in which you learn about the institution & the individual hiring you & they learn about you.
Have I been stumped with a question from a prospective student? Never. I don't say that in a cocky fashion, but one thing you do learn as a pharmacist is that about 10% of the questions you are asked, you won't have a ready answer for. You learn how to handle them. When you are interviewing for a school....there are only so many questions that are possible. The ones like - will your school ever allow me to learn how to make a drug that cures cancer...well...those are easy....we give you the opportunity to learn in an environment in which you'll be able to go on with the educational & reasearch opportunities you desire. It may be here or it may be elsewhere, but we will give you the block on which you can build that.....or some such...
However....I will give you an interesting experience my daughter had when she was interviewing for medical school. Usually, when she interviewed, it was with at least 2, but often 3 individuals....2 physicians (or 1 physician & 1 admiin) & sometimes a 3r or 4th yr student or resident. So....once (I won't name the school), one of the interviews with one physican was conducted in a dark room. Not completely....there was some ambient light from a window...but the lights were off - overhead & on his desk - where there were papers he had been working on. She said it was spooky. We had a good laugh & speculated on all sorts of reasons he'd do the interview in the dark.
😀
