Texas A&M

www.westernu.edu/pharmacy/
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Hockeyfannus said:
I was hoping sometimes this week since their first round of interviews are March 5/6.
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:)Hopefully this week; but, I also received an interview invite for an out of state school about five days before the actual interview.:eek:

So I'm ready for anything now...
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They called me today to verify my address. Guess that means the invites are going out soon.
 
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Hey guys, I just received an interview for Texas A&M for March 5th (which is a Thursday, yikes!)
 
ok, thanks.

i wonder if they're sending them out individually or all at once... guess we'll find out soon
 
a runner said:
ok, thanks.

i wonder if they're sending them out individually or all at once... guess we'll find out soon
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oh u just got urs like 20minutes ago, so i think d rest of us just have to be patient
 
congrats on the invite by the way!

on their website, it states that 100 people will be interviewed and 70 of those will be selected... that seems like a small number to interview? but if true, you have a very high chance at acceptance (and any others of us who get interviews).
 
a runner said:
congrats on the invite by the way!

on their website, it states that 100 people will be interviewed and 70 of those will be selected... that seems like a small number to interview? but if true, you have a very high chance at acceptance (and any others of us who get interviews).
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Thanks :) And I believe they send it out individually because I also received two attachments and the To: address only has my email and not a hidden list.
 
a runner said:
congrats on the invite by the way!

on their website, it states that 100 people will be interviewed and 70 of those will be selected... that seems like a small number to interview? but if true, you have a very high chance at acceptance (and any others of us who get interviews).
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That does seem kind of small. My class size is something like 86 or 87.
 
i got one too!
 
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I think the statement of interviewing 100 and accepting 70 is a little dated. I remember Dr. Robertson talking about how there were about 250 that interviewed last year. As Picard said there are 87 in this year's class. So I do think the interview pool is expanding.

Most communication (including interview invites) are done through email. So you all may want to check your in-box instead of the mail box.
 
i got it around 5:25 PM this afternoon
 
congrats~
If they send emails out individually, is that possible that they are sending them out in alphabetical order according to like the last name. So maybe someone with last name starting with W, for example, needs to wait a bit longer?
It is just my speculation.
 
Last year interview invitations didn't all go out on the same day, so there may be more next week or later than that.
 
Does A&M wait to make admission decisions after all the interviews are over? Does it matter if you have an early or late interview date?
 
how many interview rounds/days are there, or it is just march 5th?
 
ambeitaiming said:
how many interview rounds/days are there, or it is just march 5th?
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I think there are 5. [march 5/6/12/13/19] I'm scheduled for the 5th, but want to move it to a later date...just wasn't sure if that means my application will be reviewed later.
 
Hockeyfannus said:
Does A&M wait to make admission decisions after all the interviews are over? Does it matter if you have an early or late interview date?
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I believe they wait and make a decision on everyone at the same time. Sometime in April. So you won't be affected if you change your interview date to a later time.
 
i just got an interview for the 12th
 
I got an interview for march 12th too
 
Hey guys for those of you who have interviewed at A and M how long does the interview day take? I am trying to see if I can leave the same day.
 
Hockeyfannus said:
Does A&M wait to make admission decisions after all the interviews are over? Does it matter if you have an early or late interview date?
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Last year they waited until all were over.

balab said:
Hey guys for those of you who have interviewed at A and M how long does the interview day take? I am trying to see if I can leave the same day.
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It's fairly short.
 
If I remember right my interview was at 10:30 am and I was done by around 1:00 or so. You interview, do a writing sample and then meet with a current student and that is about it. I am not sure if they are going to change anything this year though. The interview and writing sample are 30 minutes exactly so prepare well and don't freak out. Good luck.
 
alright invite! see you guys on march 12th!
 
hey everyone,

does anyone know a rough idea of how many they are interviewing this round???

and just to make sure, the final class size is what, usually around 100??
 
i received an interview invite as well march 12:D..at 4pm.:confused:.strangely..but im excited...see you guys there
 
congrats guys!

i am scheduled for the last interview date on march 19th. this will be my first interview. ahhh, so nervous!
 
makinit09 said:
i received an interview invite as well march 12:D..at 4pm.:confused:.strangely..but im excited...see you guys there
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mine is at 2:30pm...i'll probably see you before yours :)
 
For any of the current pharmacy students, will they allow us to reschedule our interview to a later date? My interview is scheduled for March 6th, but I would like to have it move back to March 12th. Will they allow this?
 
i'm not a current pharmacy student, but i emailed ms. knudsen; this is her reply:

All requests for changes in the time for the currently scheduled interview appointment will be reviewed beginning Wednesday, February 25, 2009. You will be notified by e-mail shortly after that date if the interview time can be changed.
 
jlc1087 said:
i'm not a current pharmacy student, but i emailed ms. knudsen; this is her reply:

All requests for changes in the time for the currently scheduled interview appointment will be reviewed beginning Wednesday, February 25, 2009. You will be notified by e-mail shortly after that date if the interview time can be changed.
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Thanks for the info.

If you don't mind me asking, were you requesting yours to be moved back or up?
 
i wanted to get mine moved back from the 6th to the 12th of march
 
does anyone know how the interview day is structured?
 
meso said:
does anyone know how the interview day is structured?
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Talkingdonkey described it in an earlier message. That's what I remember, plus a few minutes of meeting with the dean of student affairs.
 
does anyone know how many applicants they interview on each day. Is it possible to move the interview day back?
 
5 interview days times 5 interview times per day times approximately 10 interviewees per session = approximately 250 interviewees total this year.

As far as changing around interview times you will have to check with the Office of Student Affairs and Ms. Knudsen or Ms. Patsy Gonzalez.

In my very honest opinion and some of you will take offense to it, A&M is very much stresses professionalism - as this is a professional school and very different from undergrad. We have a dress code that is very much enforced and adhered to. There are high standards of conduct, which I am sure Dr. Robertson will talk to you about during your interview. That being said, changing an interview because it does not mesh well with your schedule, or you are not prepared, is not a valid excuse and very unprofessional. Therefore, if you want to change your interview go ahead and talk with the appropriate people, but beware that you might not get what you want.
 
talkingdonkey said:
5 interview days times 5 interview times per day times approximately 10 interviewees per session = approximately 250 interviewees total this year.

As far as changing around interview times you will have to check with the Office of Student Affairs and Ms. Knudsen or Ms. Patsy Gonzalez.

In my very honest opinion and some of you will take offense to it, A&M is very much stresses professionalism - as this is a professional school and very different from undergrad. We have a dress code that is very much enforced and adhered to. There are high standards of conduct, which I am sure Dr. Robertson will talk to you about during your interview. That being said, changing an interview because it does not mesh well with your schedule, or you are not prepared, is not a valid excuse and very unprofessional. Therefore, if you want to change your interview go ahead and talk with the appropriate people, but beware that you might not get what you want.
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:( I feel bad now, but I have another interview already scheduled on the same day. Hope they will understand.
 
CaptainPicard said:
Talkingdonkey described it in an earlier message. That's what I remember, plus a few minutes of meeting with the dean of student affairs.
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talkingdonkey said:
5 interview days times 5 interview times per day times approximately 10 interviewees per session = approximately 250 interviewees total this year.

As far as changing around interview times you will have to check with the Office of Student Affairs and Ms. Knudsen or Ms. Patsy Gonzalez.

In my very honest opinion and some of you will take offense to it, A&M is very much stresses professionalism - as this is a professional school and very different from undergrad. We have a dress code that is very much enforced and adhered to. There are high standards of conduct, which I am sure Dr. Robertson will talk to you about during your interview. That being said, changing an interview because it does not mesh well with your schedule, or you are not prepared, is not a valid excuse and very unprofessional. Therefore, if you want to change your interview go ahead and talk with the appropriate people, but beware that you might not get what you want.
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Thank you, guys.

Is anyone else thinking about driving down to kingsville? For me its a seven hour drive, so I'm debating whether I should just fly to Corpus Christi and then rent a car to the school or drive.

What are you all doing?
What did you guys (current students) do when you interviewed?
 
Hockeyfannus said:
:( I feel bad now, but I have another interview already scheduled on the same day. Hope they will understand.
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If you already had one scheduled before the A&M invitation, then that is a valid reason. Just explain the situation and assert your interest in interviewing at another time if they can fit you in somewhere.
 
hey meso, im gonna fly also. it would be an 8 hr drive for me, and thats too crazy for me to handle, haha. i cant even drive more than 3 hours by myself w/o getting sleepy.. so yea im going to fly into C. Christi and rent a car to drive the 45 min to kingsville. so much for a 2 hr interview.
 
eggroll said:
hey meso, im gonna fly also. it would be an 8 hr drive for me, and thats too crazy for me to handle, haha. i cant even drive more than 3 hours by myself w/o getting sleepy.. so yea im going to fly into C. Christi and rent a car to drive the 45 min to kingsville. so much for a 2 hr interview.
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hey eggroll...i'm sure i was easy to spot at the tech interview. but i still don't know who you are! :) me and tabouli were trying to figure it out
 
Hey, congrats to everyone who got interview invitations! I imagine things must be both exciting and stressing for you guys right now. Although you guys are going to be trying to prepare for all of the possible questions and scenarios that play out, keep in mind that ultimately, they're just trying to get to know you better. Remember to breathe and loosen up your joints before you enter the interview rooms, and I'm sure you guys will do great!

meso said:
Thank you, guys.

Is anyone else thinking about driving down to kingsville? For me its a seven hour drive, so I'm debating whether I should just fly to Corpus Christi and then rent a car to the school or drive.

What are you all doing?
What did you guys (current students) do when you interviewed?
Click to expand...

When I had my interview last year (Friday @2:30PM), I drove 450 miles to get to Kingsville. I'm from Plano, TX (a suburb just north of Dallas), it takes about 7 hours if you can avoid traffic (8.5 hours with traffic). I have a friend in San Antonio so I stayed with him over Thursday night and finished the drive Friday morning, so he acted as my "hotel" so the drive was not as exhaustive as it could have been. However, I have driven straight from Kingsville to Plano a few times in a dinky little Corolla (the car shudders if I push it too hard). While the drive is roughly 7-8 hours long, I do not feel that it's a particularly bad drive.

Personally, I don't have any reservations about driving the distance, and with gas prices taking a small nap right now, I think it's definitely the cheaper route. If you don't like driving, or if you can find some cheap airfare, you could probably save some time (but then you'd have to arrange for things like car rental, which might be a hassle).

For anyone that intends on driving via I-37, be careful of a stretch of highway between Corpus Christi and Driscoll. As you're grazing past Corpus Christi's city limits, there's an area where I-37 turns into US-77. The speed limit will then drop to 55 a few times and at Driscoll it drops down to 40 mph (30 mph if school's out) and this is all while you're on US-77. Sometimes cops will lurk around the area, so if you're the type that likes to stay on the left lane, you might want to play it conservatively. Here's a map view of things for those of you who, uh, like maps:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=I-37+N&daddr=27.655676,-97.757034&hl=en&geocode=FQa9qQEdkkUu-g%3B&mra=mi&mrsp=1,0&sz=11&sll=27.721828,-97.671204&sspn=0.43399,0.892639&ie=UTF8&z=11 .

balab said:
Hey guys for those of you who have interviewed at A and M how long does the interview day take? I am trying to see if I can leave the same day.
Click to expand...

The interview is not very long at all. Assuming that nothing has changed from last year, you'll check in upstairs for your interview and then wait in a "Fish Bowl" type room with everyone else who is scheduled for an interview. From there, you will be divided into two groups: One group will write an essay first, the second group will conduct their interview first. Last year we wrote essays with a pencil and paper, though I'm not sure whether or not they will be using computers this year or sticking with the ol' pencil and paper. The interview group will each enter individual rooms to speak with a 3-person panel. Usually the candidate will have a few spare minutes at the end of their interview to pose any questions of their own to their interviewers. The essays and interviews each last 30 minutes, and the groups will swap positions immediately afterwards.

After everyone is done with their essays and interviews, you'll be shuffled into a room where you can speak with current students at the pharmacy school. This part is pretty informal, so you can relax at this point. The purpose is for candidates to get the perspective of a pharmacy student's life at the school and for candidates to lob curiosity questions about random things (such as life at Kingsville, things that they do in their off-time, concerns that they may also share when they were applying, etc...).

The entire session should take about 2 hours at most. It's not very long, and despite my 2:30PM time slot, I was able to make it back to San Antonio in time for dinner with my friend.

bobanderson214 said:
I believe they wait and make a decision on everyone at the same time. Sometime in April. So you won't be affected if you change your interview date to a later time.
Click to expand...

I'm going to echo what was already said by several others that last year, all of the applications were reviewed as one large pool and acceptance invitations were all sent out on the same day. I haven't heard whether or not this is the case this year, but there's no reason to assume that things have changed this time around.

talkingdonkey said:
I think the statement of interviewing 100 and accepting 70 is a little dated. I remember Dr. Robertson talking about how there were about 250 that interviewed last year. As Picard said there are 87 in this year's class. So I do think the interview pool is expanding.
Click to expand...

Yup, that little blurb in the FAQ about "interviewing 100... accepting 70" is a bit outdated. Last year they had roughly 750 applicants, 250 interviewees, and 90 available seats. Eventually, they want to increase the size of the class but they might be aiming for 90 seats again this year.

As for how they scored applicants last year, they used a point system where GPA was worth 15 points, your PCAT score was worth 15 points, the essay was worth 10 points, your three recommendation letters totaled up to 10 points, and the interview was worth 25 points. So, when everything is said and done, your interview is going to weigh in pretty heavily, but it won't completely determine your chances.

Anyho, I think that's it from me. Best of wishes everyone!

--Garfield3d
 
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Garfield3d said:
Hey, congrats to everyone who got interview invitations!...As for how they scored applicants last year, they used a point system where GPA was worth 15 points, your PCAT score was worth 15 points, the essay was worth 10 points, your three recommendation letters totaled up to 10 points, and the interview was worth 25 points. So, when everything is said and done, your interview is going to weigh in pretty heavily, but it won't completely determine your chances.

Anyho, I think that's it from me. Best of wishes everyone!

--Garfield3d
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Hey garfield3d. Thanks for the info. That was very informative and helpful. I'm in Austin, so I'll be driving to Kingsville, but I will have to come back the same day because I have to work on Friday :(

I'm gonna need lots of starbucks.:D
 
Thanks a lot Garfield3d! Your info was a big help!!!

Did anyone receive an email after accepting the interview offer? I'm a bit scared that my email didn't go through. Thanks!!!
 
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