The Interview: Advice, horror stories, etc

[azwethinkweizm]

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I've been a lurker to these forums for awhile and I haven't found a specific topic about the interview so I thought I would make one.

One thing that happened last year was that I was interviewing a prospective student and I asked this question (my school does it to where the student gets one question only and we help mediate between the faculty member):
One thing I've noticed is a certain word separates the good from the bad when it comes to pharmacy students, as a pharmacist what do you call the people you serve?

He had no idea what I was talking about so I said: The people landlords serve are tenents, the people the HR department serve are called employees, the people pharmacists serve are called what? He then responded with "customer" until the faculty member ripped him apart saying that the word he should have answered with was "patient" since we need to treat these people as humans and not as dollar signs. The kid didn't get in.

Any thoughts? Horror stories? Please share.

 

[catchsomezz]

this was while i was interview for the 1st time at ucsf:

somehow we got on the topic of what bioinformatics is and how it pertained to pharmacy (i was a bioI major). i decided to explain this one case study where we were identifying different histologies of breast cancer by plotting n mRNA expression levels on an n-dimensional plot and using clustering algorithms to ID the different histologies.

....needless to say, trying to explain that with enough nervous energy to shoot me to the moon, before i finished explaining clustering algorithms, the professor said: "yeah yeah i think i got it" and the student quickly nodded to concur.

 

[Passion4Sci]

this was while i was interview for the 1st time at ucsf:

somehow we got on the topic of what bioinformatics is and how it pertained to pharmacy (i was a bioI major). i decided to explain this one case study where we were identifying different histologies of breast cancer by plotting n mRNA expression levels on an n-dimensional plot and using clustering algorithms to ID the different histologies.

....needless to say, trying to explain that with enough nervous energy to shoot me to the moon, before i finished explaining clustering algorithms, the professor said: "yeah yeah i think i got it" and the student quickly nodded to concur.

So, will I see you at UCSF next year? xD

 

[catchsomezz]

hell yeah, you will 😀

So, will I see you at UCSF next year? xD

 

[ngynththo]

I don't think the word "customer" only meant "dollar" to him.
Yes, the ultimate goal of pharmacists and all other healthcare workers is to serve patients. But in order to serve patients well we need to serve/to treat all people where we work as customers that included inside customers (our colleague/nurses/other departments....) and outside customers (patients/their families/other facilities...).
I don't think he/she didn't get in just because of this answer.

I've been a lurker to these forums for awhile and I haven't found a specific topic about the interview so I thought I would make one.

One thing that happened last year was that I was interviewing a prospective student and I asked this question (my school does it to where the student gets one question only and we help mediate between the faculty member):
One thing I've noticed is a certain word separates the good from the bad when it comes to pharmacy students, as a pharmacist what do you call the people you serve?

He had no idea what I was talking about so I said: The people landlords serve are tenents, the people the HR department serve are called employees, the people pharmacists serve are called what? He then responded with "customer" until the faculty member ripped him apart saying that the word he should have answered with was "patient" since we need to treat these people as humans and not as dollar signs. The kid didn't get in.

Any thoughts? Horror stories? Please share.

 

[stkyrice]

When I interviewed for Hawai'i-Hilo this year, I was asked a very typical question: "Where do you see pharmacy going in the future?"

I started talking about pharmacogenomics and how at UCSF I was part of a study looking at the role of pharmacogenomics on people of color, etc., etc.

After my 2 minute discussion of pharmacogenomics, the professor who interviewed me said, "To be honest, the only thing I really know about pharmacogenomics and people of color is the Asian flush."

I got accepted.

 

[UES Girl]

😎
The only real interview "horror" story I had was when I went to interview at Oregon State. My plane arrived late and after checking into hotel I decided to get food as I was really hungry. I was walking over 2 miles at nearly midnight to the closest open restaurant in complete darkness and someone jumped out at me from the bushes. 😱 😱

I took off and started running full speed - not an easy thing to do in 3 inch heels. 😎 Didn't get much sleep that night and enjoyed getting up at 6 am for the interview next morning.

 

[Passion4Sci]

😎
The only real interview "horror" story I had was when I went to interview at Oregon State. My plane arrived late and after checking into hotel I decided to get food as I was really hungry. I was walking over 2 miles at nearly midnight to the closest open restaurant in complete darkness and someone jumped out at me from the bushes. 😱 😱

I took off and started running full speed - not an easy thing to do in 3 inch heels. 😎 Didn't get much sleep that night and enjoyed getting up at 6 am for the interview next morning.

You flew in at midnight and were still wearing heels? My wife would've switched to flats either before we got on the plane or during flight, heh.

That's just crazy. =p Glad you made it okay though.

 

[Sparda29]

Sorry, never going to think of the people who come to the pharmacy as customers. They are patients.

 

[Sparda29]

😎
The only real interview "horror" story I had was when I went to interview at Oregon State. My plane arrived late and after checking into hotel I decided to get food as I was really hungry. I was walking over 2 miles at nearly midnight to the closest open restaurant in complete darkness and someone jumped out at me from the bushes. 😱 😱

I took off and started running full speed - not an easy thing to do in 3 inch heels. 😎 Didn't get much sleep that night and enjoyed getting up at 6 am for the interview next morning.

Interviewees expected to see stuff like that happening in the Touro NY neighborhood, but in Oregon State? Damn! Glad you made it out okay. Really should wear sneakers more often, they are better for your feet. (Source: Physiology professor) 👍

 

[SirRichardPryor]

Sorry, never going to think of the people who come to the pharmacy as customers. They are patients.

Thank goodness someone agrees with me. I don't see how you could view someone who walks in as a customer, no matter what their position is.

 

[fenderbiz]

That's because most people on here care about our fellow humans. Try asking that question to the big drug companies.

 

[lizziesull]

Applied to 2 schools last year and got interviews at both.

First interview (Midwestern Chicago), was during a snowstorm. My parents live about 4 miles from the school...it took over 2 hours to drive there. JUST made it in before the dean showed up.

Second interview (UIC), got a flat tire about 10 miles outside the city. My aunt, who was driving me, called a cab. The cabbie hauled ass and got me there with 10 min to spare.

Nothing psychs you up for interviews more like pure adrenaline and fear rushing through you.

Btw, accepted to both, so good omens?

 

[Sparda29]

Applied to 2 schools last year and got interviews at both.

First interview (Midwestern Chicago), was during a snowstorm. My parents live about 4 miles from the school...it took over 2 hours to drive there. JUST made it in before the dean showed up.

Second interview (UIC), got a flat tire about 10 miles outside the city. My aunt, who was driving me, called a cab. The cabbie hauled ass and got me there with 10 min to spare.

Nothing psychs you up for interviews more like pure adrenaline and fear rushing through you.

Btw, accepted to both, so good omens?

You know, you could have just called the school and let them know that you were running late.

 

[IrishHammer]

I've been a lurker to these forums for awhile and I haven't found a specific topic about the interview so I thought I would make one.

One thing that happened last year was that I was interviewing a prospective student and I asked this question (my school does it to where the student gets one question only and we help mediate between the faculty member):
One thing I've noticed is a certain word separates the good from the bad when it comes to pharmacy students, as a pharmacist what do you call the people you serve?

He had no idea what I was talking about so I said: The people landlords serve are tenents, the people the HR department serve are called employees, the people pharmacists serve are called what? He then responded with "customer" until the faculty member ripped him apart saying that the word he should have answered with was "patient" since we need to treat these people as humans and not as dollar signs. The kid didn't get in.

Any thoughts? Horror stories? Please share.

While I agree that they are patients and not customers, let me play Devil's advocate.

When I worked at Target, never once did I hear the word "patient". The pharmacist, interns, and other techs always referred to them as guests (Target's version of customers). I would imagine that other retail pharmacy chains do the same thing. So if the kid had experience working as a tech at someplace in retail (which is the case the vast majority of the time), that's not his fault, he probably had that drilled into his head.