i went to to an interview on 1/27. hope some of my notes can be helpful to you guys going to ucsf soon!
everyone, men and women wore suits for their interview. there is a student chat room and informal tours, so go early to your interview and you will get lots of pointers and ideas for your interview from current ucsf students, you can even practice with them. also you can stay after your interview. i got most of my information about the school and life at UCSF at this chat room.
they give you three essay choices and 45minutes for an essay, plenty of time. make sure you just write an outline, give an intro stating what your essay is about and stick with 2-3 ideas with plenty of examples/qualifications, and conclude. you know how to write a good essay i am sure, just make sure it is complete. i overheard current students reviewing some essays at the end of the day and some people were really ragging on some of the essays for poor grammar and not answering the questions. they give you a small space to answer the essay question so don't get too involved or deep, just stick with a few good ideas and explain it well, use all your transitions, intros/conclusion statements. the questions were all some kind of moral or ethical dilemma, may or may not be pharm related. they gave three choices, and seriously it doesn't matter what side you take as long as you answer the questions, and present both sides and argue your case. i chose one question to answer that was about how Americans pick up new technology so quickly, talk about why this may be negative and is there anything that can be done about it.
the interview was with a faculty and a third year student about 35minutes long, hopefully longer for you if you are really charming and there's lots to talk about =). they have your Form B so they may ask you about some of your experiences. they asked "why pharmacy" and also a lot of self-assessment questions. what are your strengths, what are your weaknesses, what good things would your classmates say about you after you graduate, what bad things would people say about you, what do you expect to be your favorite/least favorite thing about your future career, what are your career goals, what is one ethical dilemma you have faced and how did you deal with it, what would you do about something you saw someone doing morally wrong etc. they have a 8x11 booklet of questions that they pick questions out of, so they may have a field day with you. i think if you are earnest, and review your application, your resume, your motivation for pharmacy, and think about a few of your weaknesses and strengths and be honest and loving towards yourself in your assessment you will do great
. When they asked me what questions I would like to ask I just asked about who my interviewers were and how they felt about UCSF, etc. just a natural conversation that grew out naturally from me asking about who they were. This was actually quite a bit of the interview and more informative to me about their attitude towards the school.
All the students at UCSF are very happy people and really nice and will help you.
Good luck to everyone!
