University of waterloo Pharmacy c/o 2021

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Does anyone have/know any tips for the FSA??? Any insight on how to study, what to focus on, specific examples etc.??

Thank you :) good luck to everyone
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Do you guys know if the question portion of the interview will be like, about yourself or about how to handle a certain situations?
 
@azn502 The FSA is easy, but rather long for the time allotted. Be prepared to write fast.:) No real need to study, though.

@lamechick They ask general interview-type questions. There won't be anything that requires specific knowledge. Would recommend practicing some typical interview questions with your university career counselor if you have access to one.
 
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Does anyone know how many interviews were offered this year ?
 
Is it true that gpa goes out the window after advancing to interview stage?
 
pms_testosterone said:
@azn502 The FSA is easy, but rather long for the time allotted. Be prepared to write fast.:) No real need to study, though.

@lamechick They ask general interview-type questions. There won't be anything that requires specific knowledge. Would recommend practicing some typical interview questions with your university career counselor if you have access to one.
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I appreciate the insight! I'm kind of nervous for the math portion and not sure what to expect. What skills should we start refining? Thanks :)
 
azn502 said:
I appreciate the insight! I'm kind of nervous for the math portion and not sure what to expect. What skills should we start refining? Thanks :)
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I would focus on dilutions (c1v1 = c2v2), Concentrations, molarity, molality, general math and chemistry, etc.
 
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lalala0903 said:
mine is on April 29th afternoon, i wished mine could be earlier tho, i wished i had your time
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Ah, I was just thinking that I would have to stay in Kitchener for several hours to wait for my FSA!
 
pharmacyy24 said:
Is it true that gpa goes out the window after advancing to interview stage?
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All stages of the admission process are separate, so once you advance to interview they don't really check GPA again unless you've fallen under the cutoff (or at least that's what a previous student of Waterloo pharm has told me)
 
lalala0903 said:
TT I have UBC on 30th, 28th would be a lot easier for me TT but anyways it's already nice to get an interview, I guess I should stop being whiny

Is your FSA in the morning? it's in afternoon? How come my FSA is in early morning and my interview isn't till late afternoon? Will many applicants write FSA together at same time or are we gonna write independently?
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Oh jeez that sucks! No I get why you wish you had a different time, if I could switch with you I would! My FSA is later in the afternoon, I didn't realize that they had FSAs scheduled at different parts of the day... I thought everyone interviewed for the same day would just be grouped together to write the test. Not sure! Maybe someone else can confirm?
 
Yes, a big bunch of people write the FSA in the morning then have their interviews in the afternoon, and vice-versa.
 
how difficult was the scientific article in the FSA???
 
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@azn502 not difficult - they want you to be able to understand it no matter what you studied in undergrad. But I do recommend reading the entire article (quickly) as the questions are too difficult to answer if you just skim or look at the article.
 
I was just wondering that is there anyone here who did not get an interview?
 
For those that got an interview, could anyone share their cumulative average?

Also does anyone know if you could get waitlisted for an interview?
 
Does anybody know how good your chances are of getting accepting into the program, if you get waitlisted after the interview/FSA. Or do you know anybody that has gotten accepted after being waitlisted?
 
azn502 said:
Does anybody know how good your chances are of getting accepting into the program, if you get waitlisted after the interview/FSA. Or do you know anybody that has gotten accepted after being waitlisted?
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~82 %
 
azn502 said:
Does anybody know how good your chances are of getting accepting into the program, if you get waitlisted after the interview/FSA. Or do you know anybody that has gotten accepted after being waitlisted?
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I've heard of people that have gotten in after getting waitlisted and got an offer around July or August I think. It depends really on how many people choose to take the offer or not, which is subjective!
 
Has anyone received a response after confirming their interview?
 
Sarah101 said:
For those that got an interview, could anyone share their cumulative average?

Also does anyone know if you could get waitlisted for an interview?
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My cumulative average is 90.44%
 
BEYOURSELF PHARMKID said:
Are you from the area? Then you may have a good chance getting into the Dal with a good cGPA. If you are from other provinces, you would need a perfect cGPA. Their quota for out-of-province students is RIDICULOUS
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I am from Northern Ontario, with a cumulative average of 90.44 % from my 4-year undergraduate degree in biology. I received an interview for both Waterloo and Dal. Does anyone happen to know the number of out-of-province students that are actually given an interview at Dal? I know they accept only about 10 people per year from outside of the maritime provinces, but would like an idea of how many out-of-province students I would be competing against in the interviews, if anyone happens to know.
 
xXCoolCatXx said:
I have an interview with UBC on the 30th, if waterloo doesn't work out hopefully that does :(
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What was your GPA? I got rejected from both Toronto and Waterloo and am planning to apply to UBC, but not sure if I should waste my time if my GPA is too low to even be considered :( I messed up big time in first year
 
Turtles91 said:
What was your GPA? I got rejected from both Toronto and Waterloo and am planning to apply to UBC, but not sure if I should waste my time if my GPA is too low to even be considered :( I messed up big time in first year
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Honestly I was in a very similar situation grade wise. My average was in the 75-76 range :dead: but I had a ton of community pharmacy experience and a great reference. Waterloo gave me the chance and sent me an interview invite and I got in. If pharmacy is what you want don't give up until you feel you absolutely have to!

Trust me, I was almost there!
 
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Does anyone know how many people received an interview invitation this year?
Thanks in advance!
 
Does anyone have any insight towards the actual interview? I'm kind of unsure about the presentation component, it seems like they're expecting you to just WOW them by talking about hobbies. Not 100% sure what they expect there. Other than that, are the questions they ask similar to MMI style or no?
 
Has anyone received an email after they confirmed their interview? I'm a little worried
 
pms_testosterone said:
@azn502 not difficult - they want you to be able to understand it no matter what you studied in undergrad. But I do recommend reading the entire article (quickly) as the questions are too difficult to answer if you just skim or look at the article.
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Would you recommend brushing up on statistics as well, and what would be the best way to prepare for the reading component? Thanks so much in advance!
 
essel99 said:
Would you recommend brushing up on statistics as well, and what would be the best way to prepare for the reading component? Thanks so much in advance!
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I wouldn't. As far as I remember, there wasn't any statistical questions in any of the sections. The math portion of the FSA is relatively simple, just make sure you practice arithmetic without using a calculator. There wouldn't be any questions that will try to trick you. :) The best way to study is honestly find a couple of scientific articles and get used to reading them and breaking them down to their main points. But really, just get used to reading articles quickly and effectively and you'll do great! Good luck this weekend!
 
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What is the attire to wear during the interview? Semi-formal? Is a suit appropriate or is that too formal?
 
AttackOnPharmacy said:
I wouldn't. As far as I remember, there wasn't any statistical questions in any of the sections. The math portion of the FSA is relatively simple, just make sure you practice arithmetic without using a calculator. There wouldn't be any questions that will try to trick you. :) The best way to study is honestly find a couple of scientific articles and get used to reading them and breaking them down to their main points. But really, just get used to reading articles quickly and effectively and you'll do great! Good luck this weekend!
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Personally I'm most concerned with the actual interview. I asked this a while back but dont think it got answered - are the questions similar to MMI (ethical dilemmas etc)., or are they more personal? If the latter, do you have any tips for preparing for that type of interview?
 
@tazto I would recommend wearing a suit.

@DrFunky No MMI or specific scenarios. Most questions are similar to what you might hear on a job interview. I recommend practicing w/ a disinterested person such as a university career counselor.
 
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@tazto It can't have been more than 10...so make sure to give a full and detailed answer to each question.
 
I found the interview portion relatively easy! The panel was very nice, 2 existing pharmacists, and 1 current pharmacy student. (Both pharmacists were uw alumni) Just practice your presentation and the questions are very typical (Tell me about a time where...why do you want to be a pharmacist.. etc).

The FSA was a bit more difficult than I thought. I was pretty stretched for time. The math wasn't difficult, but the scenario situations kind of confused me. The scientific article was definitely the most tricky, it was 8 pages long and the questions asked weren't very straight forward!
 
azn502 said:
I found the interview portion relatively easy! The panel was very nice, 2 existing pharmacists, and 1 current pharmacy student. (Both pharmacists were uw alumni) Just practice your presentation and the questions are very typical (Tell me about a time where...why do you want to be a pharmacist.. etc).

The FSA was a bit more difficult than I thought. I was pretty stretched for time. The math wasn't difficult, but the scenario situations kind of confused me. The scientific article was definitely the most tricky, it was 8 pages long and the questions asked weren't very straight forward!
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Hmm I had a totally different experience. The panel that interviewed me were very stone-faced / had extremely flat affect. I couldn't get a read or a smile from them to reaffirm what I said. I would give my answer and they just said "ok." And moved to next question. I felt confident going in but pretty deflated by the end.
 
DrFunky said:
Hmm I had a totally different experience. The panel that interviewed me were very stone-faced / had extremely flat affect. I couldn't get a read or a smile from them to reaffirm what I said. I would give my answer and they just said "ok." And moved to next question. I felt confident going in but pretty deflated by the end.
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oh that's odd! Was your interview panel younger or more mature, like a professor? Also, what did you think of the FSA?
 
azn502 said:
oh that's odd! Was your interview panel younger or more mature, like a professor? Also, what did you think of the FSA?
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All three were quite young, the pharmacists were probably 30 years old or so and the pharmacy student was early 20s looking.

The FSA I didn't find too bad. I did the math first and written part second cause I knew they wouldn't take me very long, that left me with about 50 mins to do the paper. All in all that part I feel good about.
 
Are we allowed to leave or use our laptops/phones between our interview and FSA?
 
Pharm1331 said:
Are we allowed to leave or use our laptops/phones between our interview and FSA?
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Provided there's a gap between the two you can leave, or stay in the waiting lobby with phone/laptop
 
Can someone please confirm if are eligible for the admission offer (based on our interview + fsa performance) even if we are not able to submit the final transcript by June 2, 2017 deadline? It is just that this offer will be conditional until we eventually submit the final transcript, right?
 
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