my interview.

i'm anxious by nature, so it's understandable that i was quite stressed out about my interview. all in all, it was a pretty good day though. definitely not as stressful as i'd built it up to be.

there were nine of us interviewing that day. we started out with a brief introduction of the day's events by mr. davis. then we did a writing sample. we had 45 minutes and a choice between two topics. i wrote about whether or not i agreed that something earned is worth more than something received as a gift, and why. the other topic had something to do with being stranded on an island with a certain number of people and having a limited amount of resources [they were listed] and you had to tell how you would decide who got what. so neither of the topics were related to pharmacy in any way. they said our writing samples would be evaluated for spelling, grammar, and writing level/style/basic principles. i don't think they cared too much about content, as long as we wrote a well supported argument.

after that, we headed down to the lower campus and into this building. here we received a presentation from mr. goldsmith about the program, including statistics, an overview of the curriculum, and other basic information about the school. after that it was time for the interview. we were divided into two groups. mine was the group of four. based on general impressions and a round of questions from mr. goldsmith, there was one girl in particular who i knew i didn't want in my interview group. i got lucky because she wasn't. :] i got a little bit unlucky because my interviewers were pretty serious and stern, while the other group had laid back interviewers and kept commenting on how one of the faculty members was really funny. :/ so overall, it was hard for me to read how the interview went. it was an hour long, but it seemed much shorter. we only got through five questions. first, there was the basic "tell us about yourself/why pharmacy?" general question. next was the situational question, which was something to the effect of "you work as a pharmacist for a big retail chain, your boss wants you to increase productivity and volume, while also increasing your time with the customers... how do you go about this?" then there was the future of pharmacy question, followed by "what is your best characteristic/trait?" and you had to give some examples to back it up. and last, they told us that they are having a big problem with class attendance, especially when students have a quiz the following day. it was kind of a two sided question about what students should do to not miss class, and how could professors increase attendance. i think i did pretty well with my answers. there was nothing hard or unexpected, except maybe the last question, but i think i answered it well. there was one guy in my group who sounded way too rehearsed. then there was a girl who was so nervous she was shaking. i've been that nervous before, so i was glad that i remained relatively calm. :]

after the interview, we had a tour of the campus led by a student. overall, the campus is pretty, but not overly impressive. they have a lot of land, but not a lot of it is used. the school is actually on mare island, which used to be a naval shipyard. you can see some evidence of that here:many of the buildings on the campus are from that time and just sit vacant. apparently there is a 10 year plan to renovate them, so i'm sure that in time, the campus will become pretty nice. this next picture used to be the nurses quarters. i thought it was a pretty cool looking old building, but it just sits empty for now. all of these were taken with my iphone, and the sun was super bright so i kind of just pointed and hoped that i got something in the frame. :]there is a small library, but i guess it would be sufficient. then there are two large pharmacy classrooms, one for the first year classes and one for the second year classes. each of the classrooms has 10 breakout rooms that can be used for group activities during lectures or as study rooms after lecture. there's also a big auditorium/theater room that is used for ceremonies and other campus-wide activities. there is a DO program on this campus too, but i'm not sure how much the pharmacy students interact with the DO students. that's about it, aside from administrative/faculty buildings.
this building is where we first entered for the day. it's considered the upper campus. most of the building seems empty though. there is one room that seems like it used to be a restaurant or something, one room with a big stage... i don't know. it was kind of strange.

after the tour, we had sandwiches and a final talk from mr. davis. he told us that they get about 3000 applications, send out 1500 secondaries, get back 1200 secondaries, offer 450-500 interviews, and give 160-180 offers of admission to fill 104 spots. i thought that part was pretty interesting.

the main thing in my mind right now is that i didn't really fall in love with the school. i think it's a good school. they said that 26% of their students get accepted into residencies, while the national average is 17%. they have been winning quiz bowls against students from schools like UCSF. so i'm sure it would be a great program... i just left feeling a little bit underwhelmed. i'll find out my status by the end of the month, and i guess at that point i will know whether or not i have a big decision to make or not. :]

for now, i just can't believe that i have nothing to stress out over for a while! no school, no grading, no applications, no interview, nothing. hopefully that will mean that i spend my time making stuff!