Here are my interview prep recommendations:

PART IV. (See PART III: SUPPLEMENTAL QUESTIONS HERE)

Humans are pretty superficial - they say don't judge a book by it's cover but aren't interviews just that? We immediately form opinions based on appearances so how you present yourself definitely matters. What do you wear?  Before I go into the nitty gritty details of each school I interviewed at [i.e., what to expect and ACTUAL questions they asked (Yes, I kept a handy dandy journal detailing all my interviews)], I'll give you basic interview tips which apply to anyone preparing for an interview, regardless of the field.

GUYS

You guys definitely have it easy. There's really no way you could possibly screw up! Here's a quick list of what you'll need:


(Via: DaveTV - SUITS)

1. A dapper looking tailored sports coat or blazer. Make sure this fits well - most wear black but don't be afraid of wearing navy blue, charcoal or tan!
2. A good pair of trousers - most of the guys I saw wore a suit. Of course, you can mix and match... just don't get too wild! Oh, don't be the guy with crumpled fabric on both legs - get them tailored!
3. A good looking button down with collar stays! Make sure the collars are crisp. I didn't see any guys accessorize with cuff links but I don't see why not!
4. A tie - skinny or regular depending on your physique. No one wore any bold prints or a tie clip. If you want to play it on the safe side, go for subtle patterns.
5. Leather Dress Shoes in brown or black. Invest in a good pair because chances are, you'll wear them often!

(Via SUITS USA)

Guys, I know it's difficult but use an iron. You're trying to make a good impression as a potential student so make sure your suit isn't wrinkled! If I were interviewing someone, I'd like to see a little personality (a red tie with chill peppers, why not?!) but with the health sciences, most of your interviewers are of the conservative type - you've been warned!

GIRLS

There are so many possibilities! If you've been following my blog for a while, you know my outfits aren't exactly what you would call appropriate for the workplace let alone in the sciences. When I went on my quest for an interview outfit, I had to decide if I wanted to wear a dress, pencil skirt or trousers. For work appropriate dresses, I like body-conscious dresses and pencil skirts. I didn't want to leave a negative impression with my interviews and the admissions committee so I decided to wear a blazer and trousers. But here are some helpful tips:

If you decide to wear a dress or pencil skirt:
(Via SUITS USA)

1. Make sure that what you're wearing doesn't ride up too high above your knees when you're sitting down! You're not going to a club! Not only will you look a bit out of place, some of the interviews are face to face without a table in between. You don't want to be pulling your skirt down the entire time or sitting there with your hands stiffly clasped together on your lap. 
2. I love wearing colorful things but there's a time and place for that and unfortunately, a pharmacy school interview isn't it. Go for the basics: neutrals, black or navy blue. 
3. Make sure it fits well. If you're wearing a dress, make sure the waist doesn't drop too low and if you're wearing a skirt, make sure it hugs your body... just not too tight!
4. Make sure your shirt isn't too busy. It's best to go with a simple button down or a good dress top. Oh, make sure your cleavage isn't showing. You want your interviewers focused on your pretty face!
5. Since you'll be at your interview for around 5 hours, give or take, wear comfortable shoes! I wore heels to all my interviews because they made me look more professional. However, a majority of the girls wore flats. Just make sure they're not open-toed shoes! 

FOLLOW UP

PART III. (See PART II: GLORIOUS LETTERS AND EXTRACURRICULARS HERE)



Now that you've completed the actual PharmCAS application, it's time to get down and dirty with school specific questions! According to school websites and SDN, you THEORETICALLY shouldn't copy and paste answers from one school to the next... but the questions are gosh-darn similar! I suppose the main reason for this conjecture is for the applicant's benefit. Sometimes we get so used to seeing the same thing (like an essay) over and over again that we skip over minor details... like copying paragraph A into school #2 but forgetting to change the name of the school from #1 to #2. Those kinds of mistakes can really hurt your application.



Whew, after answering those questions, all you can do now is refresh your email every 5 seconds in hopes for an interview invite. I don't even remember how many times I checked... I went mad... Anyways, I know you guys will probably want to kick back but I'd say use your time wisely and learn some interview tactics. My next post will be purely dedicated on interviews - not the specific interview questions per se (those will come in a later post) but rather how to dress and act. Stay tuned!

PART II. (See PART I: INTRODUCTION TO PHARM APPS HERE)

Hello again! I'm glad you stuck around for the next part - I'll be posting Pharmacy app shenanignas every Saturday! Anyways, as a college student, you're busy studying for exams, sleeping whenever you get the chance (even if it's in class, whoops!) and eating anything you can shove in your mouth. So with all of that in a constant cycle, it's hard to have time for anything else, am I right? Well, tough luck kiddos. It's like high school again for us health related majors. You've got to muster in some time for experiences that will boost up your already stellar application. A 3.8 GPA won't do you much if you don't add in some hobbies, leadership, research or volunteer (work). Oh, did I mention you need to shimmy over to office hours to lay out your charm on professors?

But, alas, like us homo sapiens, not all applications alike.



Ask any pharmacist or pre-pharmacy student you know, I GUARANTEE they'll say that you need to get some pharmacy experience. I'll even bet they said you should  NEED to be a certified pharmacy technician to be accepted to any pharmacy school. Well, I hate to break it to you but...


*GASP* Wait, what?! That's right! But hold on Speedy Gonzales, before you do anything rash, like quit your pharm-tech gig, you should know that I did a plethora of other things to compensate for my lack of experience in the field.

We all know that a pharmacist must be a competent, well-rounded, educated, and confident. These are qualities admission committees want to see! I heard through the grapevine that some schools don't really pay attention to your experiences but judge you based on your grades, letters, and interviewing ability. However, if you do not have any pharmacy experience, like myself, be ready to explain what other qualities you have that make you super awesome!

If you're wondering what my experiences were, here's a quick run through of what I did in college:

1. RESEARCH - As of now, I have 5 years of research (was promoted twice to Assistant Specialist, Step II) under my belt along with presentations and a publication coming up. If you're going in the research direction, know the IRB process and try not to jump around too much. Get to know one or two disciplines really well so you can educate your interviewers when asked. Research came up a lot during my UCSD and USC interviews - they were really impressed with my background and I'm pretty sure it made me stand out. I didn't meet any interviewers with long, solid research experience - most only had a year.
2. MUSIC - I was a violinist involved with the Vietnamese American Philharmonic up until my first year in college. Afterwards, I played the piano for Music to Heal. Hopefully, you guys have some hobbies and saw them through. This shows the admissions committee that you're a dedicated and patient person - qualities all good pharmacists should possess.
3. VOLUNTEER WORK - I didn't volunteer all too much in college. However, one organization I committed myself to was the Recuperative Care Program through the Medical Initiative Against Homelessness (MIAH). I spent around 3.5 years with this club in various roles. Make sure you have some sort of tutoring under your belt - try to get at least a quarter or a semester's worth. As a pharmacist, you're often required to educate others and answer questions regarding medication and/or health related questions so tutoring definitely helps!
4. WORK WORK WORK WORK WORK - I co-founded two side businesses and took on ALL the business shenanigans. The ball finally started rolling in the late 2015 and it's only going uphill from here. Since I loathed staying late at school, I never attended club meetings therefore, I never took a leadership position. To make up for that, I showed my interviewers how starting a business taught me responsibility, how meeting with buyers helped me with public speaking, etc.
5. BLOGGING - Yeah, that's right. I told a lot of interviewers about my fashion blog. I think fashion blogging is a unique hobby, don't you? Actually, one of my interview questions was, "If you could have dinner with any living person in the world, who would it be?" I pondered for 5 seconds but then I said Anna Wintour. My interviewer, a male, I might add, actually knew who I was talking about since his wife is obsessed with Ms. Wintour! He said other applicants wanted to have dinner with either a superhero or president. He then went on to saying, and I quote, "You're a really unique applicant."
6. SHADOWING - Well, it's basically stalking a medical professional around the hospital! I explored so many different specialities and learned so much from the chief resident in general surgery I followed around! He even taught me how to perform some simple procedures!

These were really easy for me to obtain! Hands down the easiest part of my application. I already knew who I was going to ask so the hardest part was making sure they submitted their letters in a timely manner. PharmCAS allows you to add up to 4 REFERENCES however, you NEED to cross-check with the schools to see whether or not you have the right TYPE of evaluator. Sucks, right? This kind of information saved me a ton of time and money! For instance, take Loma Linda. The school pages part of PharmCAS, for Loma Linda, states that one of the required letters MUST BE from a spiritual advisor. Additionally, some schools like UoP state that you must have a letter from a licensed pharmacist.


A handy tip is to check out the PharmCAS school pages section. I created a list of the schools I applied to and noted all the deadlines and requirements! Oh, I know this should go without saying but make sure your letter writers actually know who you are. I've heard some really strange stories about desperate applicants scrambling for letters at the last minute. Don't be that person who asks a random professor to write you a generic letter. You might have aced the class with soaring colors but that doesn't mean the professor knows anything about your cool personality!


After leaving my undergraduate alma mater, I took some classes at my local community college. I actually preferred these classes to my university ones because of the smaller class size. This gave me the opportunity to chat with my professors during and after class with much more ease - no more waiting in long lines to ask questions! I took microeconomics at Coastline and only 8 people showed up to class... including myself. I participated like crazy so my professor knew my face and name. I also got a letter from my neurosurgeon turned anatomy professor and my mentor of 5 years who happens to be a heptaboilary and pancreas surgeon. Needless to say, I fulfilled my letters requirement for each school.



After turning in your application, you can breathe a slight sigh of relief. But that sigh will probably be cut short with the amount of supplemental questions you have to answer.

Oh, how applications suck the soul and life out of students. As if school and extracurriculars weren't enough, if one wishes to advance into graduate studies, another round of grueling applications awaits. That means writing a personal statement with the ability to jerk some tears out of the admissions committee or making yourself stand out with a unique voice, gathering glorious letters of recommendations from professors/mentors/employers etc., answering a gazillion questions such as "why do you want to be a student at this school" and/or "where do you see yourself in 10 years?", and possibly having to take standardized tests. Yay.

Trust me, it's not that bad.


I was fortunate to be accepted to every school I applied so I am now in the process of looking for housing near the Pharmacy School I will be attending this coming Fall. I decided that I will be detailing the most important (if not all) aspects of the application and interview process on my blog to help give insight to future applicants. When I applied, I did not receive any guidance since I did not know anyone applying to pharmacy school, let alone graduate school. I was in my own bubble but I kept myself in the loop by reading Student Doctor Network (otherwise known as SDN) religiously.

Do remember to take what you read on SDN with a grain of salt. Some information may be dated and requirements for acceptance into schools change yearly [G.P.A., prerequisite courses, required testing (PCAT)]. DO NOT let another members' comments or stats deter your decision to apply to any school. I sure didn't let anything get to me.

When PharmCAS opened in July, I decided to get ahead of the curve by filling out everything I could. I went through two categories in a jiffy: Applicant Information and Additional Information. The one category that I found the most tiresome was Academic History. Like many of you, I took a ton of classes therefore, sitting in front of my laptop, typing everything from my transcript onto this program, was beyond tedious.

I attended the University of California, Irvine during my undergraduate years and we ran on a quarter and units system. In the PharmCAS manual, there was a fancy section about converting units to credits but I disregarded that little blurb. I entered my units, as printed on my transcript, under the credits section. I did not experience any problems with PharmCAS or the schools.  Mind you, as I was pounding away at my keyboard, I still had yet to complete my personal statement... Actually, I didn't even a working draft (ERROR #1).


Though I finished all the "easy" things within two days, I stared blankly at my laptop for a couple hours before I managed to type up my personal statement. It took me about three days to have something I was content with, that fit the character requirement, but then I left it there for a week. I'm the type of person who likes looking at important things with a fresh set of eyes. If I were to continuously read and edit my essay, I would probably memorize it and skip over any grammatical errors. I waited a bit too long before I began editing my statement so you can imagine the panic that engulfed me when August came (ERROR #2).

With only 4500 characters (including spaces), I felt that it was difficult to tell my full story. But after seeking help from my mentor and a fellow colleague, I was able to develop an essay I believe was able to resonate with members of the admissions committee. I was fortunate enough to be able to draw upon past experiences though I know it may be difficult for some to come up with ideas. If you're stuck in a rut and don't know what to write, speak from the heart. If you REALLY need help, I'm pretty sure you could GOOGLE examples of personal statements but don't be tempted to plagiarize!

The broad question to answer in your own unique voice is:



A lot of my classmates used to joke about how the personal statement was a competition - it's all about the essay that proves to be the most heart-wrenching, tear-jerking, relatable, compelling story. Roll your eyes and laugh all you want but I bet there's some truth to it. Do pour your heart into your essay and tell the admissions committee how you fell upon pharmacy but don't try to weasel your way into their hearts with a fake story. Think about all the essays they've read over the years - I'm sure they can pick out the fabricated statements. Don't give them a sob story. Make your voice unique. Make a bold statement. Make yourself memorable.




      1. Start your personal statement E A R L Y !

• I would recommend brainstorming ideas in early June. This gives you ample time to write a draft and make multiple edits of your statement.

      2. Get a  S E C O N D   O P I N I O N !

• Don't be shy! I asked my research mentor of 5 years, who happens also happens to be a Hepatobiliary and Pancreas Surgeon, to read over my statement. He gave it a quick read along with some suggestions however, since he is highly demanded in clinic/OR and time is of the essence to him, I got help from his Physician's Assistant. I ended up revising my statement a few times before sending it off.