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UBC Pharmacy Applications 2020/21 - Class of 2025


sleepy_24

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Just wondering if we are supposed to receive a confirmation email after we submit the invitation survey? Im just worried that I didnt submit my response properly/don't know if it was received. 

Also congrats to everyone who got an invite so far and good luck to everyone else waiting to hear back! 

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7 minutes ago, jindobuddy said:

Just wondering if we are supposed to receive a confirmation email after we submit the invitation survey? Im just worried that I didnt submit my response properly/don't know if it was received. 

Also congrats to everyone who got an invite so far and good luck to everyone else waiting to hear back! 

Confirmation emails are sent out April 12 with further details of the interview 

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2 minutes ago, jindobuddy said:

So there's no way to confirm that they received our invitation survey before the deadline? 

Once you submitted your answer, the page should have said "We thank you for your time spent taking this survey. Your response has been recorded"

and then on April 12 they will sent out emails for further instruction to those who responded 'yes' to the interview  

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51 minutes ago, eurrrpharm said:

@Forever_Regrets Hi! Can I ask how you prepared for your interviews last year? Do you have any tips or advice that you think really worked well for you? 

uh honestly, theres really no secret to it. Its just practice. Might sound stupid, but since your interview is pre-recorded, why not practice vlogging yourself for the next month to get used to talking to a camera. 

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1 minute ago, Forever_Regrets said:

uh honestly, theres really no secret to it. Its just practice. Might sound stupid, but since your interview is pre-recorded, why not practice vlogging yourself for the next month to get used to talking to a camera. 

@Forever_Regrets Were there any personal questions like tell me about yourself etc., or were they all scenario based? Also do you have any advice regarding the written section of the interview? How we should prepare for it.

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25 minutes ago, HR6 said:

@Forever_Regrets Were there any personal questions like tell me about yourself etc., or were they all scenario based? Also do you have any advice regarding the written section of the interview? How we should prepare for it.

Sadly, I can't really comment about the interview but what I can comment on is, just get familiar with talking to a camera. And WHAT there is a WRITTEN section!?!? We never had a written section last year. 

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36 minutes ago, Forever_Regrets said:

Sadly, I can't really comment about the interview but what I can comment on is, just get familiar with talking to a camera. And WHAT there is a WRITTEN section!?!? We never had a written section last year. 

yeah theres 8 verbal response and 1 timed written response 

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Congrats to all who received an interview invite! As for preparation, I did a lot of practice answering practice mmi questions in front of a mirror under a time limit and really making sure my answers were structured well. Brush up on medical ethics and healthcare current events beforehand. 

That being said, the interview I had was completely random so I largely ended up just talking casually in response to a lot of the topics so all my prep really did was to get me to answer honestly about a random question for a few minutes. I know it sounds cliche, but the interview is meant to see if you have good verbal skills and if you can apply that to a series of completely new situations and get around them in a safe and ethical manner. It'll probably be something you've never seen before and completely random, even if you've done lots of practice.

I have a comment saved that was the best mmi advice I ever had, however it's from a student that applied many cycles ago so things may have changed.

1.     Above all else, appear like a calm and collected individual with a friendly personality. Display maturity in your responses. Adopt the "friendly neighbourhood pharmacist" persona. Pay attention to your body language and tone. Avoid being: hyper-enthusiastic, melodramatic, flat, uninteresting, pessimistic.

2.     Practice assembling a quick structure to your responses. For me, I would prepare four main elements: 1) my interpretation of the question and my stance on the issue, 2) ~2 supporting arguments, 3) a statement empathizing with the counterpoint, demonstrating my ability to appreciate both sides of the issue, and 4) make a judgment with an appropriate and intelligent-sounding concluding sentence (e.g. although many people would elect to pursue option X, I am inclined to pursue option A as it aligns more with the values of stakeholder Y).

3.     As hinted above, you will probably receive at least 1 question asking for your response to a controversial issue. Talk about both sides and show that you are able to appreciate and respect opinions that you personally disagree with. However, be decisive and confidently conclude with a judgment call.

4.     Reflect and/or write down personal hardships/achievements to draw upon for the "job-interview" style questions (e.g. "talk about the biggest challenge you faced", "where do you see yourself in 5 years"). Practice responding in an engaging and mature way.

5.     It is extremely important to get together with other applicants and practice questions with each other. Simulate real conditions as much as possible (even the acting stations). I did several rounds of practice with random people I met over forums, and it definitely contributed towards my success with the MMIs. They also became great friends in pharmacy. You don't know how good you are until you have other people assessing you.

6.     You might not get direct questions on current issues in pharmacy practice, but I would still suggest brushing up on the hot topics (e.g. medical marijuana, assisted suicide, pharmacy audits, reduced generic drug reimbursements, pharmacist prescribing, expanded scope stuff, opioid crisis, national PharmaCare). You can find this stuff on the BCPhA, CPhA, and CPBC websites. It's really powerful when you can naturally use it in your responses to empathize with the interviewer.

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8 minutes ago, lunacaptain said:

Congrats to all who received an interview invite! As for preparation, I did a lot of practice answering practice mmi questions in front of a mirror under a time limit and really making sure my answers were structured well. Brush up on medical ethics and healthcare current events beforehand. 

That being said, the interview I had was completely random so I largely ended up just talking casually in response to a lot of the topics so all my prep really did was to get me to answer honestly about a random question for a few minutes. I know it sounds cliche, but the interview is meant to see if you have good verbal skills and if you can apply that to a series of completely new situations and get around them in a safe and ethical manner. It'll probably be something you've never seen before and completely random, even if you've done lots of practice.

I have a comment saved that was the best mmi advice I ever had, however it's from a student that applied many cycles ago so things may have changed.

1.     Above all else, appear like a calm and collected individual with a friendly personality. Display maturity in your responses. Adopt the "friendly neighbourhood pharmacist" persona. Pay attention to your body language and tone. Avoid being: hyper-enthusiastic, melodramatic, flat, uninteresting, pessimistic.

2.     Practice assembling a quick structure to your responses. For me, I would prepare four main elements: 1) my interpretation of the question and my stance on the issue, 2) ~2 supporting arguments, 3) a statement empathizing with the counterpoint, demonstrating my ability to appreciate both sides of the issue, and 4) make a judgment with an appropriate and intelligent-sounding concluding sentence (e.g. although many people would elect to pursue option X, I am inclined to pursue option A as it aligns more with the values of stakeholder Y).

3.     As hinted above, you will probably receive at least 1 question asking for your response to a controversial issue. Talk about both sides and show that you are able to appreciate and respect opinions that you personally disagree with. However, be decisive and confidently conclude with a judgment call.

4.     Reflect and/or write down personal hardships/achievements to draw upon for the "job-interview" style questions (e.g. "talk about the biggest challenge you faced", "where do you see yourself in 5 years"). Practice responding in an engaging and mature way.

5.     It is extremely important to get together with other applicants and practice questions with each other. Simulate real conditions as much as possible (even the acting stations). I did several rounds of practice with random people I met over forums, and it definitely contributed towards my success with the MMIs. They also became great friends in pharmacy. You don't know how good you are until you have other people assessing you.

6.     You might not get direct questions on current issues in pharmacy practice, but I would still suggest brushing up on the hot topics (e.g. medical marijuana, assisted suicide, pharmacy audits, reduced generic drug reimbursements, pharmacist prescribing, expanded scope stuff, opioid crisis, national PharmaCare). You can find this stuff on the BCPhA, CPhA, and CPBC websites. It's really powerful when you can naturally use it in your responses to empathize with the interviewer.

Thank you so so much for this! This really helps in getting started to prepare for the interviews since I had no idea where or how to even begin. Appreciate it!

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35 minutes ago, mangobutt said:

Are we doomed if we only start preparing for the interview now... I know some people take months to prepare

lol no. I know two people who just prepped the night before and got in and one didn't even prepare. Like they told me basically everyone gets in since most people only apply for pharm as a back up plan anyways. Just don't stress too much about it!

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