A couple of minutes before 2:30 pm, I went inside the waiting room and sat down on one of the chairs. Only two out of the 9 group members waited inside. The rest waited outside, which was, apparently, the wrong thing to do. A student came out and called a name. The person, of course, was not inside. I told her that she must probably be waiting outside, so I would go out to call her. She looked irritated at me. I mean, is it my fault that the other applicants were waiting outside? I was even nice enough to call the rest of the group. Why would she be irritated?
Anyway, so the 7 people from our group finally came in and were called one by one by students. I was the fourth one to be called by a guy, who I assume was a student. He introduced himself as "Marcin, a faculty at UCSF." And I thought, "Wow! What humility!" He didn't refer to himself as "Dr. Marcin." And, he was the one who came to the waiting room to call me. He could have sent the student out, but he didn't.
The room where UCSF held the interviews was unsurprisingly tense. It was quiet. It was solemn. It had an air of arrogance all around the place. I suppose it was to be expected as UCSF boasts of being the #1 Pharmacy School, not only in the US, but all over the world. Though I tried to relax, I couldn't. I tensed up as soon as I sat down.
I am not going to bore you with so much details about the interview. I don't remember much of it anyway. I tried to forget about the interview as soon as it was over, because I figured that no matter how many times I think about it and beat myself up for teeny tiny mistakes I made or for making a fool of myself, I cannot do anything anymore. I just have to sit tight and pray for God's goodness and mercy.
What I do remember from the interview was that because I was so tense, I made it harder for myself than it needed to be. As I mentioned above, UCSF boasts of being the #1 school worldwide and because of that there was an air of superiority surrounding the place, so naturally, I felt I needed to do more than expected, rather than be myself. And that made the interview harder.
I was able to answer the questions they asked, all of them. I'm just not sure if I made sense. I know that I sounded really nervous. And I know that they sensed that. The faculty member was very cordial. He was smiling the whole time. He was trying to tell me to relax, that they were not going to bite. The student was more serious. She really came with a purpose. And she seldomly smiled. They would write down every once in a while. The interview was not free-flowing. They do not react to the things I said. They would just go down the list of questions they already prepared. It wasn't conversational. It was really a proper interview.
Some of the questions they asked me were:
1) Why Pharmacy? (standard question)
2) Why UCSF?
3) What can you bring to UCSF and what can you expect to get from UCSF?
4) What are the strengths and weaknesses of the field of pharmacy?
5) What would you do if the patient is of a different culture, takes only herbal medicine, and does not want to tinker with Western medicine? - this question was funny in the way I answered it. I went about it in a roundabout way, and it was the faculty, Dr. Marcin, who summarized my thoughts for me. Hehe. He understood what I was trying to say. He just said it better.
They also gave me situational questions. I got three of them to be exact.
1) Suppose you are already a pharmacist and the doctor prescribed the wrong medication to a patient who's now at the pharmacy you work at asking you to fill up the prescription. What are you going to do?
2) You're the pharmacist and a patient comes up to you complaining that the pharmacist who was on duty the day before filled up the wrong prescription. What are you going to do?
3) What would you do if you don't like the particular medicine that was prescribed? There's nothing wrong with it. It's the right medication for the patient and the right dosage.
I was done in about 30 minutes. It's only supposed to go for 35 minutes so they can write their comments afterwards before they forget what their impressions of me were.
I thought that a short interview is indicative of a poor one. So, when I went out and didn't see anyone from my group, I asked the cute guide (he was really cute!),"am I the first one out?" He said that I was fourth. And I suppose that's not too bad. I was the fourth one called in. And I was the fourth one out. And that was that!
Anyway, so the 7 people from our group finally came in and were called one by one by students. I was the fourth one to be called by a guy, who I assume was a student. He introduced himself as "Marcin, a faculty at UCSF." And I thought, "Wow! What humility!" He didn't refer to himself as "Dr. Marcin." And, he was the one who came to the waiting room to call me. He could have sent the student out, but he didn't.
The room where UCSF held the interviews was unsurprisingly tense. It was quiet. It was solemn. It had an air of arrogance all around the place. I suppose it was to be expected as UCSF boasts of being the #1 Pharmacy School, not only in the US, but all over the world. Though I tried to relax, I couldn't. I tensed up as soon as I sat down.
I am not going to bore you with so much details about the interview. I don't remember much of it anyway. I tried to forget about the interview as soon as it was over, because I figured that no matter how many times I think about it and beat myself up for teeny tiny mistakes I made or for making a fool of myself, I cannot do anything anymore. I just have to sit tight and pray for God's goodness and mercy.
What I do remember from the interview was that because I was so tense, I made it harder for myself than it needed to be. As I mentioned above, UCSF boasts of being the #1 school worldwide and because of that there was an air of superiority surrounding the place, so naturally, I felt I needed to do more than expected, rather than be myself. And that made the interview harder.
I was able to answer the questions they asked, all of them. I'm just not sure if I made sense. I know that I sounded really nervous. And I know that they sensed that. The faculty member was very cordial. He was smiling the whole time. He was trying to tell me to relax, that they were not going to bite. The student was more serious. She really came with a purpose. And she seldomly smiled. They would write down every once in a while. The interview was not free-flowing. They do not react to the things I said. They would just go down the list of questions they already prepared. It wasn't conversational. It was really a proper interview.
Some of the questions they asked me were:
1) Why Pharmacy? (standard question)
2) Why UCSF?
3) What can you bring to UCSF and what can you expect to get from UCSF?
4) What are the strengths and weaknesses of the field of pharmacy?
5) What would you do if the patient is of a different culture, takes only herbal medicine, and does not want to tinker with Western medicine? - this question was funny in the way I answered it. I went about it in a roundabout way, and it was the faculty, Dr. Marcin, who summarized my thoughts for me. Hehe. He understood what I was trying to say. He just said it better.
They also gave me situational questions. I got three of them to be exact.
1) Suppose you are already a pharmacist and the doctor prescribed the wrong medication to a patient who's now at the pharmacy you work at asking you to fill up the prescription. What are you going to do?
2) You're the pharmacist and a patient comes up to you complaining that the pharmacist who was on duty the day before filled up the wrong prescription. What are you going to do?
3) What would you do if you don't like the particular medicine that was prescribed? There's nothing wrong with it. It's the right medication for the patient and the right dosage.
I was done in about 30 minutes. It's only supposed to go for 35 minutes so they can write their comments afterwards before they forget what their impressions of me were.
I thought that a short interview is indicative of a poor one. So, when I went out and didn't see anyone from my group, I asked the cute guide (he was really cute!),"am I the first one out?" He said that I was fourth. And I suppose that's not too bad. I was the fourth one called in. And I was the fourth one out. And that was that!
3 comments:
ano ba yun, parang beauty pageant ang mga tanong ha. why pharmacy? i want to promote world health (instead of world peace, hehe!). =P
they really mean business lang ah, Q&A type of interview ba? scary! i think the last time i had that kind of interview was nung job interview ko sa SPI with the Technical Director. very formal. direct to the point. pag di ko alam sagot, sinasabi ko agad, kesa magmarunong ako, di ba? that was my last interview to get the job, at sows, nung pauwi na ko, i called up my friend (liezl), and cried!!! while driving! *lol* kasi alam ko na talagang wala akong nasagot na matino! 30 minutes after leaving the SPI office, i got a job offer. i stayed on the job for 3.5 years. hehehe!
so in my opinion, wala sa interview yon. they still look at credentials on paper, and personality na lang yung tinitignan sa interviews.
i have huuuge faith that you made it binut! pero ipagdadasal pa rin kita. ;-)
teka, talaga bang tapos na? can't recall the details na ba? hehehe!
last na, what if the patient only takes herbal medicine? then kick him out of the hospital! hehehe! =P
i'm never gonna be a doc or nurse or pharmacist. hehe!
haha. how I wish I told you this before I had an interview, so I could've answered, "I want to promote world health." =D
Yup. Masyado silang seryoso. And di siya conversational. As in! Kainis nga eh.
Pero thanks for sharing your interview experience with SPI. Nabuhayan ako ng loob. =)
Haha. Yup. Tapos na. I don't want to recall everything anymore.
Buti na lang nasa line of programming ka at wala ka sa hospital. =P
God wants to save so many people kaya di nya ko dinala sa MedTech at supposedly, sa med school. hehehe!
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