Question for RPDs and Residents: After the interview

[SubstanceK]

Hey guys I have a question regarding the process after the interview. What happens? I had my last interview recently and was curious to know how RPDs and pharmacy residency programs decide on how they rank potential candidates. Do you go back and look at letter of intents and GPA and leadership or is it based solely on the interview? What is most important... how well overall everyone likes the candidate, is it left to a vote...what factors go into deciding who to pick? Is it based off of the answers in the interview or if you see that candidate fitting into your culture. Thoughts and perspectives appreciated.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Pharmacy is a Scam]

Hey guys I have a question regarding the process after the interview. What happens? I had my last interview recently and was curious to know how RPDs and pharmacy residency programs decide on how they rank potential candidates. Do you go back and look at letter of intents and GPA and leadership or is it based solely on the interview? What is most important... how well overall everyone likes the candidate, is it left to a vote...what factors go into deciding who to pick? Is it based off of the answers in the interview or if you see that candidate fitting into your culture. Thoughts and perspectives appreciated.

The answer is yes. It’s a lot more subjective than you think.

 

[SubstanceK]

The answer is yes. It’s a lot more subjective than you think.

Can you elaborate? Subjective as in...

 

[Pharmacy is a Scam]

Can you elaborate? Subjective as in...

As in there’s no point in trying to figure it out because different programs have different criteria. Rank programs based on your preferences. There is no gamesmanship when it comes to whether how programs rank you affect your “chances” based on how you rank them.

 

[njac]

Your “points” that got you the interview will factor in - someone who barely got an interview will really have to wow us, while someone who looked phenomenal on paper just has to not annoy people.

But so much of it is “how did you vibe with us” because I have to spend so many hours with this person over the next year.

 

[KidPharmD]

Your application may still be considered, but no where near as much as your interview. For us it is usually just a tiebreaker of sorts. ASHP requires us to have and use a predetermined criteria for ranking candidates. We have an eval sheet that helps create an "interview score." Yes, the eval is pretty subjective, and yes we can make modifications to the rank that this score creates.

 

[RxEvileye]

All of the above. Consider that GPA and letters of recommendation are (possibly poor) surrogates for how you perform clinically. If there is a clinical portion of the interview it may have more weight if you do not show a good thought process. Same goes with other elements of the written application. Just like with other interviews, people who stand out negatively are "weeded out" in a sense because the written materials may not have "caught" that they end up coming across cocky, overly casual, unprepared with questions or for presentation portions, etc.