Tell us a bit about yourself.
As your interviewers speak with a large pool of candidates hoping to match into their Pharmacy Residency program, they'll look to get to know you a bit better to gauge your fit with the staff at the training site. This questions puts the onus on you to give another sales pitch about yourself.
"I'm a fourth-year student at (university name). While in school, I was vice president of (university's APhA chapter), served as a student ambassador, and worked at CVS. The most impactful experience I had though was an ambulatory care rotation at St. Joseph's Hospital. This experience solidified my desire to become a certified ambulatory care pharmacist and apply solely for AmCare residencies. I believe your program here at (hospital name) will provide me with excellent training to eventually become board-certified and precept future pharmacy students."
The best way to answer this question is with the present/past/future formula. Discuss where you are now, how you got there, and how this residency will help you get there. Things such as fluency in another language can always be mentioned here too, but this is is not a time to discuss personal topics like hobbies, marital status, religion, etc.
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
I am a final year student at FDU & Health Sciences. I am originally from New Jersey. I am currently completing an APPE at NJ Poison Control in University Hospital. My interest in pharmacy really began from my work experience as a CVS intern and a chemist at a specialty pharmacy and I had an opportunity to work side by side with a pharmacist and watch the way in which they bonded and built relationships with patients and also how they are able to advocate for patients. That was really something that was profound I found myself very interested in and thought I would do a great job at this for my people skills but also my commitment for wanting to help people just made it a fit for me. As a pharmacy student, I was involved in research projects that focused on the quality initiative in a hospital and a patient case presentation on acute valproic acid overdose and my degree in biochemistry really made research something that was easy, it is something I am interested in and something I am skilled for. Some research projects I have completed have been published including patient cases present on acute valproic acid. I am passionate about my professional development and passionate about patient care. I think health care is changing in our country and it's taking highly qualified individuals that are elevating health care and the quality of care that the patients can expect from us. This really brought me to the realization that I needed further training. And this is part of the reason I am seeking residency training.
Amanda's Feedback
This question is often meant to help the interviewer get to know you and start to discover why you're the best candidate for the role when it comes to experience and skills. You've organized your thoughts well, which can be hard to do when it's a very open-ended question like this. I like the way you've organized your response by sharing what drew you to pharmacy and what you enjoy about it and then pivoting to talk briefly about what you'd like to do next and why you're interested in this particular role.
