Interviews are one of the most important things considered by the admission committee when applying to Pharmacy School. It is imperative that you practice by doing mock interviews before the big day. Here are 50+ potential Pharmacy School Interview Questions (keep in mind some of these questions may not apply to you specifically based on your experience):

Pharmacy School Interview Questions

  1. Why Pharmacy? Why do you want to be a Pharmacist?
  2. Describe a situation where you were assigned to be the leader (does not have to be school-related).
  3. If you could take 3 historical figures out to dinner, who would you pick and why?
  4. Do you think robots will ultimately take over the role of pharmacists? Why?
  5. Why pharmacy? Why not nursing? What not medicine? How do you know for sure that pharmacy is what you want to do?
  6. How do you handle stressful situations? Give an example and how you solved it.
  7. Name a few qualifications that you think pharmacists ought to be/have and why.
  8. If you caught your friend cheating what would you do?
  9. If you could be a drug what would it be? Why?
  10. What’s your biggest accomplishment?
  11. Tell us about a drug that you have learned about (I had mentioned that I had learned about a ton of new drugs during my experience in the pharmacy).
  12. What do I think are downfalls of pharmacy are.
  13. Tell us about a conflict that you’ve experienced in the pharmacy.
  14. What would you bring to this school if you were accepted/and your greatest accomplishment.
  15. What is the best criticism anyone has ever given you?
  16. If you were an orientation leader for the school of pharmacy, how would you describe the pharmacy profession?
  17. In your experience with pharmacists, what would you say is the biggest challenge that pharmacists face?
  18. How do you view direct-to-consumer advertising from the perspective of the health care provider and from the public? What do you think the purpose of the direct-to-consumer advertising is?
  19. What would you do if the pharmacist manager wanted you to stop spending time counseling patients and wanted you to focus more on dispensing medication?
  20. If you were the manager of the pharmacy, what would you do to generate more money for the pharmacy?
  21. If you were a patient, how would you feel if the pharmacist refused to fill your prescription because it is against their beliefs?
  22. Once you graduate as a pharmacist, how do you think you could improve the health care system?
  23. What would you do if you were working in a pharmacy that did not follow regulations and skipped steps during their patient care?
  24. What is the thing that you want us to remember about you the most?
  25. Why are you interested in clinical pharmacy? What is clinical pharmacy?
  26. How would you contribute to our student body?
  27. What would you do if you gave out the wrong prescription?
  28. What is the significance that Merck get so much public attention for its law suits with Vioxx?
  29. Schools may ask about any controversial or current topics in pharmacy.
  30. How would you react if you have a ‘bad’ grade in one of our pharmacy class?
  31. What would you like to most improve as a person?
  32. How would you make retail pharmacy a bit more like the clinical pharmacy setting.
  33. What are the pros and cons of pharmacy?
  34. What are some challenges that the field of pharmacy is facing today?
  35. Expand on a current health issue facing pharmacists.
  36. How do you deal with stress?
  37. What defines a leader?
  38. How is a Pharmacist a leader?
  39. How would you handle a conflict between two co-workers?
  40. Why are you interested in this school?
  41. What pharmacy school is your top choice and why?
  42. Why should we pick you?
  43. Would you ever deny giving medication to a patient?
  44. What should a Patient ask a Pharmacist?
  45. What should a Pharmacist ask a Patient when dispensing a new medication/therapy?
  46. How can pharmacist start doing a better job at educating patients?
  47. Do I think it is right to not fill prescriptions? If there was a drug I’d know that was toxic to a patient, how would I handle the situation and what if the doctor strongly disagreed with me then what you I as a pharmacist do?
  48. As an immigrant, do I plan to every work in immigrant community? With so many immigrant groups, how is it possible for pharmacists to make people more comfortable?
  49. Who [and why] should bear the cost of transferring primary care responsibilities to pharmacies.
  50. How does a clinical/hospital pharmacist justify their employment and value to the institution?
  51. Tell me about your research experience.
  52. Tell me about your pharmacy experience.
  53. If a customer who was blatantly obese came to you and you know that it would be detrimental to their health if they don’t lose weight, but they refuse to admit that their weight is a problem, what would you do?
  54. What would you do if a patient comes in to get an inhaler to help them breath but then asks for a pack of cigarettes?
  55. What are some of the positive and negative experiences that you had as an undergrad that shaped who you are?
  56. How would you go about helping a patient who couldn’t speak English as a pharmacist?
  57. Did you every fail? How did you handle it?
  58. What do you do for fun?
  59. What books have you read recently?
  60. What did you learn from your volunteer experience?
  61. What are 3 strengths that describe you and why?
  62. What are 3 weaknesses that describe you and why?
  63. Tell me about yourself.
  64. There is a pandemic and there is only 1 vaccine left for a new born or a geriatric patient. Who deserves the vaccine and why?
  65. What is your stance on the HPV vaccine controversy?
  66. If a doctor or provider writes for a dangerous dose of a medication or there is a serious drug interaction that will harm the patient, what would you do as the pharmacist? What if the provider insists they are right and you know this can harm the patient, what would you do?
  67. How would you deal with a difficult patient?
  68. A patient of yours comes into the pharmacy and refills their medication that hasn’t changed for over 10 years and you realize today that the insurance company has only paid a small percentage of the cost, resulting in a net loss on the prescription. Do you fill the prescription and take the loss? What would you do?
  69. Do vaccines cause autism?
  70. Is there any medication you know anything about? Explain to us what you know about this medication.

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I hope the recommendations above will help guide, motivate, and inspire you to achieve your goals. Follow my blog for more tips and advice on how to become a pharmacist. What interview questions were you asked? Please comment below and share your thoughts.