Messed up my pharmacy interview.

Hey guys....I honestly feel like crying atm. Just came off from an over the phone pharmacy interview for the university of Reading. I could basically answer everything he asked me, why pharmacy, why reading, why etc etc, then he asked me a chemistry question, not a mathematical one, which was what would happen if u react a carboxylic acid with an alcohol. After stammering a lot," I said i had no clue whatsoever", I was so nervous and just panicked, and what really poured salt on my open wound was that he said, " You couldve tried", that was when I felt like crying honestly. It is my fault cus i knew from that he wanted to see how I would approach the question, not necessarily having to get the correct answer. I couldve tried.....but I didnt. I tried to make up for it by asking a lot of questions near the end.

I dunno guys, it really does feel like a rejection for me and reading is my 1st choice.

Reply 1

Runescapian

13

I'm the type of person who believes everything happens for a reason. Last year I was in the same place as you, though applying for a Primary Education degree. I didn't go to two of my interviews cause the unis were too far for me to travel to and the other three did not go well. I got rejected from all three, by the third one I'd just give up. I sat there in the interview and answered "I don't know" to most of the questions, simply because my mind had just gone blank from being rejected from my previous interviews.

I googled what to do and one site said you can unofficially challenge the unis decision. By which they mean you can email to say you've been rejected and you want to know why and ask if you can be reconsidered for the course and if not is there another course you may be reconsidered for. From doing this two of my unis which rejected me both offered me alternative courses (I didn't email the third cause I didn't want to go there anyway). The uni I really wanted to go to offered me Early Childhood Studies. I was on that course for three days and then dropped it because 0-5 children are not for me and basically ended up not liking the uni. The other uni offered me Childhood and Family Studies with Sociology.

And now, one year on, I am so glad I got rejected from my primary ed interview. I got rejected because I obviously didn't want to be a teacher, but did want to work with children. And now I'm looking at being an occupational therapist and the sociology part of my degree means I'm doing a social science so later I can take a masters in occupational therapy. If I'd have done primary education that wouldn't have been possible.

I think, judging from what I've read, you do want to be a pharmacist so this is obviously completely different circumstances. I just said that story so you'd know you're not the only one who has been rejected from a course or uni they loved. There's loads of us.

But take my advice. First, don't worry about it. You may have gotten in anyway so there's no use in worrying until you know for certain. Two, email and challenge the uni and see if they offer you an alternative course which you could use to reach the same career. There's millions of ways to get into various careers. Thirdly, maybe that uni wasn't for you. Like I said I truly believe everything happens for a reason and maybe you wouldn't have ended up liking the university.

Reply 2

ThePhoenixLament

18

Hey don't worry so much! It was one question and I couldn't do the chemistry question in my interview last year. And I said all community pharmacists do all day is wait around for someone to walk in so... yeah...
They know you're stressed and can make mistakes. If you have the grades to back up that you knew that really, you should be fine.
Oh, and I got an offer from them last year I should probably add there- I'm not just telling you a horror story with a bad ending!

Reply 3

scaphrax

OP

12

Original post by ThePhoenixLament

Hey don't worry so much! It was one question and I couldn't do the chemistry question in my interview last year. And I said all community pharmacists do all day is wait around for someone to walk in so... yeah...
They know you're stressed and can make mistakes. If you have the grades to back up that you knew that really, you should be fine.
Oh, and I got an offer from them last year I should probably add there- I'm not just telling you a horror story with a bad ending!

I actually gotten accepted from them just this morning XD Im so shocked and happy at the same time!

Can you tell me what pharmacy at Reading really is like. I am kinda aware that im gonna be having much more lectures compared to most uni courses. Are the academic staff actually good at teaching? I want to go because the campus is really nice and the student satisfaction is really high.

Reply 4

Juno

20

Original post by scaphrax

Hey guys....I honestly feel like crying atm. Just came off from an over the phone pharmacy interview for the university of Reading. I could basically answer everything he asked me, why pharmacy, why reading, why etc etc, then he asked me a chemistry question, not a mathematical one, which was what would happen if u react a carboxylic acid with an alcohol. After stammering a lot," I said i had no clue whatsoever", I was so nervous and just panicked, and what really poured salt on my open wound was that he said, " You couldve tried", that was when I felt like crying honestly. It is my fault cus i knew from that he wanted to see how I would approach the question, not necessarily having to get the correct answer. I couldve tried.....but I didnt. I tried to make up for it by asking a lot of questions near the end.

I dunno guys, it really does feel like a rejection for me and reading is my 1st choice.

Even if you don't get an offer, you've now learnt from this experience. You now know what to do next time you're in an interview - and interview experience will help with career progression long after you've forgotten this rejection.

Reply 5

User947387

17

Original post by scaphrax

Hey guys....I honestly feel like crying atm. Just came off from an over the phone pharmacy interview for the university of Reading. I could basically answer everything he asked me, why pharmacy, why reading, why etc etc, then he asked me a chemistry question, not a mathematical one, which was what would happen if u react a carboxylic acid with an alcohol. After stammering a lot," I said i had no clue whatsoever", I was so nervous and just panicked, and what really poured salt on my open wound was that he said, " You couldve tried", that was when I felt like crying honestly. It is my fault cus i knew from that he wanted to see how I would approach the question, not necessarily having to get the correct answer. I couldve tried.....but I didnt. I tried to make up for it by asking a lot of questions near the end.

I dunno guys, it really does feel like a rejection for me and reading is my 1st choice.

Forms an ester.

Look, he will look at your interview as a whole, not just a single "blip".

If it were me? I'd be inclined to think:

"Ok, so, this person has some very solid and promising grades, (oh they are very proficient in chemistry), and yet they couldn't answer a really basic chem question? Oh dear, they must have had a brain blank out of sheer nerves."

Reply 6

ThePhoenixLament

18

Original post by scaphrax

I actually gotten accepted from them just this morning XD Im so shocked and happy at the same time!

Can you tell me what pharmacy at Reading really is like. I am kinda aware that im gonna be having much more lectures compared to most uni courses. Are the academic staff actually good at teaching? I want to go because the campus is really nice and the student satisfaction is really high.

Oh well done!!!!!!! :h:

I'm sorry for any confusion- I got an offer from them but I'm currently studying at Cardiff! I just felt the place wasn't for me. So sorry I can't answer your questions! :s-smilie:

Reply 7

Farws

1

I had an interview today in Hertfordshire. It went really bad I got stuck in one question and I think I did messed up another question as well. What do you think I might still offer a place or not .

Reply 8

Farws

1

The question was regarding maths . I did work out that question after my interview but I was very nervous at that time my mind went blank.

Reply 9

Farws

1

Can anybody please reply me??im very disheartened.

Reply 10

_mangosmoothie_

12

Original post by Farws

Can anybody please reply me??im very disheartened.

hey there, ur interviewer knows ur working under timed pressure. ONE question isn't very likely to have skewed the outcome of ur ENTIRE interview. I fumbled some questions during my pharmacy interview too, but I still got an offer. There are so many aspects of the interview ur interviewer is paying attention to, such as ur values and ur verbal/situational judgement questions. They're not going to reject you on the basis of how you did on the maths question, because the fact that they picked you for interview means they though ur grades are good enough. They interview you because they want to get to know you as a person, dont stress too much, you'll be fine!