Residency Interview Structure

The following list describes some of the features of pharmacy residency interviews of which pharmacy residency candidates should be aware.

• Half of all programs ask clinical questions.  They might ask about practice guidelines or drugs of choice, for example.  Five to fifteen percent of programs might ask for a case presentation or preparation of a SOAP note.
• A little less than a third of programs ask the candidate to prepare a short (15 - 30 min.) presentation necessitating the use of slides.
• Most programs involve their current residents in the interview process, including the selection of candidates.
• About half of programs have an interview that is a half-day (5 hours or less) in length.
• Three quarters of programs provide breakfast, lunch, or both.
• Few programs (< 20%) provide any travel accommodations for out-of-state applicants.
• Candidates do not interview with more than one candidate in the room.  Each candidate will usually have multiple one-on-one or small group interviews with each lasting a half-hour to an hour.
• Each candiate might interact with as many as 10 preceptors or staff members throughout the day.

Adapted from Mancuso CE, Paloucek FP. Understanding and preparing for pharmacy practice residency interviews. Am J Health-Syst Pharm. 2004;61:1686-9 and Mersfelder TL, Bickel RJ. Structure of postgraduate year 1 pharmacy residency interviews. 2009 Jun 15;66:1075-6.