How did you prepare for the interview process?

I researched the field of healthcare, where it's been and where it's going. I volunteered at a pharmacy. A lot of preparation was research into where healthcare was headed at the time [1996]. HMOs were getting going which was a big shift in healthcare. Prior to that people were paying by pay per visit. Instead the new trend was toward HMO's, so I found out what HMO was about. People rely on the web too much for research; it's easy to be directed in your opinion. I recommend going to a library and looking up medical journals. UCSF has an excellent public library with over 300 medical journals dating back to the sixties, a better resource than Google.

What are the internships like?

An intern is still being supervised. As a pharmacist no one else is responsible for you. Since interns usually lack clinical knowledge, the pharmacist still has to supervise you to make sure you are on the right track. Learning is never done.

What was most surprising discovery about the pharmacy profession?

You don't need a chemistry background, but you need to be competent in the hard sciences. It was pretty easy because I was chemistry major, but I hadn't done any biology so that was new. You can be nutrition major, music major- what goes beyond the classroom is the clinical background. Having a science major is more of a background. Science is important but differences between the sciences are not that great. It might be hard if you don't have the science background though.

Do you have any advice for the pre-pharmacy student?

Take some time off, go live, see the world. Find out first what your passions are. If you come back and still fell pharmacy is the right choice then you will know for sure. Maturity comes with those experiences. Responsibility, personal interactions with patients is what matters. Don't rush into the profession too. Over half of the people I went to school with didn't go straight into pharmacy school. Knowing what you want helps you in the long run. Try to get perspective. Traveling is great if its possible for you, live on your own if you can. There just isn't any one blueprint for each person.

How is the memorization load in pharmacy school?

There is very little pure memorization, you can deduce things but you do have to memorize things in order to apply it. Academically it's a lot to learn. 3 rd year is most of the clinical stuff, lots of learning, and can be overwhelming. 4 th year there is no class work, no tests. Instead there are clinical runs. You must think drugs are interesting because that's all you learn in four years.