Interviewing at a pharmacy school where I was waitlisted last year

Question: I got invite for an interview with this one school (I had an interview with them last year) except this time it's about a month earlier. I was on their waitlist last year. This is my 2nd time interview at this school.

just want to know what should I expect on the 2nd time?

also, during my interview should I mention about last time I had an interview here? or what should I do to get accepted the 2nd time?

so nervous because this might be my ONLY interview for this year.

Answer:  Great question. First of all, I commend you for reapplying to the same school even though you were not accepted last year. I think applicants sometimes give up their dreams too quickly instead of persevering.

Next, I should preface my advice to you with some general guidance: I would advise all applicants who are rejected or waitlisted to contact the school and ask how to improve your application. We get this phone call occasionally, but not nearly enough in my opinion. In many cases, we really do have a solution for how the applicant can improve. It might be as simple as improving your PCAT chem score, gaining some pharmacy experience, rewriting your personal statement to better indicate why you want to become a pharmacist, or improving one's interviewing skills.

To answer your question, I think you should expect the interview to be pretty similar to what you experienced last year. In that regard, you should be relaxed relative to your peers who might not know what to expect.

My advice to you would be (and this would impress me tremendously): Let the interviewer know that you had the opportunity to interview last year and were waitlisted, but you had such a desire to attend this particular school that you worked diligently to improve your application. At this point, add in anything you did which might impress an interviewer: Did you get a pharmacy job or shadow an RP? Did you take additional courses or retake the PCAT if that was an issue? Basically, tell them why you are a better candidate now than you were at this time last year.

I might add, hopefully without sounding too parental, that if an applicant has done nothing to improve their application from one year to the next, that they should not expect a different result than was achieved the first time.

Good luck. I hope that you will let us know how the interview goes.