Online interviews for the selection of applicants for admission into an entry to practice program in pharmacy: Relationship to performance and student perspectives

Admissions processes for entry-to-practice pharmacy programs across North America vary in the types of information used to decide which students to admit. The use of online interviews emerged at our program as an option to assess basic communication skills and personal traits to supplement traditional achievement measures such as prerequisite course grade point average (GPA) and admissions letters.

Student cumulative grade, year-by-year grade, and some grades from selected classes were correlated with the interview score for three years of consecutive cohorts. Linear regression was used to explore relationships. A survey was completed by students to understand their views on the use of the online interview process.

There was no relationship seen between the compiled GPA and the interview score. The survey data revealed a strong preference for online compared to face-to-face interviews, with high student agreement that the interviews provide a good opportunity to demonstrate general communication skills. An assessment of the strength of the relationships of interview scores with a set of program GPA outcomes showed limited predictive utility. Scores weakly correlated with performance in communications and skills courses.

Online interviews were preferred over in-person interviews by most students. The lack of strong significant correlations between interview scores and grades suggests that use be judiciously applied in the overall admissions decision-making process.