Part of the state’s flagship university, the University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy (OU Pharmacy) provides a comprehensive learning environment with unique opportunities.
“Being part of an academic health sciences center we have a lot of different opportunities for students to take advantage of,” shared Jennifer L. Richardson, Director of Recruitment & Admissions. “From ambulatory care to operating the only poison control center in Oklahoma, we give our students a plethora of options for hands-on learning experiences.”
“We’re the only school in the US that has a fully operational nuclear pharmacy,” she continued. “All these opportunities help expose students to all the different career paths that they’ll have at their fingertips.”
Like many American pharmacy programs, OU Pharmacy uses PharmCAS to collect applications. In 2020, they integrated Kira Talent into their PharmCAS application to help identify applicants who are not only academically qualified but also demonstrate the resilience and dedication necessary to thrive and take full advantage of the opportunities within their program.
Boosting enrollment with a more engaging admissions process
"Every applicant has the opportunity to complete the online writing assessment in Kira as part of their PharmCAS application,” Richardson explained.
The timed-writing assessment delivered through Kira’s Asynchronous Assessment reflects OU Pharmacy’s previous application process but has allowed them to streamline and enhance the experience for both their reviewers and applicants. After the initial file review, successful applicants are invited to a Live Interview.
“Anytime we look to incorporate new technology into our admission process, we think about the applicant experience first,” Richardson shared. “If this is going to be one of their first interactions with our school, we want to make sure we’re putting our best foot forward. We consider what the applicant's experience is going to look like, how easy it will be to use, what happens if they run into technical issues, and so on."
“Since we started using Kira Talent, both for online writing assessment and for our live interviewing, the feedback from applicants has been so over the top positive.”
“Efficiency and effectiveness are our top priorities,” she continued. “The sooner you can get a decision out to applicants, the more opportunities you have to let them feel like a part of your community so they want to matriculate the following August,” explained Richardson.
"We are looking at a 25% increase in enrolled students this year, and Kira Talent is definitely a contributing factor to that."
Learn how Kira helped UNC Pharmacy achieve an interview-to-offer turnaround time of one week.
Seeing the full scope of every applicant
“There's a common misconception in admissions that if you have a final interview you already have a holistic admissions process,” Richardson shared. “But some programs use GPA or test score cutoffs to decide which applicants receive an invitation to interview, which means they may still be excluding students based on test scores.”
“What I learned over my 18 plus years working in education is that there are a lot of students who have amazing backgrounds who will be wonderful practitioners but just had a lot of other obstacles or challenges that they had to overcome,” she continued. “They might not have an impressive GPA but they show resilience, persistence, and impressive time management skills. It's those intangible factors that make them a strong student.”
“I started working on a way to change the hearts and minds of faculty who were used to test scores,” Richardson shared, “by finding new ways to measure things like resilience or persistence.”
“When I found Kira I realized that this was exactly the missing piece we were looking for in our process.”
“This is such a high-stakes process. It's so important to the applicants because this is their dream and you don't want them to have a negative experience going through it,” Richardson explained.
Creating a partnership of innovation
"One of my favourite things about using Kira for our final interviews is how responsive the support is throughout the process, not only for our admissions team but for our applicants and reviewers,” Richardson shared. “An applicant simply has to open up the chat box, explain what issue they’re facing, and someone from Kira is responding immediately to help them solve it."
"I've worked with several companies and admissions solutions over the years and Kira is hands down the best experience I’ve ever encountered.”
“I’m continuously impressed with the flexibility and adaptability that the platform offers,” Richardson explained.
“Kira can adapt to fit any school’s admissions process, and not just make it work, but make the process even more efficient and more effective.”
“It's so unique to have a team of people willing to match your ideas and flesh them out with you,” she continued. “It's a true partnership."
