Internship Advice Anyone?

[psychgeek]

Hi all,

I am having a hard time deciding upon the order in which I wish to rank my two top choices for the upcoming internship match, and I thought I’d try to get some other opinions. One of the options is a well-regarded program that has a dual focus on research and clinical work. The supervision is really good, it’s relatively prestigious, and it guarantees admission into its post-doc program. Unfortunately, the clinical work is not as good as the other site I am considering, and much of what I will be doing mirrors that which I have already experienced on externship. The other site is a VA hospital with a really good psychiatry dept. The clinical work is varied and would be quite different than the work I have already done, but it is not as prestigious and there is no post-doc offered.

Here are my questions. Given that I am most interested in clinical work, which program do people think would be the better choice? Is a prestigious name more important than varied clinical experience when applying for jobs or is the opposite true? How important is a formal post-doc when looking for work after graduation?

Any advice you could give would be appreciated. I will make the final decision tonight.

Thanks

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[SaraL124]

If you plan to stay in the area where the VA hospital is, then I would go for that. You can't deny the good clinical experience you will receive there, and if you plan to go into a clinical-only or mostly job that will be important. Also, people who are in the relative area of the hospital will probably recognize it's great clinical opportunities and training because they might have hired others from there, or know about it just by proximity.

If you want the research aspect, go for the research/clinical position. If you plan to work in a research-oriented job after you finish, you will most likely have to do a post-doc and this will guarantee you an in.

It depends on where you see yourself after, mostly, I think.

 

[psychgeek]

Thanks for the advice; I decided to rank the clinical/research program first. Now I just have to hope that one of them ranks me.