2012 APPIC Internship Application Thread

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I feel like its quieter than it should be today... still waiting to hear from a site that notified on Monday before the deadline last year... then I will be done. If I get an interview, that will be two interviews! If not, only one interview... my one interview offer came first. After 6 rejections, its really hard to keep the faith that my last notification could be an interview.

I hear you - it's been a week since I've heard anything and I still have 9 sites I haven't heard from yet. I keep thinking there's something wrong with my email!
 
I had one site with a Jan 2nd notification date but they've already offered me an interview so I guess they're ahead of their own timeline. Their materials were due late too....Dec. 1st...and I got mine in the first week of Nov. so that may be part of the reason I have already heard from them.


Are you talking about the Youth Opportunity Center? I was so confused, because their notification date is Jan 2 in the APPIC directory and Dec 15 in their brochure. Just curious (if you are talking about YOC), when are their interview dates?
 
Hard questions I had so far:

1. tell me an anecdote or a little story that shows who you are.
2. What don't you like about our program
3. What makes you a better candidate than others.
4. What made you want to be a psychologist and how do you apply that to your work.
5. How do you work with clients
6. Tell me about a supervision relationship that did not go well.
7. your worst clinical moment.
8. I was given a vignette and a "clinical dilemma" several times. One was about someone with suicidal ideations and what I might do, being alone in the outpatient clinic - which was hard cause I don't know what the clinic policy is and I had a hard time dealing with that question.
9. I was asked to "pitch a case" as if I had a few intakes and I want to take on an individual outpatient case and I want the clinic director to approve it.

More normal questions were:
Tell me about a case you enjoyed, what drew you to our site, what was challenging about inpatient work, what did you like about it, what are you looking for in supervision...

Hope this helps!


Is anyone comfortable sharing questions that they believe caught them particularly off guard? I have only had one interview so far, but nothing was particularly unusual.

I was already warned that it might happen, but I think the quesiton that was most difficult for me to answer was "I haven't had a chance to look at any of your materials, tell me about yourself?" It's just so hard to know where to begin. I went with my most recent professional experiences.

Anyone else have a question that stumped them they they are comfortable sharing?
 
Has anyone heard from Napa State Hospital? With all the budget cuts and sites loosing funding in CA I'm a little nervous about that one. It appears that both Atascadero and Vacaville are loosing funding for their internship program this year. CRAZY!
 
Has anyone heard from Napa State Hospital? With all the budget cuts and sites loosing funding in CA I'm a little nervous about that one. It appears that both Atascadero and Vacaville are loosing funding for their internship program this year. CRAZY!

I'm still waiting on that one too. Hope they don't lose funding!
 
bulk email rejection from Henry Ford peds neuro track:

no salutation
"I am sorry to inform you that we will not offer you an internship placement for the 2012-2013 years. We take into account many factors in making this decision; most important among those is the goodness of fit between your interests and background and the goals and objectives of our program. Other factors that go into the decision include our assessment of submitted letters of reference, prior experience with or any knowledge we have about your graduate program or its accreditation status."

Cognitive reframe: I am soooo relieved to not be going to Detroit🙂
 
Interview today from Palm Beach County Youth Affairs & yesterday from Center for Group Counseling!
 
Worcester State Hospital - Invite - Phone
Princeton House - non-personalized - Rejection - Email
Friends Hospital - non-personalized - Invite - Email with follow up call

Total: 3 Interviews - 4 Rejections - 8 more to go
 
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Are you talking about the Youth Opportunity Center? I was so confused, because their notification date is Jan 2 in the APPIC directory and Dec 15 in their brochure. Just curious (if you are talking about YOC), when are their interview dates?

Yes. I didn't even notice the difference in notification dates lol. 😳 The dates that they offered were the 6th, 9th, & 13th.
 
Thought there would be a frenzy today....weird, I've had crickets. No news is good news hopefully?
 
Fronds hospital invite too! That makes 4. Phew! And yay!!! I was absolutely convinced 3 was it for me. Keep your hope up guys!
 
Mass rejection from UMDNJ Piscataway. Looks like they forgot to bcc!

In order to help prioritize decisions regarding intern sites, we are writing to inform you that you are no longer under active consideration for our internship program. Unfortunately, the faculty selection committee determined that your experience and interests do not fit sufficiently with the specific training opportunities in our program.


It is funny, because my experience and interests were actually a perfect (from my perspective) match for their site! Ahh this process is mysterious. Waiting to hear from 4 sites!
 
Is anyone comfortable sharing questions that they believe caught them particularly off guard? I have only had one interview so far, but nothing was particularly unusual.

I was already warned that it might happen, but I think the quesiton that was most difficult for me to answer was "I haven't had a chance to look at any of your materials, tell me about yourself?" It's just so hard to know where to begin. I went with my most recent professional experiences.

Anyone else have a question that stumped them they they are comfortable sharing?

Hard questions I had so far:

1. tell me an anecdote or a little story that shows who you are.
2. What don't you like about our program
3. What makes you a better candidate than others.
4. What made you want to be a psychologist and how do you apply that to your work.
5. How do you work with clients
6. Tell me about a supervision relationship that did not go well.
7. your worst clinical moment.
8. I was given a vignette and a "clinical dilemma" several times. One was about someone with suicidal ideations and what I might do, being alone in the outpatient clinic - which was hard cause I don't know what the clinic policy is and I had a hard time dealing with that question.
9. I was asked to "pitch a case" as if I had a few intakes and I want to take on an individual outpatient case and I want the clinic director to approve it.

More normal questions were:
Tell me about a case you enjoyed, what drew you to our site, what was challenging about inpatient work, what did you like about it, what are you looking for in supervision...

Hope this helps!

By the way, many of the more horrible questions on that list were at Columbia adult track.
Other people were not as sadistic.
 
Mass email invite from FCI Ft. Worth. Interview dates are December 20, 21, 27 and 29; January 3, 4, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13
 
Has anyone heard from Napa State Hospital? With all the budget cuts and sites loosing funding in CA I'm a little nervous about that one. It appears that both Atascadero and Vacaville are loosing funding for their internship program this year. CRAZY!
Shucks! How did you know about Atascadero?
 
Has anyone heard from Napa State Hospital? With all the budget cuts and sites loosing funding in CA I'm a little nervous about that one. It appears that both Atascadero and Vacaville are loosing funding for their internship program this year. CRAZY!

Vacaville is losing funding?
 
Interview at the Bronx VA. Mass email to "dear applicant"

Give yourself plenty of time to get there! I interviewed there and a bunch of people showed up late, and it didn't look good because they started right on time and the students had to catch up. The Brooklyn VA was similar, though there was a better excuse because there was a big storm and mass transit was jacked up. The Brooklyn VA has/had metal detectors right as you enter, so I'd recommend keeping everything in a bag/briefcase to make it easy.

Anyone else have a question that stumped them they they are comfortable sharing?

1. The scariest one was a friend was handed a summary sheet for a Rorschach (Exner) and they had to speak off the cuff about it. That site was well known for it's love of the Rorschach...so it was fair game. I think it was a NYC site, but this was probably 4-5 years ago, so YMMV.

2. At multiple neuro-track sites I was given a case summary and asked what assessments I'd give and why. This was done in a group format, so you had to think on your feet. The people ahead of me took the low hanging fruit (WAIS, WMS, etc), so that left me with tougher options. WMT & CVLT are two that I'd include in pretty much any battery. 😀

3. I had another neuro-friendly/focused site that gave a summary sheet out and asked us to hypothesize what may be going on. This was actually fun, but still intimidating because you weren't sure if they made it obvious or if there was a twist that you had to find....I never did find out.

4. I also had multiple sites make us watch a vingette and then talk about it as a group....not fun. One site had multiple interviews sit behind us and observe, while another site had a facilitator who helped shape the discussion.

5. The oddest interview I did was "Intern Jeopardy", which had note cards stuck to the board, and we chose randomly and then answered the question. The interns from teh site ran this part of the interview, and it was an equal mix of fun and terror because some of the questions were kind of personal....*shakes fist at the psychodynamic people*
 
Rejection email from University of Utah counseling center... 🙁 looks like in previous years, they have interviewed most people who applied...
 
So how do you guys interpret sites where rejections have gone out (especially those that have gone out today) but you haven't heard anything at all? We have 4 sites with known rejections and I'm going cross-eyed.
 
Expected mass email rejection from the MEDVAMC - Houston, sent a little while ago.
 
Annnd a much expected email rejection (personalized) from UNC SOM clinical-forensic track. They sent out invites a while ago so good to finally have some closure!
 
I'm a third year psyd student and I've done everything possible to be competative to apply this year (e.g., completing my dissertation proposal, extra curricular activities, leadership roles, etc.) However, I'm wondering if others are seeing that there is a "seniority" to this process? Again kind of obvious that the answer is yes but I'm throwing it out there. Any feedback? Overall, I'm happy with 2 interviews/ 8 rejections/ 7 waiting... but would like more interviews 🙂 Thanks and good luck all!

Yes and no. I think a 3rd year can be competitive, but are you competitive enough to be ranked high enough to secure a spot? It isn't just about numbers or checking off if you completed something. I think you may face some questions about what you may have missed in training by applying only after completing 3 years. I'm just hypothesizing that, but I know if I reviewed/interviewed someone applying after 3 years...that would be one of the first questions I'd ask. With that being said, you are getting interviews, so people think that you'd be a good fit at their site, so give it your best shot and see what happens.
 
Worcester State Hospital - Invite - Phone - Last name C around 11AM
Princeton House - non-personalized - Rejection - Email
Friends Hospital - non-personalized - Invite - Email with follow up call

Total: 3 Interviews - 4 Rejections - 8 more to go

How much did that Friends invite look like a rejection at first??! Talk about a heart attack
 
Invite to Indiana University CC.
Rejection from Henry Ford (thoughtful mass letter, though)
Invite to Park Center, Inc.
 
Springfield Hospital invitation! Super pumpedddd, I wanted a MD site so bad, my hometown!!!
 
Hi all,

Does somebody have clarification on Louis Stoke's system? I don't want to go emailing them before the normal notification date, but they don't actually list one since they only do an open house and it's supposed to be non-evaluative.

They say that they invite pre-screened applicants to take part, and I know that some rejection emails have gone out already. I haven't heard anything. Anybody else in this boat? I'm not sure what to make of it, or what to do.
 
ahh, my rejection must be coming soon, then. At least I was expecting this one 🙂

still 4 left to go
 
Mass (non-personalized) rejection 12/14 for both 😳

3 rejections in one day! Starting to get worried 6 more to hear from . . .
 
Hi all,

Does somebody have clarification on Louis Stoke's system? I don't want to go emailing them before the normal notification date, but they don't actually list one since they only do an open house and it's supposed to be non-evaluative.

They say that they invite pre-screened applicants to take part, and I know that some rejection emails have gone out already. I haven't heard anything. Anybody else in this boat? I'm not sure what to make of it, or what to do.
I'm in the exact same boat. Hoping they email us re: the "track specific" open house dates (since we evidently passed the cut) by end of tomorrow. If not, I plan on emailing them Friday.
 
Mass (non-personalized) rejection 12/14 for both 😳

3 rejections in one day! Starting to get worried 6 more to hear from . . .

Sorry! I also got the UCLA CC rejection...8 more to hear from, 7 with tomorrow as the notification day - here's hoping!
 
Rejection email from University of Utah counseling center... 🙁 looks like in previous years, they have interviewed most people who applied...

Are you in a Psy.D. program? The University of Utah Counseling Center refuses to hire Psy.D.'s for both jobs and internship, regardless of training or equivalent experience.
 
And a mass rejection email to the St. Louis Internship Consortium... They were my first choice! They said their internship program "would not be the best match with my qualifications" 🙁
 
Waiting on Tulane and Gulf Coast VA. . . ugh. One more day and this garbage is over. 😕
 
Invite to Indiana University CC.
Rejection from Henry Ford (thoughtful mass letter, though)
Invite to Park Center, Inc.

Was the Indiana CC invite email or phone? Mass or personalized? Thanks!
 
Tulane SOM Adult track (BMed concentration) just sent out what appears to be a mass email invite. Dates are Jan 6, 13, 20, 27.

With that, I am all done! 9 invites, 6 rejections. January will be busy.

Thanks for everyone on this forum for the information, support, entertainment, and space to vent. Although this process sucks, it's nice to know we're not alone in both our highs and lows.

Good luck to ALL of you! 🙂
 
Has anyone heard from Riverbend? APPIC site says notification would be today. I also havent heard from Woodhull. I think somebody has heard from them? Their site said notification was on the 9th.
 
Hi all,

Does somebody have clarification on Louis Stoke's system? I don't want to go emailing them before the normal notification date, but they don't actually list one since they only do an open house and it's supposed to be non-evaluative.

They say that they invite pre-screened applicants to take part, and I know that some rejection emails have gone out already. I haven't heard anything. Anybody else in this boat? I'm not sure what to make of it, or what to do.

I am in the same boat... keeping my fingers crossed from an invitation to the open house! I am planning to wait until tomorrow to see if I hear anything, and if I don't I will e-mail them on Friday. Good luck!
 
Vacaville is losing funding?

Sadly, all CA state hospitals just experienced MASSIVE budget cuts, and around half of all clinical staff, especially psychologists were laid-off. All Hospitals and prisons. Doesn't look good for us...interns or staff.
 
I just received mass email invitation for VA Western New York!
 
Jeez today has been a busy afternoon for me with invites/rejections... Just got a mass email invite to the Center for Behavioral Medicine in Kansas City.
 
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