2013-2014 APPIC (internship) interview thread

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siamesekitten said:
Which questions would you make sure to prepare for no matter what?
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1) What are your clinical strengths and weaknesses?
2) Why did you apply to this internship? (this was the first question asked on every interview)
3) Tell us about a case which gave you the most difficulty. What would you have done differently?
4) What is your theoretical orientation?
5) Tell us something about yourself?
6) What question were you hoping we would not ask you?
7) How do people grow and change? How does pathology arise?

But there are certain questions you cannot prepare for because they come out of left field. Case in point:

1) Its a friday night and youre completing a psych evaluation that is due monday morning at 8:00am. Your computer dies and you lose all internet access. What do you do?

2) You have paperwork due monday morning and you cannot finish it Friday night. Its your friends wedding over the weekend and you will be there the whole weekend. Do you 1) go to your friends wedding, or 2) complete the urgent paperwork that is due monday?
 
As for the questions from left field, I found those the most difficult to answer😵😵
 
KRCM said:
1) What are your clinical strengths and weaknesses?
2) Why did you apply to this internship? (this was the first question asked on every interview)
3) Tell us about a case which gave you the most difficulty. What would you have done differently?
4) What is your theoretical orientation?
5) Tell us something about yourself?
6) What question were you hoping we would not ask you?
7) How do people grow and change? How does pathology arise?

But there are certain questions you cannot prepare for because they come out of left field. Case in point:

1) Its a friday night and youre completing a psych evaluation that is due monday morning at 8:00am. Your computer dies and you lose all internet access. What do you do?

2) You have paperwork due monday morning and you cannot finish it Friday night. Its your friends wedding over the weekend and you will be there the whole weekend. Do you 1) go to your friends wedding, or 2) complete the urgent paperwork that is due monday?
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Thank you! This is very helpful! Questions #1 - #7, most of them I have been preparing for, especially #2, and yes, both sites I have interviewed at so far asked me this first! But #6 never would have occurred to me! What's a good answer for that one? And #7 I have not really prepared for either, that's a good one to practice. Your "left field" questions are good to think about, thank you for that! 🙂

What about "tell us something about yourself?" I have heard different things from people on how to answer this, but I think I am overthinking it.

I saw in another post, you interviewed at 15 sites last year. If you had to do this all over again, would you interview at all of them? I have 9 interviews remaining in the month of January, and while I know it will be exhausting, I just feel like I have to go to all of them.
 
CheetahGirl said:
Do we know how sites rank us!? I just thought we rank, they rank, and the rest is private until we learn the final result on match day.
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No, you won't know how they rank you unless they tell you, which typically tends not to ever happen. Sites also won't know how you've ranked them unless you tell them, although all sites that ranked you will ultimately be able to see where you ended up matching.
 
siamesekitten said:
Thank you! This is very helpful! Questions #1 - #7, most of them I have been preparing for, especially #2, and yes, both sites I have interviewed at so far asked me this first! But #6 never would have occurred to me! What's a good answer for that one? And #7 I have not really prepared for either, that's a good one to practice. Your "left field" questions are good to think about, thank you for that! 🙂

What about "tell us something about yourself?" I have heard different things from people on how to answer this, but I think I am overthinking it.

I saw in another post, you interviewed at 15 sites last year. If you had to do this all over again, would you interview at all of them? I have 9 interviews remaining in the month of January, and while I know it will be exhausting, I just feel like I have to go to all of them.
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For question number 6, I stumbled and said, "A question about my dissertation." I did not make much progress on it during that time. Not too sure if that was a good answer. Probably not lol. I mean, I wouldn't say something like, "I was hoping you wouldn't ask me about my clinical strengths or weaknesses." Its a tough one to answer. Maybe someone else can provide a better answer.

As for "Tell us something about yourself," I used a personal experience, which appeared to go over very well with the interviewers who asked it.
 
KRCM said:
For question number 6, I stumbled and said, "A question about my dissertation." I did not make much progress on it during that time. Not too sure if that was a good answer. Probably not lol. I mean, I wouldn't say something like, "I was hoping you wouldn't ask me about my clinical strengths or weaknesses." Its a tough one to answer. Maybe someone else can provide a better answer.

As for "Tell us something about yourself," I used a personal experience, which appeared to go over very well with the interviewers who asked it.
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Thank you! If I didn't have time to think about it, I would probably say something dumb like, "I was hoping you wouldn't ask me how I'm going to rank you, because that's an APPIC violation," lol. I think a personal experience is good. Thanks for your help KRCM!!
 
I would be really hesistant to turn down an interview (in person or by phone) unless I absolutely could not attend. While it's certainly a good sign if someone has tons of interviews, hypothetically if you interview at 10 sites that each have 4 internship slots, and you're #5 on every single rank list, you still might not match - and you might really wish that you had attended interviews at your 11th and 12th choices. I'm really not trying to be a downer, but just being realistic. I know colleagues as well as people on SDN who ended up matching much lower on their rank list than anticipated, so I wouldn't recommend taking any of your sites for granted by skipping the interview. Interviewing is costly and stressful, but it's a time-limited stressor with a clear end in sight, so I think it's good to summon all of your internal resources and push yourself through a few weeks of interviews if you can do it. Remember that not matching and having to go through the whole process again next year is also costly and stressful.

Your program may also have opinions about this issue. Our DCT told us very explicitly that we were expected to attend every interview, because it reflects poorly on our program if students turn down interviews and might therefore hurt future students' chances of getting an interview at that site. Obviously your grad program can't force you to attend, but it's something to keep in mind.
 
KRCM said:
For question number 6, I stumbled and said, "A question about my dissertation." I did not make much progress on it during that time. Not too sure if that was a good answer. Probably not lol. I mean, I wouldn't say something like, "I was hoping you wouldn't ask me about my clinical strengths or weaknesses." Its a tough one to answer. Maybe someone else can provide a better answer.

As for "Tell us something about yourself," I used a personal experience, which appeared to go over very well with the interviewers who asked it.
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Why couldn't you just ask if they would prefer something professional or more personal and then have a thing ready for either answer?
 
I don't know if this thread is still being updated, but I just received an invitation from Montana State University Counseling Center. They are doing telephone interviews from 01/02-01/17.
 
Personalized email rejection from University of Kansas Medical Center. :/
 
Has anyone heard from Child and Adolescent Services (CAS)/ University of California, San Francisco/ San Francisco General Hospital?? Their appic site said they'd let us know Dec 20th and here I am, still waiting. I called and emailed the TD and her voicemail and email both say she is away for 2 weeks on vacation. Should I just assume I'm not getting an invite? It was my top site...
 
frozenpeach said:
I don't know if this thread is still being updated, but I just received an invitation from Montana State University Counseling Center. They are doing telephone interviews from 01/02-01/17.
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Congrats! Was the invitation personalized or was it a mass invitation?
 
cara susanna said:
If I had 11 interviews (which I don't, admittedly), I think at some point I would have to consider self care. Travelling and interviewing is exhausting, and I think eventually even the best applicant will start to show fatigue during the long haul in January. How on top of your game are you really going to be if you attend so many interviews?
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That's assuming all interviews are packed into January and you have to fly all over the country. I'm sure if people are strategic with it, we can cut down on the exhaustion and engage in self-care. Good luck to you in the process 🙂
 
nikshoe said:
Has anyone heard from Child and Adolescent Services (CAS)/ University of California, San Francisco/ San Francisco General Hospital?? Their appic site said they'd let us know Dec 20th and here I am, still waiting. I called and emailed the TD and her voicemail and email both say she is away for 2 weeks on vacation. Should I just assume I'm not getting an invite? It was my top site...
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I believe invites were sent out on the 19th.
 
Hello, I am new to posting on the site but am hoping I can find someone to help me out. I am interviewing at Advocate Behavioral Health in Chicago on Jan 7th and then I must be in Florida for an interview on January 8th. My interview at Advocate is at 1pm. Would anyone with an earlier time slot (I think 10am) be able to switch with me so that I can get on an earlier flight to Fl? I would REALLY appreciate it and would be willing to compensate you if necessary. Please private message me if you can switch or know someone who can. Thanks! Good luck to everyone!
 
psychRA said:
I would be really hesistant to turn down an interview (in person or by phone) unless I absolutely could not attend. While it's certainly a good sign if someone has tons of interviews, hypothetically if you interview at 10 sites that each have 4 internship slots, and you're #5 on every single rank list, you still might not match - and you might really wish that you had attended interviews at your 11th and 12th choices. I'm really not trying to be a downer, but just being realistic. I know colleagues as well as people on SDN who ended up matching much lower on their rank list than anticipated, so I wouldn't recommend taking any of your sites for granted by skipping the interview. Interviewing is costly and stressful, but it's a time-limited stressor with a clear end in sight, so I think it's good to summon all of your internal resources and push yourself through a few weeks of interviews if you can do it. Remember that not matching and having to go through the whole process again next year is also costly and stressful.

Your program may also have opinions about this issue. Our DCT told us very explicitly that we were expected to attend every interview, because it reflects poorly on our program if students turn down interviews and might therefore hurt future students' chances of getting an interview at that site. Obviously your grad program can't force you to attend, but it's something to keep in mind.
Click to expand...


Completely agree with everything you have said here. I am wondering – how likely is it that would happen – you are ranked #5 at every site you interview at and therefore don't match?? Assuming all of these sites had 4 internship slots. And you have 10 + interviews.
 
siamesekitten said:
Completely agree with everything you have said here. I am wondering – how likely is it that would happen – you are ranked #5 at every site you interview at and therefore don't match?? Assuming all of these sites had 4 internship slots. And you have 10 + interviews.
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I know multiple people who had 12-14 and did not match. They also don't have any obvious interview issues. So I assume that's what happened to them.
 
Emailed the TD at Cal State Northridge earlier today, as the notification date was listed as 12/20 and it was the last site I was waiting on. The TD emailed me with a rejection and stated that she was "hearing from several people that they did not receive (her) e-mails." So if you are still waiting this may be why. Also, I'm happy to be done with this part of the process and have 11 interviews 🙂
 
WisNeuro said:
How do you know that they didn't have any obvious interview issues considering most interviews are one to one?
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Thus the "obvious" part of my statement. I don't know that they didn't horribly mess up in individual interviews, though they certainly didn't leave any interviews feeling that they had done so (I spoke with them throughout the process). But they don't have any of the obvious major issues that can be problematic in this process. They are articulate, passionate, proactive and generally socially appropriate. They also did mock interviews with people who would have commented on major issues had they existed. That doesn't mean they didn't botch things somehow. But with that many interviews, I doubt they botched things majorly everywhere.
 
dasherva13 said:
Thus the "obvious" part of my statement. I don't know that they didn't horribly mess up in individual interviews, though they certainly didn't leave any interviews feeling that they had done so (I spoke with them throughout the process). But they don't have any of the obvious major issues that can be problematic in this process. They are articulate, passionate, proactive and generally socially appropriate. They also did mock interviews with people who would have commented on major issues had they existed. That doesn't mean they didn't botch things somehow. But with that many interviews, I doubt they botched things majorly everywhere.
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Just chiming in here....a person could do exceptionally well and be ranked in the fifth place when 100-200 people are applying for 4 positions.
 
Before we all fall into a heavy depression, I'm going to jump into the role of the optimist--a role that I rarely play. 😉 Remember, according to the 2011 stats, people who had 11+ interviews had a 99% match rate. Furthermore, even if you're ranked #5 at all of your sites that have only 4 spots, you could still match if the people they rank higher match at other sites.

I'm not saying that it isn't possible to just get screwed over because of the numbers. But someone with 11 or more interviews has a great chance of matching.
 
dasherva13 said:
Thus the "obvious" part of my statement. I don't know that they didn't horribly mess up in individual interviews, though they certainly didn't leave any interviews feeling that they had done so (I spoke with them throughout the process). But they don't have any of the obvious major issues that can be problematic in this process. They are articulate, passionate, proactive and generally socially appropriate. They also did mock interviews with people who would have commented on major issues had they existed. That doesn't mean they didn't botch things somehow. But with that many interviews, I doubt they botched things majorly everywhere.
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There's got to be something wrong, or just an extreme case of bad luck. Getting that many interviews and not matching puts her in the <1% category I believe.
 
cara susanna said:
Before we all fall into a heavy depression, I'm going to jump into the role of the optimist--a role that I rarely play. 😉 Remember, according to the 2011 stats, people who had 11+ interviews had a 99% match rate. Furthermore, even if you're ranked #5 at all of your sites that have only 4 spots, you could still match if the people they rank higher match at other sites.

I'm not saying that it isn't possible to just get screwed over because of the numbers. But someone with 11 or more interviews has a great chance of matching.
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Thank you for this!! 🙂 And Happy Holidays! 🙂
 
Any rejections go out for U of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio? I am expecting one and it will be the last one I need to hear from...FINALLY!!!!!!!!!
 
Happy to report that I've heard from all my sites and the guessing game is over for me! :hardy: (Actually received two interview invites on Christmas Eve - so it was a Merry Christmas for all at my house!) I'm pleased with my final outcome and now working to match at one of the awesome prospective sites.

Good luck everyone! :luck: And thanks for the virtual support,:claps: discussions amongst yourselves of encouragement, :slap: and Futureapppsy2 :ninja: for your consistent attention as this nerve-wracking process unfolded :smack:!

Cheers to 2014! :highfive:
 
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HDTMYF? said:
Any rejections go out for U of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio? I am expecting one and it will be the last one I need to hear from...FINALLY!!!!!!!!!
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I haven't received one.. I hate that they don't send out rejections in the same time manner as interviews and vice versa… I haven't heard from 3 sites that have sent out interview notifications. I'd like to know one way or another and be done. Keep us/me posted if you hear anything. I'll be emailing Saturday if I don't hear from them tomorrow.
 
WeDoItOnTheCouch said:
I haven't received one.. I hate that they don't send out rejections in the same time manner as interviews and vice versa… I haven't heard from 3 sites that have sent out interview notifications. I'd like to know one way or another and be done. Keep us/me posted if you hear anything. I'll be emailing Saturday if I don't hear from them tomorrow.
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Last year they notified for interviews twice...with about a week in between. So perhaps rejections are not coming our way 🙂 (or at least I will keep telling myself that...)
 
WeDoItOnTheCouch said:
I haven't received one.. I hate that they don't send out rejections in the same time manner as interviews and vice versa… I haven't heard from 3 sites that have sent out interview notifications. I'd like to know one way or another and be done. Keep us/me posted if you hear anything. I'll be emailing Saturday if I don't hear from them tomorrow.
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The training director for my internship site (which already notified people) said that they wait until Dec. 15 to send out rejections in case people can't attend interviews or they have open slots. I think that's probably pretty common, and makes sense, as much as it sucks for most applicants.
 
Anyone know of anyone that has gotten an invite from the Institute of Multicultural and Education Services in Los Angeles?
 
WisNeuro said:
There's got to be something wrong, or just an extreme case of bad luck. Getting that many interviews and not matching puts her in the <1% category I believe.
Click to expand...

I agree. It just happened to happen to 2 of my good friends. Which hasn't made me ridiculously anxious about this process AT ALL, of course. I agree it was bad luck, and it's not a *likely* course - and that there is literally nothing to be gained from worrying about it. It's just that someone asked if that could happen. It can. But all we can do is put our best feet forward at each interview.
 
But for every anecdote about someone with a gazillion interviews who didn't match, there's also one about people with one or two interviews who matched. And just think of those APPIC 2011 survey stats--they have a MUCH larger sample size than the one or two people we know who didn't match despite having a lot of interviews.

But now's not really the time to think about this stuff (even if it is realistic). We need to be optimistic and confident as we approach our interviews. The time between ranking submission and the Match date is when we can feel depressed and ruminate on our chances. 😉 But the fact is that we can't predict it, even with all of our fancy statistics and research know-how.
 
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What type of clients do you have difficult time with?

Thoughts? 🙂
 
Jeeson528 said:
What type of clients do you have difficult time with?

Thoughts? 🙂
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Now, I'm pretty particular about these types of questions because you don't want to place blame (with you or your client) ideally, right?

Speak to the fact that you have "increasing difficulty" in being empathic towards the client or you find it difficult to relate to the client as these factors are prognostic of his/her relationship difficulties (if this is true for you). I wouldn't talk about about countertransference...it's so passé...save that for once you get the spot and you're in real supervision.

Heeeehhhh...why am I giving out my tricks of the trade!? 🙂 I might get paranoid and sneak back in here and edit out my tip du jour. Hope you read it before, Jeeson528. Ha!
 
I still have three sites to hear from. This is getting a bit ridiculous.
 
Allie1234 said:
Last year they notified for interviews twice...with about a week in between. So perhaps rejections are not coming our way 🙂 (or at least I will keep telling myself that...)
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Past 5pm in Texas and still not a peep. Time to go work out and hopefully focus on something else!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Interview rejection email from University of Texas HSC at San Antonio received at 10:30 pm (central). However, I'm a bit confused as the email stated "an interview is not required to match at our site, so it is still possible that we will rank some non-interview applicants this year." Did other people get this? Will sites typically inform applicants in this situation if they are still under consideration prior to rank day? Would it be appropriate to send an email in a few weeks to touch bases or am I reading too much into this and it was just a nice rejection? Thanks 🙂
 
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