2013-2014 APPIC (internship) interview thread

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Hello everyone! I know this subject has been broached before, but I am bringing it up again lol: Thank you notes!

So, I just sent one, the first one, but I am thinking I am not going to send anymore because it made me so anxious to mess with a good interview and possibly screw it up by sending a damn thank you note. What do you guys think?
 
psyd102 said:
Hello everyone! I know this subject has been broached before, but I am bringing it up again lol: Thank you notes!

So, I just sent one, the first one, but I am thinking I am not going to send anymore because it made me so anxious to mess with a good interview and possibly screw it up by sending a damn thank you note. What do you guys think?
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I've been sending them to my top sites. One TD emailed me saying how much they appreciated the note. It's not going to count against you. If anything, it just won't matter.
 
psyd102 said:
Hello everyone! I know this subject has been broached before, but I am bringing it up again lol: Thank you notes!

So, I just sent one, the first one, but I am thinking I am not going to send anymore because it made me so anxious to mess with a good interview and possibly screw it up by sending a damn thank you note. What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

I sent thank you emails to all the sites I interviewed at. They all have replied and all seemed positive.
 
G Costanza said:
I've been sending them to my top sites. One TD emailed me saying how much they appreciated the note. It's not going to count against you. If anything, it just won't matter.
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Email or letter sent via mail? I have done both but still have more to send off and I am wondering what other people tend to do? I like email because it is easy on my end but I feel like having an interviewer open up a letter and take the time to remember me is better.
 
grenas said:
I sent thank you emails to all the sites I interviewed at. They all have replied and all seemed positive.
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Email or letter? The one email thank you I sent, I also received a very positive response which was great but my DCT recommends letters.
 
Allie1234 said:
Email or letter sent via mail? I have done both but still have more to send off and I am wondering what other people tend to do? I like email because it is easy on my end but I feel like having an interviewer open up a letter and take the time to remember me is better.
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I send any site I'm interested in an email with a few questions. My top 8 sites also got a thank you letter in the mail.
 
So can sites rank an endless amount of people, or are they limited in terms of the number they can rank?

Also, I'm done interviewing and finally home 🙂 Yay! I don't think it's fully set in yet that I don't have to leave again, though.
 
FionaGoode said:
Has anyone else noticed that some applicants are doing/saying inappropriate things during interviews? I am wondering if I am too rigid in my professional practice during these interviews because my program really harped a lot on professionalism. I am also starting to wonder if it has something to do with the sites that I applied to and the caliber of students they recruit?! Idk, I interviewed at all reputable VA sites, so I am starting to get confused?! For example, I saw a girl texting on top of the table during the training directors opening orientation talk yesterday, while another girl texted/giggled throughout the entire tour of the facility. At that same site, another girl asked a current intern what that site's interview questions were and how she ranked all the programs on her list last year?! A few days ago I heard someone ask "why should I come HERE instead of site X (down the street)? I interviewed there, too." During that same interview, another applicant asked "can you tell me about site Y's training structure (not even the program with which we were interviewing, but a program that that intern had applied to during the previous cycle). Is this type of stuff normal/abnormal? This process is playing tricks on my mind, and I am starting to see weird things over and over again (or am I weird?!)
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I personally do not think you are being too rigid in how professional you are, I find some of the behaviors you have seen other applicants exhibit to be quite appalling! And as LightBulb pointed out, those people will certainly be ranked lower! 😉 At one of my interviews, a girl was texting several times throughout the day (e.g., during the TD's opening remarks, on the tour, during lunch with the interns). It was a long day (8-4), but I checked my phone for any urgent messages only once, and that was in the privacy of the bathroom. If I did not have that quick moment of privacy, I would have just waited to check my phone until after the interview. I can not even imagine pulling my phone out for anything during an interview, even if it is during a "less stressful environment" (e.g., lunch with the interns). It is rude to be texting IMO, and you are always being evaluated regardless of the context. I have asked interviewers, "what are the strengths of your internship?" but have not asked them to compare their site to another specific site. I have asked interns at various sites, "what influenced you to select this site?" and have gotten a variety of answers – one person said they ranked it #2, explained why, and listed all of the other places where they interviewed at last year; one person said they ranked it #1 and explained why; one person straight up said they ranked it low, but said they were happy with the site; one person said they applied to the site in Phase II; but for the most part, most interns have simply explained the things that attracted them to the site, why it was a good "fit" for them, etc. I found it intriguing when interns have straight up offered information, like where they ranked the site and what other sites they interviewed at last year, but I can not even imagine asking an intern how they ranked all of their sites and where they interviewed at last year, and what kinds of questions to expect on the interview (like the applicants you have encountered). How did the intern respond when the applicant asked the current intern how she ranked all of her sites last year?

One thing I am wondering about – some interns have asked me how many interviews I have and what other sites I am interviewing at. Has anybody else encountered this, and if so, what is the best way to respond?
 
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I was wondering how much stipend is playing into everyone's decisions. In general it seems that I would be able to live off most of the stipends offered. Actually I'm living off quite a bit less now. However, there is one site where the intern straight up said it wasn't enough. She had to take out loans to supplement her income. Anyone else considering doing this? I think I'm going to rank this site last but I'm considering not ranking it all. Then again I want to graduate in 2015 so in the end I'll probably force myself to rank it.
 
mindfulnessiszen said:
I was wondering how much stipend is playing into everyone's decisions. In general it seems that I would be able to live off most of the stipends offered. Actually I'm living off quite a bit less now. However, there is one site where the intern straight up said it wasn't enough. She had to take out loans to supplement her income. Anyone else considering doing this? I think I'm going to rank this site last but I'm considering not ranking it all. Then again I want to graduate in 2015 so in the end I'll probably force myself to rank it.
Click to expand...

Honestly, stipend isn't a big factor for me. This site where the intern told you that the stipend wasn't enough to live off of, is this because the stipend is extremely low, or is it because the COL where the site is located at is extremely high? Setting the stipend issue aside, how do you like the site overall?
 
cara susanna said:
So can sites rank an endless amount of people, or are they limited in terms of the number they can rank?

Also, I'm done interviewing and finally home 🙂 Yay! I don't think it's fully set in yet that I don't have to leave again, though.
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Sites typically rate all those they interviewed that they would be happy to train, in order of preference. There is no set limit on numbers and I understand some sites only do open houses, so they could list all applicants they see as qualified on paper. I imagine they set some kind of cut off, based on results from previous years, but maybe not since, as far as I know, you can submit as many ranks as you want.
 
For any of our reminiscing/helpful internship-survivors: I'd be interested in speaking with someone who had a VA internship and an AMC post-doc (or vice-versa). Could you please send me a PM if that applies? Thanks! 🙂
 
siamesekitten said:
Honestly, stipend isn't a big factor for me. This site where the intern told you that the stipend wasn't enough to live off of, is this because the stipend is extremely low, or is it because the COL where the site is located at is extremely high? Setting the stipend issue aside, how do you like the site overall?
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The stipend is average but the COL is really high. Aside from that I really liked the site. If it weren't for the money situation I would rank it as my second highest site. Even writing this I'm realizing as much as I like it, i can't rank it that high. I think it's going to be somewhere in the middle because I refuse to take out more loans. If I can get my hubby to move with me it would be fine and he is game 🙂
 
Cost of living is certainly a factor for me, but I'm basing my rankings in part on my ability to stay put for at least post-doc, if not a faculty job. For one year I'd be slightly less concerned as long as we're talking needing a few thousand to supplement and not ten thousand, but to each their own.

With few exceptions, it seems to be more about the city than the stipend - stipends seem relatively invariant with pretty much every place paying between 22 and 28, but 22 in Birmingham would go a lot farther than 28 in Boston (for instance). So I wouldn't say stipend is a factor - its more about the location. Of course, that's far from a deciding factor - it just enters into the equation along with umpteen other things.
 
Ollie123 said:
Cost of living is certainly a factor for me, but I'm basing my rankings in part on my ability to stay put for at least post-doc, if not a faculty job. For one year I'd be slightly less concerned as long as we're talking needing a few thousand to supplement and not ten thousand, but to each their own.

With few exceptions, it seems to be more about the city than the stipend - stipends seem relatively invariant with pretty much every place paying between 22 and 28, but 22 in Birmingham would go a lot farther than 28 in Boston (for instance). So I wouldn't say stipend is a factor - its more about the location. Of course, that's far from a deciding factor - it just enters into the equation along with umpteen other things.
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Yeah, there's going to be a lot more constraint on the income range for internship than employment (or even post-doc), so COL is really the determining factor in how far your stipend will go.

It didn't factor into my internship decisions at all (I think the spread from lowest to highest across all my sites was maybe $5k), but it was a factor for postdoc (where the spread was closer to $20k).

To answer the question about the number of applicants that sites can rank: as far as I know, there's no limit. Sites won't always rank everyone they've interviewed, but they likely will rank everyone they think would be a good fit with the program (potentially, although not frequently, including people who weren't invited to interview).
 
APPIC opened their Rank and Order system today. If you're completely done with the interview process, is there any downside to entering your choices now (as opposed to waiting until just before the Feb. 5th deadline)?

I still need to meet with my DOT to discuss my rank order, but I suspect not much will change after the meeting. And I read that you can change your rank order in the ROLIC system if you need to before Feb. 5th.

Is anyone else deciding to enter match choices now, rather than later?
 
I entered mine this morning. You can always go back and edit them before the 5th if need be.

So you have to meet with your TD? What do you talk about?
 
I believe he wants to touch base with each of us applying for internship to assess our rationale for the choices we're deciding on and to give advice if needed. I'm pretty firm on my choices at this point (and the rationale behind those choices), so I don't think he'd want to change my mind unless I'm making an egregious error in ranking (which I only know of one but the commute would compromise my QOL to this outstanding site. I'm sure he'd want me to rank that site much higher.).
G Costanza said:
I entered mine this morning. You can always go back and edit them before the 5th if need be.

So you have to meet with your TD? What do you talk about?
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CheetahGirl said:
I believe he wants to touch base with each of us applying for internship to access our rationale for the choices we're deciding on and to give advice if needed. I'm pretty firm on my choices at this point (and the rationale behind those choices), so I don't think he'd want to change my mind unless I'm making an egregious error in ranking (which I only know of one but the commute would compromise my QOL to this outstanding site. I'm sure he'd want me to rank that site much higher.).
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Gotcha. Advice is always good but you're the one who is going to complete the internship. Good luck with your rankings!
 
G Costanza said:
Good luck with your rankings!
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You too! Hard to believe only about 1-month until match day! I love surprises, but this is a bit ridiculous. Let's hope we're all pleasantly surprised at the very least. 😉
 
Hard to believe folks are submitting rankings already - I still feel very much caught up in the interview process (not done for another 2 weeks).

I have a good sense of the top and bottom of my list but am still unsure about the middle. Also trying to decide how important not moving again is since I have a tentative post-doc offer near a profoundly "meh" internship.
 
Ollie123 said:
Hard to believe folks are submitting rankings already - I still feel very much caught up in the interview process (not done for another 2 weeks).
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Ollie, you most likely had more interviews than me. Also, I intentionally scheduled all mine earlier (I had 4 in one week). I couldn't prolong this process because I had some other important things pop up (what a truly exhausting past few months!).

Just certified my list! I can officially think about about something else now. 😎
 
One more interview and then I could finalize my rankings. I have some preliminary ideas now, but really need to sit down and think. I keep changing my last two (six ad seven) around. They both seem like good sites, but one has more assessment opportunities (which will probably be beneficial when applying to postdoc), but is not as in much of an idea location as the other one.....touch decisions.
 
Has anyone interviewed at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami? I read that they have a written portion you must complete during the interview day and I'm curious what that entails. Thanks!
 
cara susanna said:
Just in case it helps anyone with their ranking decisions: last year apparently 50% of people matched to their first choice, 21% to their second, 12% to their third, and then it just keeps getting lower. The distributions for Phase 1 in 2011 and 2012 were pretty similar as well.

http://www.appic.org/Match/MatchStatistics/MatchStatistics2013PhaseI.aspx
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I wonder what happened to the 952 people that didn't get matched….what were the common reasons? Ahh…getting nervous!
 
My guess would be geographic restrictions/clustering in high demand areas for some of that sample. Happens every year.
 
It looks like the people who didn't match on average ranked less sites, too, than people who matched (~8 for matched applicants, ~5 for unmatched)

Disclaimer: Not to freak people out--I know quite a few people who matched with one or two interviews and we all know people with a bunch of interviews who didn't match, I'm sure.
 
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erg923 said:
My guess would be geographic restrictions/clustering in high demand areas for some of that sample. Happens every year.
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Also texting during interviews, poor interpersonal skills, showing up late, and basically not taking the experience seriously.
 
cara susanna said:
It looks like the people who didn't match on average ranked less sites, too than people who matched (~8 for matched applicants, ~5 for unmatched)

Disclaimer: Not to freak people out--I know quite a few people who matched with one or two interviews and we all know people with a bunch of interviews who didn't match, I'm sure.
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It only takes one!
 
G Costanza said:
Gotcha. Advice is always good but you're the one who is going to complete the internship. Good luck with your rankings!
Click to expand...

Agree. I find it odd that a DCT would meet with grad students to discuss their rankings, although I suppose if it's solely to offer some input/advice, it's seemingly ok. Although as mentioned, the rankings are entirely your decision, and your DCT should ultimately have no say in the matter (particularly if it conflicts with your own decisions).
 
CheetahGirl said:
APPIC opened their Rank and Order system today. If you're completely done with the interview process, is there any downside to entering your choices now (as opposed to waiting until just before the Feb. 5th deadline)?

I still need to meet with my DOT to discuss my rank order, but I suspect not much will change after the meeting. And I read that you can change your rank order in the ROLIC system if you need to before Feb. 5th.

Is anyone else deciding to enter match choices now, rather than later?
Click to expand...


As soon as I am done interviewing, I plan on putting my rank order in...I'd rather put it in and have it be done then freaking out about it. Plus I wouldn't want the system to stop working on 2/5/14 (not that it has for rank order...but you never know!) It'll feel good to have it in the hands of the APPIC Gods and out of my control...
 
cara susanna said:
Just in case it helps anyone with their ranking decisions: last year apparently 50% of people matched to their first choice, 21% to their second, 12% to their third, and then it just keeps getting lower. The distributions for Phase 1 in 2011 and 2012 were pretty similar as well.

http://www.appic.org/Match/MatchStatistics/MatchStatistics2013PhaseI.aspx
Click to expand...


I hope I match with seven interviews. They all seemed to go well and I think most of my interviewers liked me, but at each interview there was one poker-face interviewer who was hard for me to read. Fingers crossed- I do not want to have to do this all over again.
 
cara susanna said:
Just in case it helps anyone with their ranking decisions: last year apparently 50% of people matched to their first choice, 21% to their second, 12% to their third, and then it just keeps getting lower. The distributions for Phase 1 in 2011 and 2012 were pretty similar as well.

http://www.appic.org/Match/MatchStatistics/MatchStatistics2013PhaseI.aspx
Click to expand...

I have seen this before, but I just don't get it, how can 50% get their #1 site? It just seems like too good to be true or something, IDK.
 
I just checked my physical mailbox....and I was surprised to see a snail mail letter from a site I interviewed at. The letter is very positive and encouraging. It was personalized too as one of the interviewees put quotation marks on some of their thoughts about me. This is a good sign I think, but somehow I feel that everyone got a letter with something personal about each candidate.....is this common?
 
What time on match day do we get our results? PST? 😉
 
grenas said:
I just checked my physical mailbox....and I was surprised to see a snail mail letter from a site I interviewed at. The letter is very positive and encouraging. It was personalized too as one of the interviewees put quotation marks on some of their thoughts about me. This is a good sign I think, but somehow I feel that everyone got a letter with something personal about each candidate.....is this common?
Click to expand...

Wow. That does not seem common. I think it's a great sign.
 
I agree, grenas. This seems rare. Seems like an acceptable "heads up!"
G Costanza said:
Wow. That does not seem common. I think it's a great sign.
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grenas said:
I just checked my physical mailbox....and I was surprised to see a snail mail letter from a site I interviewed at. The letter is very positive and encouraging. It was personalized too as one of the interviewees put quotation marks on some of their thoughts about me. This is a good sign I think, but somehow I feel that everyone got a letter with something personal about each candidate.....is this common?
Click to expand...
 
Good deal, but seems like it borders on violating the the rule about contact with applicants and informing them of status, etc. (ie., "rank us highly bcause qwe are going to rank you highly").
 
Thoughts about "heads up" between applicant & program:

So I really want to send my top choice(s) a polite, relevant, gracious email stating explicitly that my interest remains in the same area stated on my application despite the possibility of several other training possibilities available at their site...having learned of the varied options during the interview/OH.

What do others' think? Is this violating APPIC? I'm not giving them my rank order - just explicitly stating where I see myself in their 4-6 (let's just say...) available positions.

Or should I leave well-enough alone and chill?
 
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CheetahGirl said:
Thoughts about "heads up" between applicant & program:

So I really want to send my top choice(s) a polite, relevant, gracious email stating explicitly that my interest remains in the same area stated on my application despite the possibility of several other training possibilities available at their site...having learned of the varied options during the interview/OH.

What do others' think? Is this violating APPIC? I'm not giving them my rank order - just explicitly stating where I see myself in their 4-6 (let's just say...) available positions.

Or should I leave well-enough alone and chill?
Click to expand...
The general consensus on this thread seems to be... Do what makes you comfortable. As long as you are not violating APPIC guidelines it's fine. I sent a few to my top sites but I find writing thank you emails awkward so I stopped after just a few.
 
So I put in my rankings even though I have one more interview. Because I applied to so many tracks I have 15 to rank which made me feel a smidgen better. I can't wait to get this last interview over with 🙂
 
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