2013 APPIC Internship Application Thread

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I am sad for those of you who have not gotten interviews. That is really unfair given all the time and effort required to complete a doctoral program and the internship application process. I wanted to ask whether you are certain that your letters of recommendation were glowing and not just good or tepid? It has recently come to my attention that some letter writers do not write letters that are as glowing as they need to be. Unfortunately, in the current climate, letters of recommendation essentially need to be over the top fantastic. Some letter writers instead use the letter as an opportunity to talk about your strengths and weaknesses. No! Others will agree to write you a letter--only to say something negative or write a tepid one that can damage your chances of getting an interview. Having a letter that is not strong enough can make it really difficult to get interviews, no matter how good your qualifications or experiences. To be sure that this did not happen to me, I asked all of my letter writers if they could write me "glowing" letters. One supervisor actually told me that she would write me a good but not great one, so I eliminated her and potentially dodged a bullet. I found out later that she generally did not write glowing letters and may have thus cost other students interviews in the past. Had I not asked specifically about a "glowing" letter and had she not been honest, I would have never known that I had a tepid letter doing untold damage to my application. I don't want to make anyone more anxious, but wanted to provide that information to anyone who may find him or herself in phase 2 of the match or in this process next year. I'm sorry again...:cry:
 
Interviews:

Division of Prevention and Behavioral Health/Terry Children’s Center (generic email)

Hawthorn Center (personalized email)

Waitlist:

Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health (personalized email)

Rejection:

Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children (generic email)
 
So, it has been a crazy day here.

I received the following email invites:

San Quentin
Travis Co Juv Justice
CO MH Pueblo
Harris Co


Kern Co as alternate

SO that makes 8 interviews thus far, one alternate, and five rejections. I am still waiting on several that are out.

Good luck guys!!!!
 
I am broken-hearted for everyone who did not receive any interviews. This system is so screwed up. If any of us with them are successful this round, maybe we can provide support and input on Phase 2, reapplying, etc.

I have been on some interviews this week. As I meet people and hear their training, I start to see patterns and can begin to frame it. It is all about fit, and to me, it does seem to be specific. I think it's also fit in terms of looking at your experience and really packaging yourself. Trying to find areas that are narrower can just help with numbers. There's more generalist VA programs than anything probably, so finding more of a niche may help? For example, although I am adult track, 60-70% of my experience is with adolescents. I am also interested in forensics. I was looking at adult sites primarily and then started hitting the adolescent/juvenile justice/child maltreatment angle more. Duh, it's my research area, but I just thought "I am adult track." I did really well with the forensic sites with a strong adolescent focus or vice versa. I did ok with adult forensic but not as well.

Totally struck out with all straight VAs and med centers (non forensic) - zero interviews there. I asked for and got great feedback from a TD at a VA - her answer: was basically too much adolescent and "you need a VA practica really, a med center at a minimum" or basically it's going to be near impossible to get an internship at most VAs. Good to know. Aaah! I am so thankful that I figured this focus out before applying. No one in my lab had traditionally applied to these sites. They are all adult forensic and mostly BOP. I got no advice from MP or TD on sites. I just spent a lot of late nights with the APPIC directory and reading program materials.

That's not an answer. There are so many other pieces, but those pieces should all stack up with the fit. Essays, cover letters, LOR should be able to stick with that fit and package.

Wishing everyone the best of luck. I am hoping that Phase 2 leaves awesome sites for everyone! 😍
 
LinraeUM said:
Does anyone know what the deal is with WVU Charleston? Do they notify applicants when they are no longer under consideration or do we just assume we are not if we haven't heard?
Click to expand...

I emailed them and heard nothing. I am assuming that we are not. Their materials were so friendly and nice. I am a little bummed at how they are handling this. Oh well...
 
SPB said:
I really feel like I shouldn't have followed the advise that I was given, and I should have applied to 18-20 sites.
Click to expand...

My TD was really pressuring us on the 15. His reasoning - "you'll have too many interviews." My husband felt that he had sacrificed and was part of this team, and he said I want you to maximize your chances and tell the TD to jump off a bridge. You'll just turn down interviews if you get them, but if you don't get them, is he going to give us a loan to stay here another year? No! We looked at the stats, and he pointed out that your chances don't go down until after 20-21 (i can't remember the exact stats), so you should maximize those chances. He reasoned that sites that I wasn't qualified for (VAs) really shouldn't "count" anyway. I applied to more sites and sure enough, my TD forwarded his notification when I submitted with a snarky message. I had waited to submit until midnight the night before and he still sent it. I fretted and worried about this, but in the end, my husband's advice on numbers, fit, everything was dead on whereas my TD was off by a mile. Hubby's not a psychic - he could just see from the outside what I couldn't....I don't know if that's the answer, but I think we should all trust our gut more.
 
psyclone13 said:
I am sad for those of you who have not gotten interviews. That is really unfair given all the time and effort required to complete a doctoral program and the internship application process. I wanted to ask whether you are certain that your letters of recommendation were glowing and not just good or tepid? It has recently come to my attention that some letter writers do not write letters that are as glowing as they need to be. Unfortunately, in the current climate, letters of recommendation essentially need to be over the top fantastic. Some letter writers instead use the letter as an opportunity to talk about your strengths and weaknesses. No! Others will agree to write you a letter--only to say something negative or write a tepid one that can damage your chances of getting an interview. Having a letter that is not strong enough can make it really difficult to get interviews, no matter how good your qualifications or experiences. To be sure that this did not happen to me, I asked all of my letter writers if they could write me "glowing" letters. One supervisor actually told me that she would write me a good but not great one, so I eliminated her and potentially dodged a bullet. I found out later that she generally did not write glowing letters and may have thus cost other students interviews in the past. Had I not asked specifically about a "glowing" letter and had she not been honest, I would have never known that I had a tepid letter doing untold damage to my application. I don't want to make anyone more anxious, but wanted to provide that information to anyone who may find him or herself in phase 2 of the match or in this process next year. I'm sorry again...:cry:
Click to expand...


I would agree. I also use the same type of language when asking for a letter of recommendation (e.g. strong, supportive, favorable, etc.). For anyone that has to participate in Phase II, I think it may be helpful to kindly suggest to your recommendors that they are welcome to make edits to their letter if there is anything they think they could add to help make your application stronger.

I would also think about whether or not I gave the wrong impression about myself through my essays, were my cover letters specific about how my training fits what the site does, did I geographically limit myself, did I apply to too many competitive sites, was my overall application consistent, did I apply somewhere that's cognitive-behavioral but I'm coming across as psychodynamic? For the sites that rejected me, I had forced how generalizeable my skills were to the experiences offered by the site; close but no cigar!
 
Last edited:
Why did psychology adopt this idiotic method of getting internships?? Oh wait! It's what physicians do when they go through training so naturally psychology (having a massive inferiority complex vis a vis medicine) has to adopt the same process .... Sorry just venting!.
 
Neuropsych2be said:
Why did psychology adopt this idiotic method of getting internships?? Oh wait! It's what physicians do when they go through training so naturally psychology (having a massive inferiority complex vis a vis medicine) has to adopt the same process .... Sorry just venting!.
Click to expand...
Well, the difference there is that not matching to internships in med school is more unlikely (at least that's what I've heard). They have enough positions to accommodate more applicants. Psychology needs to market/advocate for itself more to get the funding needed to close the position/applicant gap. Otherwise, we need a new philosophy about acceptance to graduate school in applied psychology fields that require internship as the capstone training experience. In addition to quality control issues, this is another reason why programs who recruit way more students than there are positions (down the road) for internship are problematic.

Not sure if sites are still sending out invites today, but good luck to anyone who's still waiting!
 
Invitations not Extended has been updated 🙁 - Invitations for Interviews to follow... 🙂

Sorry for the delay - was not feeling well 😳
 
nyprincess said:
Invitations not Extended has been updated 🙁 - Invitations for Interviews to follow... 🙂

Sorry for the delay - was not feeling well 😳
Click to expand...
I haven't seen this on the list yet:

Invite-- VA Western New York Healthcare System, General Track. Haven't specified interview dates yet but it sounds like they're flexible as long as you contact them early.
 
cparki33 said:
Did anyone else get an email from the Louis Stokes VA today?
Click to expand...
Sorry to posting so much--haven't been on this forum in a couple weeks.

I heard from the Cleveland VA yesterday

Invite: Louis Stokes Cleveland DVA Medical Center, Mental Health track

The dates are as follows:
Mental Health: MONDAY, JANUARY 7
Neuropsychology: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9
Health/Gero: FRIDAY, JANUARY 11

They said these are final dates "absolutely no exceptions" and interviews run from 12:30-4:30pm. I can't go b/c I already have an interview that day. I am not too concerned about that, though. Someone from my program matched there without ever visiting.
 
nyprincess said:
Invitations not Extended has been updated 🙁 - Invitations for Interviews to follow... 🙂

Sorry for the delay - was not feeling well 😳
Click to expand...

Thank you nyprincess! Hope you feel better soon!
 
The good news is that I only have two more sites to hear from today.....the bad news is 11 rejections and 2 interviews. It's almost over though. Time to start concentrating on the two interviews that I do have. Both interviews are in the same week in January, one on a Monday and the other on Friday. Sending good vibes out to all that you receive good news from your remaining sites.
 
nyprincess said:
Invitations not Extended has been updated 🙁 - Invitations for Interviews to follow... 🙂

Sorry for the delay - was not feeling well 😳
Click to expand...

You're wonderful for doing this. I'm sorry you were not feeling well - hope you're not stretched too thing trying to help us out! 😳
 
Invite: Cornerstone, Idaho Consortium

Reject: Alaska Consortium, Premier, Mid-Ohio, Norwich
 
nyprincess said:
Invitations not Extended has been updated 🙁 - Invitations for Interviews to follow... 🙂

Sorry for the delay - was not feeling well 😳
Click to expand...

Thanks for the help! Hope you feel better soon. Take rest and prepare for any interviews you have. The list can wait. We can read a few pages or use "search thread". Don't worry.

This stress is weakening everybody's immune system. Take care you guys.
 
As I was looking up some information on the internship process on APA's website I came across three interesting pieces of information that I thought maybe some people would be interested in:

1) There are 5 students who are documenting their journey in this process via a video blog with APA. Meet the Internship Hunters: http://www.apa.org/gradpsych/2012/11/internship-hunters.aspx

2) APA is trying to do something about the internship balance... maybe not helpful for us this year, but perhaps to others in the future?

http://www.apa.org/pubs/newsletters/access/2012/09-25/internship-crisis.aspx

3) A different way to look at those who secured internship positions for the 2011-2012 training year. http://www.apa.org/ed/accreditation/about/research/internship-applicants-data.pdf
 
Last night I received an invitation to interview at Pennsylvania Counseling Services. I applied for the Crossroads track. Interviews will be on January 8, 15, 23, and 30.

Good luck in the remaining week or so!
 
I applied to Napa State and am realizing that it may not have been as good of a fit as I imagined. All I know about it is what I gleaned from their materials. If anyone reading this was accepted for an interview or is familiar with the training could you please tell me about their orientation?
Thank you!!!
 
clinpsychjack said:
I haven't seen this on the list yet:

Invite-- VA Western New York Healthcare System, General Track. Haven't specified interview dates yet but it sounds like they're flexible as long as you contact them early.
Click to expand...

I was under the impression someone would be contacting you about dates and times.
 
DocMom617 said:
I applied to Napa State and am realizing that it may not have been as good of a fit as I imagined. All I know about it is what I gleaned from their materials. If anyone reading this was accepted for an interview or is familiar with the training could you please tell me about their orientation?
Thank you!!!
Click to expand...

Didn't apply, but wine country is nice for self-care 🙂 Nice wineries and spas! lol
 
stooge said:
I was under the impression someone would be contacting you about dates and times.
Click to expand...
Yes, that's right. And they added " if you have special needs to schedule your interview(s) with us in December around the holidays, contact me promptly, and I will get that set up." I am going to ask if they're offering anything in late January as well, just because my first three weeks of Jan. are completely booked.
 
KeepingFaith13 said:
Didn't apply, but wine country is nice for self-care 🙂 Nice wineries and spas! lol
Click to expand...

Ha ha indeed! I grew up in the area as a child and have always wanted to spend my later career years there. Plenty of time let to journey back but meanwhile very curious about the work at Napa State. Thanks All!
 
Got a generic e-mail rejection to Hutchings this morning.

I guess sites are going to be sending out notifications today. Even though it's rejection, I'm happy to hear something. I hope my remaining four sites just let me know soon either way.
 
psyclone13 said:
I am sad for those of you who have not gotten interviews. That is really unfair given all the time and effort required to complete a doctoral program and the internship application process. I wanted to ask whether you are certain that your letters of recommendation were glowing and not just good or tepid? It has recently come to my attention that some letter writers do not write letters that are as glowing as they need to be. Unfortunately, in the current climate, letters of recommendation essentially need to be over the top fantastic. Some letter writers instead use the letter as an opportunity to talk about your strengths and weaknesses. No! Others will agree to write you a letter--only to say something negative or write a tepid one that can damage your chances of getting an interview. Having a letter that is not strong enough can make it really difficult to get interviews, no matter how good your qualifications or experiences. To be sure that this did not happen to me, I asked all of my letter writers if they could write me "glowing" letters. One supervisor actually told me that she would write me a good but not great one, so I eliminated her and potentially dodged a bullet. I found out later that she generally did not write glowing letters and may have thus cost other students interviews in the past. Had I not asked specifically about a "glowing" letter and had she not been honest, I would have never known that I had a tepid letter doing untold damage to my application. I don't want to make anyone more anxious, but wanted to provide that information to anyone who may find him or herself in phase 2 of the match or in this process next year. I'm sorry again...:cry:
Click to expand...

You bring up a good point. (And it was wise of you to ask that supervisor about the glowing letter, and very nice that she gave you a very honest answer!) I actually requested to see my recommendation letters so I could connect any themes they brought up in my letter in my essays or cover letters. I do think that the two letters from my practicum supervisors were not particularly glowing. They were not bad letters, but I don't think they were personal enough or detailed enough to make me sound really good. Don't get me wrong, they were positive and none of my letters addressed weaknesses, but I also don't think they made me stand out like they could have. My research/academic supervisor's letter was better and longer, but still maybe not a positive as I would have liked. I didn't really have my pick of people to write my letters because I've only had the opportunity to do two offsite practica (there are limited practicum sites that we can go to and at some points it has been the case that some off-site practicum students struggle to find one by the beginning of the next school year). We are also not able to do practica in the summer due to funding issues. I'm definitely starting to think through my materials and what I can personally do to improve them.

Thanks for everyone's support and encouragement! :clap:
 
ReadyGo2013 said:
I received a letter that stated I would still be ranked but they are not extending a personal interview.... what does that even mean? Should I bother ranking them if I've never been them? Has anyone heard of people matching in a situation like this?
Click to expand...
I received a similar message from Eastern Kansas VA - Leavenworth. It sounds like they will still rank us, but based only on the application. They were one of my top sites, so I will be ranking them. Because I don't have any interviews, it makes sense for me to rank them. I don't know about the odds of matching there, I would imagine to match, everyone who interviews would have to do pretty poorly and/or someone would have to re-read my app and just fall in love! 😛 If you have other interviews and places that you prefer better, you might not want to rank them. But I would think that if you like the site a decent amount, it couldn't hurt to rank them, even if it's last. That would probably be the route I would take if I had many interviews. 🙂
 
Has anyone received any acknowledgement of their application to the Ann Arbor VA, or do they not do that? I know they have open houses on the 8th and the 15th, but I figured they would still send out some sort of email to acknowledge that you're under consideration b/c they received your application materials. Let me know if anyone has any insight on this. Thanks!
 
DocMom617 said:
I applied to Napa State and am realizing that it may not have been as good of a fit as I imagined. All I know about it is what I gleaned from their materials. If anyone reading this was accepted for an interview or is familiar with the training could you please tell me about their orientation?
Thank you!!!
Click to expand...

It appears that most clinicians there adhere to psychodynamic orientation.
 
clinpsychjack said:
Has anyone received any acknowledgement of their application to the Ann Arbor VA, or do they not do that? I know they have open houses on the 8th and the 15th, but I figured they would still send out some sort of email to acknowledge that you're under consideration b/c they received your application materials. Let me know if anyone has any insight on this. Thanks!
Click to expand...

They don't send out acknowledgements unless they decide they're not going to rank you. So it's actually a good thing if you hear absolutely nothing from them.

Their rankings are already in by the time the open houses roll around.
 
Has anyone heard from Henry Ford Pediatric Neuro regarding rejections? I know invites were sent out a while back so I've been waiting on my rejection but nothing...

And how about any news from New Connections Academy or the Rappahannock Area Community Services Board?

These are all sites with Dec. 15th notifications so hopefully those of us who haven't heard yesterday will get some news today!
 
Both lists have been updated now!

However, this may be the last update as I had to do major editing again due to being over characters... I've been updating for over 10 hours now... waaay too long!!! 😱
 
My 2 cents about this process by on my experience:

I think that sites are definitely really good at figuring who will be good fits to their programs. There were several sites that I applied to because of geographic location. Although I thought I made a good case for why I am a fit at those sites, those are the only 5 sites that I have gotten a rejection from. i think that the cover letter only goes so far in establishing fit but after looking at your CV and other materials they can figure out who is being more up front about fit. I also wonder about how much the clinical hours and experiences really count. I by no means have a ton of clinical hours or a huge range of experiences, but I have a solid CV, solid letters, great progress on my dissertation, and my program is respected (certainly not an Ivy League or public ivy league caliber though) and i think thats why i have gotten my interviews. There have also been people in my program who only had hours from our department clinic and university counseling center yet got an internship at VAs.

I wish everyone the best. For the people who haven't gotten interviews and this is their 2nd or third time applying, are your programs doing anything to help you out?
 
Email invitation to interview at FMC Carswell! So happy right now 😀
 
Has anyone gotten an offer from Harry S Truman VA? If so, what are their interview dates?
 
PhDInsanity said:
Has anyone heard from Henry Ford Pediatric Neuro regarding rejections? I know invites were sent out a while back so I've been waiting on my rejection but nothing...

And how about any news from New Connections Academy or the Rappahannock Area Community Services Board?

These are all sites with Dec. 15th notifications so hopefully those of us who haven't heard yesterday will get some news today!
Click to expand...

I have a friend that was an intern at Rappahannock last year and stated that the place was on its way out for interns and likely would not continue the program. Not sure if its happening, but its possible.
 
cparki33 said:
Has anyone gotten an offer from Harry S Truman VA? If so, what are their interview dates?
Click to expand...

I got an invite back in November (the day before Thanksgiving, I think?) via telephone, so I'm not sure of all of the interview dates. Mine is January 25. I'm also not sure if their invites were rolling or not, so if you haven't been rejected, you could still be in the running.

Still no word from the Memphis VA...anyone else? That's the only site that I have yet to hear from, and it's one of the ones that really impressed me, so I was hoping to get one last invite.
 
I am pretty sure my strong fit and applying across the country to places that are an amazing fit helped me. and i worked hard to make sure that my app was less 4 500 wd essays and a 750 wd cover letter but one 2750 word essay in 5 parts, if that makes sense. overall I got rejections from more generalist places. I also took a gamble, in addition to communicating the fit consistently throughout all of my materials, I also went personal and really showed who I am, in my essay 1 especially. I was afraid doing so, since I was applying to many amc's and VA's, but I really wanted to know if sites wanted "me". Like i said it was a gamble, but it paid off. it makes me feel better ging into my interviews that i can really be myself, and since i have done well for invites, it makes me feel better about rejections, because i really want to go to places that want "me". I also applied to a large number of sites. I may have gotten too many interviews, but my goodness how can you know how this will turn out? I was applying to mostly sites no one in my program had ever applied to, and have a unique interest/specialization that i don't think others in my program had before, and went personal. like coloradocutter said, i also consulted with my partner and family, and we agreed this is my decision, in terms of number of places. it is a shame i felt like i was playing roulette in vegas when i sent my appi out after 5 years of training. at this point i have lucked out, and i use that word luck consciously.
 
Has anyone received a rejection from Children's National? I know they did invites weeks ago but I haven't seen any posts about rejections.
 
Anyone heard anything from:

Trenton Psychiatric Hospital
San Bernardino County Department of Behavioral Health

Thanks!
 
nicu82 said:
I have a friend that was an intern at Rappahannock last year and stated that the place was on its way out for interns and likely would not continue the program. Not sure if its happening, but its possible.
Click to expand...

Hmm...thanks for warning me of that possibility! Do you know if your friend had a positive experience as an intern there?
 
tiredpsychgrad said:
Very nice non-personalized rejection from Hawaii VA.

Gonna be honest, the fact that the e-mail started with a dead-serious "Aloha" made the rejection go down a lot easier!

So I am now completely done. I have heard from all of mine. I ended up with
10 interviews
13 rejections

That's actually slightly better than I was hoping for! I was banking on 5-8 interviews.
Click to expand...

I got one of those too! It was a very nice email plus i wasn't really banking on that one.


As for those without interviews I agree with everyone. I am sad and upset for all of you. I feel that the lack of sites is annoying and unfair. It has become that in order to even possibly match for an internship you must be overly qualified for an internship and even then your prospects are limited. I hope each of you who are still waiting on a few places receives invites, and those who aren't I am praying you all match in the 2nd match day.
 
nyprincess said:
Both lists have been updated now!

However, this may be the last update as I had to do major editing again due to being over characters... I've been updating for over 10 hours now... waaay too long!!! 😱
Click to expand...

Ohhh my!!!! That's forever!!! Ohh no! Don't waste up all your time....we can search through the thread...definitely!
 
PhDInsanity said:
Has anyone heard from Henry Ford Pediatric Neuro regarding rejections? I know invites were sent out a while back so I've been waiting on my rejection but nothing...

And how about any news from New Connections Academy or the Rappahannock Area Community Services Board?

These are all sites with Dec. 15th notifications so hopefully those of us who haven't heard yesterday will get some news today!
Click to expand...

I received my Henry Ford Neuro rejection a looooooooooooong long time ago! Towards the end of October, I believe. Check the thread for the date.
 
I'm waiting on...

Rappahannock
Trenton Psychiatric
Reading Hospital

Sent from my EVO using SDN Mobile
 
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