2014-2015 APPIC (internship) interview thread

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adsekhon said:
Getting very very tired of checking my email/phone every two minutes and jumping at every alert. But I guess that's all we can do at this point

: \
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I went for a massage and facial today to take a break from it and try to relax a bit. It helped while I was there, but I whipped my phone out of my bag as soon as I was done 🙂
 
ShakeyD said:
It's a tough dilemma for sure. I have a practicum and a psych based job as well. My psych based job is not used to the internship process, because most of the people that work there are LPCs or LPC-Interns. So far they have been accommodating as far as letting me change my schedule at the last minute, but I don't think they have really grasped how much work I am going to be missing in January, once all of my invites (hopefully) come in. I also teach, but I don't anticipate missing more than one or two classes, since most of the potential interview dates are before the semester starts. My practicum is really understanding. They know the goal is for me to match on internship and will let me do whatever I need to do to make an interview. I'm just trying to give my clients a heads up that I made need to cancel appointments. In the end, I've decided that I will sacrifice a pay check, or even the job itself, and run-up as much credit card debt as I need to in the process. It's a gamble, but I couldn't live with myself if I didn't match again and didn't do everything possible to improve my chances.
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I am also in a similar situation. My externship allows us to miss 4 days/year without makeup. I am going to use all of those days for interviews, but will definitely need to miss and therefore make up more than that. I am also teaching an undergrad class and already need to miss three classes for interviews. I am going to try to schedule guest lecturers on those days, but need to talk to my supervisor to see if this is ok. If not, I may have to leave my teaching position, which would really hurt financially.
 
Just got a rejection from Pacific Clinics, mass email. I had applied to the Child/Adolescent/Family track, but the email didn't specify any tracks.
 
Given that this system is so broken, I really believe that APPIC has a duty to gain a more comprehensive directory listing for each of the sites with legitimate statistics that show the names of programs that applicants have come from, who has been accepted from where, whether or not they really mean that "acceptable" is really "acceptable" etc etc etc. I think that sites should have to share how they give points to each application, i.e. how many publications = this many points, etc. Wouldn't it be more fair if we were given a rubric to understand their formulas? Wouldn't it save us A LOT of time and MONEY, and wouldn't it save them the trouble of having to sift through applications that they know will never make it? I'd love to know whether or not an initial assessment even includes reading of cover letters and essays. And, if not, then we should not have to submit those for the first round of their consideration. If we are still being considered after they see what they want from the general application, then we should be required to spend our time constructing cover letters and sharing essays. Last minute, I almost changed my dissertation to wanting to survey all of the training directors about this process. It probably would have been a great study. And it should still be done. This is not just a broken system because there are more students than slots. There are MANY reasons this continues to be broken and because we all continue to engage, it perpetuates itself. But, what choice does it feel like we have? None… right?

Sigh.
 
Has anyone received a rejection from Columbia/Presbyterian? It looks like they sent out some invites a few weeks ago, but I'm wondering if they're done.
 
anxietyisfun said:
Advice on phone interviews:
I didn't match last year so I did a very broad application base spanning from some great APA sites to some safety non-APA sites (think 15 - 40 applicants).
I'm doing well on interviews (if you count tracks separately, I'm at 7 - with a LOT left to hear from), and would like to do some phone interviews with my safeties. However, every time I debate it, I worry I'll sabotage myself and not match again.
The main reasons are money - I am NOT loaded - and client based since I still have a practicum AND a psych-based job.
What are other people doing? I'm especially curious about other people who didn't match last year and how they're handling this the second go-around.
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I am trying to limit my travel due to family reasons, and the two sites that I asked for phone interviews so far actually said they do not offer phone interviews at all. Just an FYI, unfortunately not everyone will be amenable to it.
 
anxietyisfun said:
Advice on phone interviews:
I didn't match last year so I did a very broad application base spanning from some great APA sites to some safety non-APA sites (think 15 - 40 applicants).
I'm doing well on interviews (if you count tracks separately, I'm at 7 - with a LOT left to hear from), and would like to do some phone interviews with my safeties. However, every time I debate it, I worry I'll sabotage myself and not match again.
The main reasons are money - I am NOT loaded - and client based since I still have a practicum AND a psych-based job.
What are other people doing? I'm especially curious about other people who didn't match last year and how they're handling this the second go-around.
Click to expand...

I'm also doing significantly better on interviews this year, and even though some are scheduled back-to-back I'm doing every thing I can to attend each one in person. I am at 8 right now and I told myself if I pass ~11 or 12, I may start to do phone interviews, but I really am going to try my best.

I have used credit card points and frequent flyer miles to pay for a significant portion of my flights, but I know not everyone has those options available tot hem. I also have a travel credit card that gives me extra points for travel booked on it, so that will hopefully help defray some costs involved even if indirectly.

I am fortunate in that my externship supervisors are quite familiar with the internship process and I've been reminding them that interview season is approaching for several weeks now. As for clients, while I totally hear your commitment to them, (assuming they are stable), the reality is.. people go on vacation, people get sick, people have to travel for many reasons and you as their provider are no different. As long as they have sufficient notice, I would try my best to not feel guilty about that.

I guess in general I just really want to maximize my chances of matching. Despite people insisting that a phone interview is acceptable, I just don't feel confident about that. If myself and someone else are roughly equivalent on paper, and they meet them but not me.. I just find it hard to believe the other person wouldn't have the edge.
 
heartdignan said:
How brutal does the BOP paperwork look?
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Really not bad at all. It's 12 attachments (11 for women because one is selective service) but a bunch are just sign your life away on the dotted line. A couple ask for all your info (like...ALL YOUR INFO. Credit check. Height. Weight. Eye color. Okay, good, now sign here and swear to God it's 100% accurate). The pain is just printing and scanning, really.
 
Some of the sites I applied to listed current and former interns (their schools as well) in the handbooks posted on their sites.
 
ClinicalGal said:
I am trying to limit my travel due to family reasons, and the two sites that I asked for phone interviews so far actually said they do not offer phone interviews at all. Just an FYI, unfortunately not everyone will be amenable to it.
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It seems like almost all college counseling centers do only phone interviews (which, I actually think is more fair from a social justice perspective). One of my sites (Southwest Consortium) offered two all day interview dates (8:30am-4pm) or had the option for phone interviews. Although I cannot really afford it, I decided that it would probably be better to go in person. I feel like if the decision comes down between someone who they met at an all day event vs someone they met during an hour phone call, they would probably choose the person they met in person since familiarity tends to increase liking. However, in-person also gives them more to judge. I was torn and hope I made the right decision. Also, I have never been to New Mexico and since I may end up living there, I would like to see what it is like. Just my thoughts.
 
Have anyone else not received an invite or rejection from the University of Pittsburgh college counseling center?
 
heartdignan said:
For the folks who got invites to university counseling centers, did you have experience in UCCs before applying?
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Majority of my practicum experience has been in UCC. I want to work in a UCC after graduation and that is why, I tailored my practicums and now my internship applications, to get UCC experience.
 
Site name: Texas Tech University Counseling Center (UCC)
-Date notified: 12/4/2014 at 2.40 pm EST
-Invite or rejection: Invitation
-Track (please specify even for general tracks): General track
-How notified (mass email, personal email, phone): Mass email.
-Interview dates offered: December 12th, January 5th, and January 9th (either Skype or in-person). Interview format is 2 ¼ hours in length (either 9:30-11:45 a.m. or 12:45-3:00 p.m., Central Time, each day).
 
Site name: Hines VA
-Date notified: 12/4/14
-Invite or rejection: Invitation
-Track (please specify even for general tracks): General track
-How notified (mass email, personal email, phone): Mass email.
-Interview dates offered: January 5, 6, 9, 12, 13, 16, and 21, 2015

They have a different way of scheduling interviews -- they tell you which 2 faculty members will be interviewing everyone for each date in addition to the director. You can also ask to interview with a max of 2 other staff members, but it looks like you might want to pick a date that has an interviewer you want to talk to scheduled. This is the first interview I have gotten that is set up this way.
 
howdoesthatmakeyoufeel said:
Given that this system is so broken, I really believe that APPIC has a duty to gain a more comprehensive directory listing for each of the sites with legitimate statistics that show the names of programs that applicants have come from, who has been accepted from where, whether or not they really mean that "acceptable" is really "acceptable" etc etc etc. I think that sites should have to share how they give points to each application, i.e. how many publications = this many points, etc. Wouldn't it be more fair if we were given a rubric to understand their formulas? Wouldn't it save us A LOT of time and MONEY, and wouldn't it save them the trouble of having to sift through applications that they know will never make it? I'd love to know whether or not an initial assessment even includes reading of cover letters and essays. And, if not, then we should not have to submit those for the first round of their consideration. If we are still being considered after they see what they want from the general application, then we should be required to spend our time constructing cover letters and sharing essays. Last minute, I almost changed my dissertation to wanting to survey all of the training directors about this process. It probably would have been a great study. And it should still be done. This is not just a broken system because there are more students than slots. There are MANY reasons this continues to be broken and because we all continue to engage, it perpetuates itself. But, what choice does it feel like we have? None… right?

Sigh.
Click to expand...
One of my friends just went to an event that had a panel of 4-5 training directors from local internship sites. They were asked what makes them pick some students and not others, and they said they couldn't give away "all their secrets." I think we will never know until we're on the other end helping pick out future interns.
 
heartdignan said:
One of my friends just went to an event that had a panel of 4-5 training directors from local internship sites. They were asked what makes them pick some students and not others, and they said they couldn't give away "all their secrets." I think we will never know until we're on the other end helping pick out future interns.
Click to expand...
I don't believe there should be "secrets" in a process such as this. Thanks for the share. I find that ridiculous.
 
At this point, nothing can be done as applications have already been submitted. But out of curiosity, what are peoples targets for interview invites? I'm aiming for 8 and I am at 4 at the moment with only a few left to hear back from. Most of the positions I applied to are highly competitive research focused positions. Curious about other peoples "ideal" and "safe" number.
 
Ready.Set.Go said:
At this point, nothing can be done as applications have already been submitted. But out of curiosity, what are peoples targets for interview invites? I'm aiming for 8 and I am at 4 at the moment with only a few left to hear back from. Most of the positions I applied to are highly competitive research focused positions. Curious about other peoples "ideal" and "safe" number.
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You may have already seen this before, but there is an article by Callahan et al. (2014) that you may find helpful, as it addresses this question with some empirical data. The analyses from the sample (N = 601) suggest that "6 or fewer interviews forecasts increased likelihood of going unmatched." Of course, the effect sizes are small, and there is probably a lot of noise in such data, so it is good to make your own judgments on them. Here is the article info if you want to read more: http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/tep/8/1/68/
 
Last edited:
psychchica80 said:
You may have already seen this before, but I attached an article in this post that you may find helpful, as it addresses this question with some empirical data. The analyses from the sample (N = 601) suggest that "6 or fewer interviews forecasts increased likelihood of going unmatched." Of course, the effect sizes are small, and there is probably a lot of noise in such data, so it is good to make your own judgments on them.
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Welp. That increased my anxiety. Thanks for sharing the article.
 
Ready.Set.Go said:
At this point, nothing can be done as applications have already been submitted. But out of curiosity, what are peoples targets for interview invites? I'm aiming for 8 and I am at 4 at the moment with only a few left to hear back from. Most of the positions I applied to are highly competitive research focused positions. Curious about other peoples "ideal" and "safe" number.
Click to expand...
I've read that national average is more like 5 or 6 interviews, or approximately 1/3rd of sites applied to, so that's kind of my target number. It does seem like a lot of the people posting on here are above that.. sampling bias?
 
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