2014-2015 APPIC (internship) interview thread

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DoctorWorry said:
Now that we are done with interviews (so not competing) and looking for distraction- does anyone want to share any especially unusual interview circumstances or questions? 😛 Might be a fun distraction!

My most surprising question was one that asked, "If you were to catch your training director in the act with a fellow intern, how would you react and what would you do?"
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Wow, that is bizarre! It's so hard now to remember the specific questions I was asked, but a couple odd ones stand out:
"What is personality, and what causes it?"
and "Describe a time when someone told you something that surprised you, and tell how you handled it." (vague much?)
 
The weirdest question I got was, "What is the weirdest question you have been asked at an interview so far?"

My response: "Can I say this one?"

He seemed to like that response.
 
Deeogee28, so sorry to hear about your surgery. And psychchica80, getting hit by a car. That is the last thing needed after this process. Really puts things into perspective. I've been asking myself if my level of worry is anywhere near in proportion to what this one year of life will mean down the road. My intuition says definitely not, but somehow I'm still worried. :lame:
T-10 days everyone. The countdown begins. We're almost there. Congrats for making it to this point! :clap:
 
Hm...I got "What are 5 words your friends would use to describe you"
 
During one of my phone interviews with a group of psychologists, I finished answering the question and there was a very long pause and one of the interviewers said "Oh! did we lose you or was that your answer?" That didn't go well. Needless to say, I ranked the site last. I have been training for a half marathon which will be 2 days after Match day, so I'll either be running for joy or taking my frustration out on the course.
 
Nothing too out of the ordinary. During a group interview with other applicants I was asked to list my favorite theorist and everyone else went before me and said the three people I had in mind. In thinking too hard I forgot that I was the last one to go (and was waiting for someone else to speak who had already spoken). When I finally caught on, I blurted out a Buddhist psychologist. That got a lot of weird looks. Not my finest moment or my favorite site! Other weird-ish questions: "If you won 1,000 to spend in any store where would you spend it and why?" (random much?) and "what is the role of negative reinforcement in treating OCD?" (Suddenly felt like I was back in psych 101).
 
pittpsych2014 said:
Nothing too out of the ordinary. During a group interview with other applicants I was asked to list my favorite theorist and everyone else went before me and said the three people I had in mind. In thinking too hard I forgot that I was the last one to go (and was waiting for someone else to speak who had already spoken). When I finally caught on, I blurted out a Buddhist psychologist. That got a lot of weird looks. Not my finest moment or my favorite site! Other weird-ish questions: "If you won 1,000 to spend in any store where would you spend it and why?" (random much?) and "what is the role of negative reinforcement in treating OCD?" (Suddenly felt like I was back in psych 101).
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Oh man, you know how I felt about that last one!!
 
I'm just waiting here patiently for my match results.

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These are some amazing questions, thanks everyone for offering your thoughts!

9 days to go- we made it a full week from ranking day! I am hopeful one day and not hopeful other days. I feel very labile all the time. I had a dream I didn't match and my least favorite cohort member got my email instead of me so had to tell me. Analyze that, right??
 
I kind of wish we were getting more emails from Greg Keilin telling us exactly what is happening every single second within the national matching service. Maybe something like "today nat match services double checked the rankings and realized 100 applicants were fake and thus dropped them from rankings." or "today the APPIC board has decided to let results be released 9 days early, please log in to your accounts to get your results"
 
Do people have a good sense of approximately what time we receive the match e-mail? I know the information says "by 10AM"... but from hearing from people you know last year, did people find out right at 10 or before? I have a meeting at 8:30-11:30 that morning and I won't have my phone and I am going to be dyingggg if I don't hear by 8:30!!
 
Is there anyone else who did not match last year who is having anxiety about not matching again this year? I do not know if I could cope if I do not match again. It took a major blow to my confidence last year 🙁
 
After not matching last year...I don't know, it was a huge bummer but not the end of the world. I had considered not matching as a real possibility and had a good Plan B that I ended up implementing. This year, I feel much much more confident about matching. More interviews and a much better experience at these interviews. If I don't match this year....it's going to be really devastating, I'm not going to lie. But I honestly think it would have to be a huge fluke of the universe for that to happen. I had a much better experience this go around.
 
DontDissTheDiss said:
After not matching last year...I don't know, it was a huge bummer but not the end of the world. I had considered not matching as a real possibility and had a good Plan B that I ended up implementing. This year, I feel much much more confident about matching. More interviews and a much better experience at these interviews. If I don't match this year....it's going to be really devastating, I'm not going to lie. But I honestly think it would have to be a huge fluke of the universe for that to happen. I had a much better experience this go around.
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The stats about number of interviews and chances of matching are much more in my favor compared to last year, and I felt that my interviews went well this year (although I thought the same last year), but I just cannot shake this sense of anxiety...what if the system is fluked?
 
psychrat said:
Is there anyone else who did not match last year who is having anxiety about not matching again this year? I do not know if I could cope if I do not match again. It took a major blow to my confidence last year 🙁
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I am with you. I think you said your program requires an apa accredited internship. Mine doesn't, so I have a plan in place of an unaccredited internship I could pursue if the Match doesn't work out. In many ways, I am much less anxious this year. However, I just want to know the outcome. You seemed to have a ton of interviews this time around, so that only betters your odds!
 
songthatneverends said:
I am with you. I think you said your program requires an apa accredited internship. Mine doesn't, so I have a plan in place of an unaccredited internship I could pursue if the Match doesn't work out. In many ways, I am much less anxious this year. However, I just want to know the outcome. You seemed to have a ton of interviews this time around, so that only betters your odds!
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yep, an APA-accredited site is required to graduate, so I do not know what I will do if I do not match. I took on an extra externship this year and am teaching as an adjunct, as well as working on my dissertation, but I cannot do that indefinitely and would like to graduate. I did have a lot of interviews, so hopefully I will match to one of them :nailbiting:
 
I think this is a good time to practice in-the-moment living. You can drive yourself crazy with a thousand what-if's.
 
Living in the moment is great, but hopefully we tell our patients that something truly anxiety provoking and life changing is okay to be worried about. Acceptance is a good approach- this is a ****ty situation that is flawed and hurts people. That is very true and real, and being worried and thinking what-if is normal. Accepting the reality of the pain and fear does not mean we think it's okay, and does not mean we are not living in the moment (This IS the moment).

I say this as someone who did not match more than once. People don't understand the impact it can have on your life. Sure one year is okay, we can do our dissertations. But another year, or another year after is draining and exhausting and you question everything, loans pile up, your cohort has long since graduated. It is miserable.

It does not mean you have to be miserable but being miserable until you find out is okay. Socially I want to apologize for this rant but I feel it is an important point.
 
DontDissTheDiss said:
I think this is a good time to practice in-the-moment living. You can drive yourself crazy with a thousand what-if's.
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You're right. I just had a bit of a freak out today. One of the other students at my externship site (who I view as highly qualified) just received a letter from his top choice stating that they decided not to rank him. It is weird because you think the site would have sent the letter sooner. He was really upset, but said that at this particular site, the training director did not want to take part in the rankings and left it up to the current interns and postdocs (who apparently conducted most of the interviews that day). I think his experience brought up the feelings of rejection and discouragement that I felt last year.
 
Name1234567 said:
Do people have a good sense of approximately what time we receive the match e-mail? I know the information says "by 10AM"... but from hearing from people you know last year, did people find out right at 10 or before? I have a meeting at 8:30-11:30 that morning and I won't have my phone and I am going to be dyingggg if I don't hear by 8:30!!
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Yeah, I have a feeling you'll be "sick" that morning. I should know, I'm (hopefully) almost a doctor =P
 
psychrat said:
You're right. I just had a bit of a freak out today. One of the other students at my externship site (who I view as highly qualified) just received a letter from his top choice stating that they decided not to rank him. It is weird because you think the site would have sent the letter sooner. He was really upset, but said that at this particular site, the training director did not want to take part in the rankings and left it up to the current interns and postdocs (who apparently conducted most of the interviews that day). I think his experience brought up the feelings of rejection and discouragement that I felt last year.
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Wow, just wow. What's the point of telling him he wasn't ranked at this point??
 
AppsAintNoThang said:
Wow, just wow. What's the point of telling him he wasn't ranked at this point??
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That's what I said. It seems cruel! I wonder if it is just a power trip since the training director is not the one who sent the letter.
 
psychrat said:
You're right. I just had a bit of a freak out today. One of the other students at my externship site (who I view as highly qualified) just received a letter from his top choice stating that they decided not to rank him. It is weird because you think the site would have sent the letter sooner. He was really upset, but said that at this particular site, the training director did not want to take part in the rankings and left it up to the current interns and postdocs (who apparently conducted most of the interviews that day). I think his experience brought up the feelings of rejection and discouragement that I felt last year.
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The training director doesn't want to do his job. Could there be a bigger red flag?
 
psychrat said:
You're right. I just had a bit of a freak out today. One of the other students at my externship site (who I view as highly qualified) just received a letter from his top choice stating that they decided not to rank him. It is weird because you think the site would have sent the letter sooner. He was really upset, but said that at this particular site, the training director did not want to take part in the rankings and left it up to the current interns and postdocs (who apparently conducted most of the interviews that day). I think his experience brought up the feelings of rejection and discouragement that I felt last year.
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This IS weird and questionable behavior on the part of the site so I hope he matches elsewhere and he will be better off. APPIC advises TDs that if you do not have "not ranking" information determined well in advance of the ranking date (an many sites do not), then do NOT send it--since it does not affect that liklihood of matching AND it makes students miserable and should not affect their ranking. Sending it now is thoughtless, disregards the APPIC recommendation, AND for a TD to "not take part" in rankings and let interns and post-docs decide sounds negligent. I hope it is hearsay not a fact for an accredited site as it would deserve a complaint if well-founded.
 
Personally, I wish that sites across the board did not inform us about being ranked vs. not being ranked. It doesn't change anything and causes unneeded stress and worry. Even though it's nice to hear good news about being ranked, I always had to wonder about sites in which I received no further news about ranking...do they just not tell people? Did they secretly not rank me? I don't know. I just don't think the news is terribly helpful.
 
DontDissTheDiss said:
Personally, I wish that sites across the board did not inform us about being ranked vs. not being ranked. It doesn't change anything and causes unneeded stress and worry. Even though it's nice to hear good news about being ranked, I always had to wonder about sites in which I received no further news about ranking...do they just not tell people? Did they secretly not rank me? I don't know. I just don't think the news is terribly helpful.
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I agree. I'd rather not know since it doesn't really change anything. It was just an abrupt reminder that not all sites rank everyone they interviewed. He felt that the interview went well, which is even more terrifying.
 
psychrat said:
I agree. I'd rather not know since it doesn't really change anything. It was just an abrupt reminder that not all sites rank everyone they interviewed. He felt that the interview went well, which is even more terrifying.
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Yes, an abrupt reminder that I no one needs. Ugh...something else to ruminate/obsesses about....sites that don't rank all of their interviewees. So much for getting that report done tonight....
 
Psychwomen said:
Yes, an abrupt reminder that I no one needs. Ugh...something else to ruminate/obsesses about....sites that don't rank all of their interviewees. So much for getting that report done tonight....
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Well, according to the APPIC Match stats from 2014, each internship position ranks an average of ~8 applicants so depending on the number of positions it seems that most (since the stat is an average and no SD is reported) wouldn't rank all of their applicants. I do want to add a serious note about all of this worry and anxiety. Along with my religiosity, I tend to cope with humor (as can be seen by other posts) followed with OC traits of analyzing data. And we have to remember this is the 2nd straight year (if the email from a couple of weeks ago holds true) that there is a decrease in applicants for the match. This tells me that potential pysch program students are starting to wise up to the fact that the student loans, career salaries, and internship imbalance are simply not worth the trouble. So this bodes well for those of us waiting to match right now. However what does that say about our field who let this happen in the first place and let it get this far? I'm not going to lie, I've definitely thought several times that I should have gone into medicine or another field that doesn't have the kind of pipeline problems that clinical psych has. Just my thoughts, it does help me to say them on this forum. I hope and pray everyone on this forum matches.
 
whatWAISithinking said:
Well, according to the APPIC Match stats from 2014, each internship position ranks an average of ~8 applicants .
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So does that mean if they have three positions they will rank 24 (one for each spot) or 8 total?


AudreyGriswold said:
I just heard that the match itself takes less than 6 seconds to run. Mind. Blown.
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I wonder if it is all set now or they are still checking?
 
Yes, it means a site will rank (on average) 8 people per available slot. I've been told that many sites rank around 10. I actually have tricked myself in to thinking "well my one site has six spots, it looks like they interviewed about 50 people, good ratio!"

Doing this for a second time has been an interesting experience. I got more interviews (though not many more) and felt much better/comfortable during my interviews. I think the sites I interviewed with our great fits for me, and I didn't have that feeling last year. However, I have found myself vascillating between total confidence I'll match and utter despair that I won't (though only for random moments). My overall impression is I've got a 50/50 chance, just my gut feeling. If I were gambling in Vegas I would take those odds any day of the week...with my career though....
 
ChiPhD99 said:
Yes, it means a site will rank (on average) 8 people per available slot. I've been told that many sites rank around 10. I actually have tricked myself in to thinking "well my one site has six spots, it looks like they interviewed about 50 people, good ratio!"

Doing this for a second time has been an interesting experience. I got more interviews (though not many more) and felt much better/comfortable during my interviews. I think the sites I interviewed with our great fits for me, and I didn't have that feeling last year. However, I have found myself vascillating between total confidence I'll match and utter despair that I won't (though only for random moments). My overall impression is I've got a 50/50 chance, just my gut feeling. If I were gambling in Vegas I would take those odds any day of the week...with my career though....
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While we are talking about stats. In the last couple of days, I've wondered if there was a way to come up with a formula to give a probability of matching based on some of the facts we know about last year. For instance, the stats show that applicants from PhD/EdD matched at a percentage of 77.1% vs PsyD which was 69%. So in this theoretical formula you could plug in what type of program you came from, number of interviews you were offered, gender, ethnicity, or whatever else APPIC posts re: applicant characteristic match rates. Unfortunately I'm a stats guy not a math whiz, but it would be a fun thing to come up with to pass the time until match day.
 
The thing is, not everyone has the same chance. It's not like the lottery where every number has an even chance at winning. Application factors make some people sure bets and others nigh un-rankable. You could narrow it down somewhat with things that matter, what kind of program, number of interviews (to a degree, this is also confounded), etc. But I imagine other factors play in to this so much more. How do you quantify strength of LOR's, which is something that is strongly considered? Match to a site, also strongly considered.

I'd be interested to see someone try, but the most important factors are not actually available in quantifiable form to applicants.
 
Ugh 8 days left...I just want to know!!!! This is so stressful 🙁
 
AudreyGriswold said:
I watched a video from u penn's med school match day And one of the faculty in the video said that match takes less than 6 seconds to run. Since we use the same match system I just made the assumption that the same was true for ours.
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Thanks. Probably is. Fascinating.

WisNeuro said:
the checks and balances system to make sure that nothing was irrevocably screwed up takes much longer.
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So curious about this....I wonder how it works. 😕
 
WisNeuro said:
The thing is, not everyone has the same chance. It's not like the lottery where every number has an even chance at winning. Application factors make some people sure bets and others nigh un-rankable. You could narrow it down somewhat with things that matter, what kind of program, number of interviews (to a degree, this is also confounded), etc. But I imagine other factors play in to this so much more. How do you quantify strength of LOR's, which is something that is strongly considered? Match to a site, also strongly considered.

I'd be interested to see someone try, but the most important factors are not actually available in quantifiable form to applicants.
Click to expand...
Agreed WisNeuro, it would definitely not be an accurate formula due to those confounding variables, but it was a bit of an ego boost when I found out that applicants who were offered 9 interviews (like myself) matched at a higher rate. At least it kept me from ruminating about not matching. So I could see how this formula could cause angst if people didn't have the "desired" characteristics. So I am retracting my desire to create this formula, in my imagination it shall be destroyed for the good of all humanity.
 
whatWAISithinking said:
Agreed WisNeuro, it would definitely not be an accurate formula due to those confounding variables, but it was a bit of an ego boost when I found out that applicants who were offered 9 interviews (like myself) matched at a higher rate. At least it kept me from ruminating about not matching. So I could see how this formula could cause angst if people didn't have the "desired" characteristics. So I am retracting my desire to create this formula, in my imagination it shall be destroyed for the good of all humanity.
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Just remember that those stats do not seperate accredited and non accredited sites, so the numbers could be misleading. Only around 62 percent matched to apa sites last year.
 
Soooo I did something stupid.....

I went and started reading the forum of Phase II match from last year....

Now Im panicking. Perfectly wonderful applicants, with ridiculous numbers of interviews, didn't match, in either phase. My neurotic mind went straight to "If they didn't match, there is NO WAY you are gonna match..."

I need help getting out of it! Ahhhh!!!!
 
hi guys,
whilst we are waiting for matchday to come. Can someone answer this question?
What does fit mean? Is it already having clinical experience in the rotations the sites offer?
 
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