2014-2015 APPIC (internship) interview thread

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So, if you're being interviewed at a program for more than one track, and you rank both tracks, does this count as "two sites" in the statistics? Or are we only talking about number of separate interviews/sites?
 
Invitation to interview at Cambridge Health Alliance via personalized email. Interview dates 12/15 through 12/19
 
So, if you're being interviewed at a program for more than one track, and you rank both tracks, does this count as "two sites" in the statistics? Or are we only talking about number of separate interviews/sites?

I believe they count separate tracks separately for purposes of the number of interviews. Although it can get a bit confusing based on how the questions are asked--they might distinguish, for example, the number of interviews you received (which could include one interview for multiple tracks) from the number sites you rank (which would count each track separately).
 
Eastern Virginia Medical School

Rejection via mass email on 12/4

I applied to Integrated Primary Care and Adult Inpatient Medical Hospital tracks, but they were not mentioned in the email.

I should also add that they used harsh bold font and underlining to tell me that I was no longer being considered. Kind of rude and not necessary. I get it.

This is a hard one to understand since I was feeling pretty confident about it, but I've also received interviews at places I wasn't expecting to get. I guess that goes to show that you can't predict anything in this process... Which is surprisingly comforting. I think.

Onward!
 
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 year I had 7 interviews (but I really only count 6 because one site interviewed over 120 people and their interview day was so disorganized that many applicants did not even get interviewed by as many supervisors as were supposed to) and I did not match. I know a student who only had 1 interview last year and matched (his site actually ended up in phase II, so unless they did not rank him at all, he was pretty much going to match. None of my sites, on the other hand, ended up in phase II). My program also makes us do APA internships and only a little over 60% of people matched to APA sites last year. This year, I already have 9 interviews scheduled and am waiting to hear from a bunch more sites. I would be happy if I had around 13, but still there is no guarantee of matching, especially at an APA site.
 
Last year I had 7 interviews (but I really only count 6 because one site interviewed over 120 people and their interview day was so disorganized that many applicants did not even get interviewed by as many supervisors as were supposed to) and I did not match. I know a student who only had 1 interview last year and matched (his site actually ended up in phase II, so unless they did not rank him at all, he was pretty much going to match. None of my sites, on the other hand, ended up in phase II). My program also makes us do APA internships and only a little over 60% of people matched to APA sites last year. This year, I already have 9 interviews scheduled and am waiting to hear from a bunch more sites. I would be happy if I had around 13, but still there is no guarantee of matching, especially at an APA site.

Hi psychrat - I am sorry to hear about last year. I definitely know there are no guarantees, and statistics don't matter to the individual. Overall, though, the article suggests that having 6 or fewer interviews is associated with increased chances of not matching. And, of course, all research has its limitations! Also, I did not write the article and am certainly not defending it or anything, but just putting it out there 🙂.
 
West Virginia University Medical Center, Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center, Neuropsychology Specialization
12/4
Invite
Phone call

Long Island Jewish Medical Center -The Zucker Hillside Hospital, Neuro Track
12/4
Rejection
Mass email
 
Site name: Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System
-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): Personalized email.
-Interview dates offered: January 7, 9, 12, 13, and 14
 
:soexcited::soexcited::soexcited:
More good news/updates

-Virginia Treatment Center for Children
-12/4
-Invite
-General Track
-Mass email notification
-Interview dates: 1/7; 1/9; 1/16


-Texas Child Study Center/Dell Children's Medical Center (apparently they are doing rolling invites!!)
-12/4
-Invite
-General Track
-Mass email notification
- 1/12, 1/16, 1/21
 
  • University of Massachusetts Medical School/Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital
  • Invitation on 12/4
  • Forensic Track
  • Phone call
  • 1/12 interview date
 
Hi psychrat - I am sorry to hear about last year. I definitely know there are no guarantees, and statistics don't matter to the individual. Overall, though, the article suggests that having 6 or fewer interviews is associated with increased chances of not matching. And, of course, all research has its limitations! Also, I did not write the article and am certainly not defending it or anything, but just putting it out there 🙂.

I didn't mean for you to take what I said in a negative way as I was just sharing my experience. I am very familiar with the limitations of research. I just do not want people to focus too much on that article because I did that last year (felt as if I was in the "safe zone") and was surprised on match day. Granted I applied to pretty desirable locations. All of the sites I emailed for feedback said I was ranked, but for highly desirable sites that only have three spots, one must be ranked at the very top 🙂
 
Question for those who went through this and underwent a testing situation during the interview. At least two sites I have gotten interview invites stated that they will have vignettes that we will be asked to complete under time pressure. Any idea what is entailed here? Trying to wonder how best to prep for this pretty anxiety inducing situation 🙂
 
Rejection from Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School received today 12/4 524PM EST via mass email. No track specified, but I applied to their CBT track. Not surprising, as they sent out invites a while ago.
 
Site: Texas A&M University UCC
Phone invite today, will email dates and times available in the coming days

I got that invite too. 🙂 She told me that the open houses were on January 9th and 12th. They do the face-to-face interviews during the open houses. I am taking the January 9th date (attending the open house). Phone interviews will also be scheduled during the week of January 5th. Have you decided whether you are doing the face-to-face or phone interview?
 
All rejections for me today too! I'm telling myself people like to give good news on Fridays!
I hope so! I have 4 interviews right now and 10 rejections. Granted, I applied to 33 sites, but a lot of those have already sent out invitations, so I don't have high hopes for most of the remaining sites.
 
I got that invite too. 🙂 She told me that the open houses were on January 9th and 12th. They do the face-to-face interviews during the open houses. I am taking the January 9th date (attending the open house). Phone interviews will also be scheduled during the week of January 5th. Have you decided whether you are doing the face-to-face or phone interview?

I'm still trying to decide if I want to do face to face or telephone... I don't have many sites that do onsite interviews or open houses, but most that do are around that first or second week in January. So I wish I knew more of my schedule and how these other sites will play out.
 
Advocate Family Care Network invitation! They called and offered me two dates, January 6 and 7, and a choice of three time slots, 8am, 9am, or 10am. Interviews are at their Boilingbrook location.
 
Site name: Texas Tech University Counseling Center (UCC)
-Date notified: 12/4
-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: 12/12, 1/5, and 1/9 Skype or on-site
 
Question for those who went through this and underwent a testing situation during the interview. At least two sites I have gotten interview invites stated that they will have vignettes that we will be asked to complete under time pressure. Any idea what is entailed here? Trying to wonder how best to prep for this pretty anxiety inducing situation 🙂
I did it last year when I interviewed with Didi Hirsch...they're just looking to see how you think...but they want as much information as you can give. I got the feedback that they wanted more differentials during my interview- so that's some helpful info you can use. 🙂
 
:soexcited::soexcited::soexcited:
More good news/updates

-Virginia Treatment Center for Children
-12/4
-Invite
-General Track
-Mass email notification
-Interview dates: 1/7; 1/9; 1/16


-Texas Child Study Center/Dell Children's Medical Center (apparently they are doing rolling invites!!)
-12/4
-Invite
-General Track
-Mass email notification
- 1/12, 1/16, 1/21
Eek. I've heard nothing from Texas Child...I hope those invites are still rolling along.
 
I got the feedback that they wanted more differentials during my interview- so that's some helpful info you can use. 🙂

This makes me curious how much sites expect us to know the DSM 5 and if using dx from IV-TR is adequate enough. Almost all the brochures I saw (granted some were a tad outdated) talked about using DSM-IV-TR diagnoses at their sites, and I would imagine most sites would be in the same boat that we all are - slowly trying to integrate. Because I guarantee the 5 was not out at the time any of us took Psychopathology.
 
-Site name: Mendota Mental Health Institute
-Date notified: 12/04/14
-Invite or rejection: Invite
-Track (please specify even for general tracks): None listed
-How notified (mass email, personal email, phone): Mass email
-Interview dates offered: 1/16, 1/20, 1/23, 1/26
 
Site Name: Southern Arizona VA
Date Notified: 12/04/14
Invite or Rejection: Rejection
Track (please specify even for general tracks): None listed
How notified (mass email, personal email, phone): Mass email

Site Name: Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine
Date Notified: 12/04/14
Invite or Rejection: Invitation
Track (please specify even for general tracks): Ben Taub - Adult Psych Track
How Notified (mass email, personal email, phone): Mass email
Interview Dates Offered: 1/05, 1/07, 1/12, 1/16, 1/26, 1/30
 
-Site name: Penn State Hershey Med Center
-Date notified: 12/04/14
-Invite or rejection: Invite
-Track (please specify even for general tracks): Adult Track
-How notified (mass email, personal email, phone): Mass email
-Interview dates offered: 12/15
 
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2 rejections today:

Fargo VA via email
SE LA (NOLA) VA via email

Not too upset about not having to go to Fargo but NOLA was pretty high on my list. Boo.
 
site: Southern Arizona VA
Invite
General track
Mass email
dates:
Dec 19 9 am to 12 pm
Jan 5 1:30 to 4 pm
Jan 9 1:30 to 4 pm
Jan 12 9 am to 12 pm

I also need some advice, If I responded to an invitation for an interview with date preferences on Monday and have not heard back yet, how long do I wait to contact the site to see about scheduling? Has anyone else been struggling with this? I don't want to pester because I know scheduling can be difficult but it does make it hard for me to schedule other interviews....
 
Question for those who went through this and underwent a testing situation during the interview. At least two sites I have gotten interview invites stated that they will have vignettes that we will be asked to complete under time pressure. Any idea what is entailed here? Trying to wonder how best to prep for this pretty anxiety inducing situation 🙂
I did a one for a neuro track. I was given a 5-6ish page neuropsych report and was told I had 30 minutes to read it, write a paragraph summarizing the results, my interpretations, diagnosis and 3 recommendations. I just remember thinking "crap, I see words on this paper but they aren't going into my brain." I believe it was from an actual report that was written. Granted, the actual presentation was a very common question (e.g.: depression vs dementia), but in 30 minutes it felt very daunting.
 
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