YAYYYY!!!! YOU SURVIVED!!!! What an exciting milestone to reach! Although I guess now that means you have to go back to reality, which, idk about you, but I'm certainly not looking forward to haha. Regardless, congrats on finishing your interviews and good luck in thinking about rankings!
WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! What an awesome feeling to be both done with interviews AND to have found your #wandsite!! Speaking of, the #wandsite idea grew out of the idea that, as in Harry Potter where the wand chooses the wizard, the absolute best and most amazing site for each of us will find us.Interviews all done AND #wandsite was found along the way!!! Couldn't have done it (gracefully) without the #forumfam. Good luck to the rest of you still interviewing! <3
P.S. I still don't know what the hell #wandsite is or where it came from, but it's okay because I've got mad context clue skills
Yes, I think we're all in agreement that we should just continue this thing for forever hahah.
I actually have!! At first I panicked when I saw that they were emailing me and immediately thought they were emailing to say they weren't ranking me! Imagine my relief and unbelievably pleasant surprise when it was in fact them thanking me for taking the time to come visit and encouraging me to reach out if I needed. I don't know if this is the same site for but I imagine they sent a thank you to each applicant, despite it being personalized. I know that may be a twinge disappointing, and I think it goes to show how thoughtful and kind the site was.
Big shout-out and many thanks to @ToneTone, @PsychDreams @LizLemonIsMySpiritAnimal @justpeachy_2019 and @FlygirlPhD for the support the other day! It was ROUGH, AND I appreciate the support more than y'all can know! #goals
Anytime! That sounded like a crazy ordeal that would be horrible at any time, but especially during interview season! Hopefully it will be smooth sailing from here on out
Yeah AND the invitation list was never finalized - last update was STILL in early Dec. Sorry next year folks!Hey guys,
We're on page 133. On last year's match day, the analogous thread was on page 53.
Carry on.
Thanks, friend! I just stuffed my face with cannoli like
for tomorrow at this point
Totally normal. My site that was last on paper became my #wandsite. I say embrace the warm fuzzy feeling (I think they mean something!) and just be open at your next interview. Hopefully your gut will make it clear which one standsout.
First off, congrats on clearly rocking your apps! Second, I’ve felt that way at some sites, but luckily not all of mine...sorry to hear it. I have a few thoughts - one, I think this process genuinely does get built up more than it actually is. You should go for the best option available....but it’s NOT the rest of your life. I don’t think that means we should settle for something REALLY underwhelming, but at the end of the day, we have a limited amount of one and hours to go around. I think, also, there is more to it than number of opportunities - quality of them, relationships with supervisors, etc. will make a big difference. That’s where I look heavily to current interns. Also, you’ve still got three more! They may surprise you.
Absolutely! My spreadsheet is a bit out of control but hopefully in a good way and I am 100% happy to share it with anyone who wants it! Just PM me and I’ll email it to you
I have been worried about similar things. As psych moves more and more towards managed/integrated care, I feel silly for not applying to more hospital settings. But your interviewer is right, we always can gain more experience through post-doc. I guess one possible issue is, would we be less competitive for not having much experience in an area that we are looking to gain experience in???......... Idk that's what confuses me most about this whole process honestly, lol. It's similar to when an entry-level job requests applicants have 5 years experience that a person seeking an entry-level job would typically not have hahaha
Thank you SO much for this! You are spot on.
I'm like, are there really answers other than, "In the moment I fell back on reflective listening and other supported principles, and afterwards I sought supervision and looked stuff up"? It reminds me of the diversity essay in the application packet, where I was like ...there is a set of right answers here.
I think I mentioned this earlier in this thread, but for me, my #wandsite in person was also my #wandsite on paper. I was looking for pretty specific clinical experiences for internship and had some very specific goals I wanted to accomplish. This site had a lot of rich experiences that I felt I was both absolutely prepared for and could easily jump into and contribute, AND opportunities that were novel and would be a natural expansion and progression of my current skill set. Moving beyond the clinical stuff, I also had goals regarding research and training (i.e., being able to supervise prac students) and this site offered both of those opportunities as well. Finally, this site is in the kind of setting I see myself in in the future, and so I liked it for that reason as well.
I'm so glad to see so much community still happening here!! This #forumfam always leaves me in awe.
To answer an earlier question...It was a site that, on paper, had every aspect of training that I wanted with philosophical and theoretical approaches that are compatible with my own. I interviewed at a few other places that had nearly all of these things but were missing the kind of organizational environment that I want. @slaney described it perfectly...that desire for humanity and connection. My #wandsite had that in a way that other sites with the same training opportunities did not. I appreciated the high regard with which they treat their interns, their warmth and openness during the interview process, and the fact that the provision of their array of clinical services is clearly NOT dependent upon having interns. They're serious about focusing on training. I am totally impressed with how much this was emphasized at nearly all of my interview sites. It's also a site that fits my needs in terms of location/quality of life. I have a family who will be moving with me if I relocate for internship and this matters a lot. Aside from all of the rational reasons, it also just felt the most exciting to me. I was very invested in building relationships with the supervisors/staff and really enjoyed my interview because I was able to connect with some people I really liked and respected. I WANTED them to train me. I'm certainly very grateful for this forum and all of you that have made this process easier to survive!!! 
Good luck y'all.
I'm so glad i'm not the only one! My last interview is the one place I *loved* on paper, but the last interview I actually had felt like home. Also, is it weird that I had that kind of home
feel at an interview?
Yes- me too! I have two sites I'm pumped about. Although it's interesting- my family, mentor, and even the receptionist at our hospital (who is super sweet and who you can talk to about life) think I'll match to one specific site just because I, evidently, sound way more enthusiastic when I talk about it. ... So we shall see...
