2018-2019 APPIC Internship Interview Thread

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-Full Site Name: Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care
-Track: Severe mental illness
-Invite or rejection: Rejection
-Date of Notification: 12/13/17 around 3:45PM (however, attached rejected letter dated 12/05)
-How You Were Notified: Mass email
 
Just wondering if anyone knows what these internship site accreditation statuses mean? Are they considered accredited for the interns or what?

Status:
Under review - applicant, accredited, on contingency
Under review - applicant, accredited, full accreditation

Got them from this site: Programs Applying for Initial Accreditation
 
WiseMind said:
Just wondering if anyone knows what these internship site accreditation statuses mean? Are they considered accredited for the interns or what?

Status:
Under review - applicant, accredited, on contingency
Under review - applicant, accredited, full accreditation

Got them from this site: Programs Applying for Initial Accreditation
Click to expand...
That means they've applied to be either fully accredited or accredited on contingency, but their application is under review. The process can take months, so it's no guarantee, but the accreditation date goes from the site visit date. You'd want to contact the site and ask if they've had their site visit and when.
 
Mt. Sinai Adolescent Health Center
Rejection
12/13/17
Mass email

Astor Services for Children and Families - Dutchess County site
Track: Residential Treatment Center/Outpatient Clinic
Invite
12/13/17
Personal email
1/5 and 1/19...same as EVERYONE ELSE, so here's hoping I can do Skype
 
The frustrating thing about this whole process is the lack of feedback we receive on rejections beyond "Sorry, we had too many qualified applicants." How the hell does that help us improve ourselves in the future? It gets really discouraging getting back to back rejections without any knowledge of why you didn't meet their standards. Did they dislike one of my essays? Was it a problem with a letter of rec? The complete lack of feedback makes it unable for us to work on improving in the future (I mean, not that we're doing this again, hopefully).

APPIC should require sites to give a reason for rejection. Hell, we all applied on the APPIC site, these locations should be required to give something with regards to feedback. It could just be a drop down list of options like "Not enough assessment experience," "Not enough therapy experience," "Poor letter of recommendation," "Poor multicultural essay" etc etc. It would at least give us SOMETHING that we could look at and see how we could improve in the future.
 
WiseMind said:
Just wondering if anyone knows what these internship site accreditation statuses mean? Are they considered accredited for the interns or what?

Status:
Under review - applicant, accredited, on contingency
Under review - applicant, accredited, full accreditation

Got them from this site: Programs Applying for Initial Accreditation
Click to expand...

I believe on contingency means all materials were approved except they did not have enough data to submit (e.g., only a few cohorts, still collecting data about attrition, placements after, etc.) More info here: Notice of Actions — Accreditation Status: Spring 2017
 
lucyduckfriend said:
-Full Site Name: Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care
-Track: Severe mental illness
-Invite or rejection: Rejection
-Date of Notification: 12/13/17 around 3:45PM (however, attached rejected letter dated 12/05)
-How You Were Notified: Mass email
Click to expand...
Same and so annoyed that they had *thank you* written in the body paragraph, i was like omg did I get it?! Oh no I didn't? Oh ok cool thanks for not notifying me
 
eventualphd said:
That means they've applied to be either fully accredited or accredited on contingency, but their application is under review. The process can take months, so it's no guarantee, but the accreditation date goes from the site visit date. You'd want to contact the site and ask if they've had their site visit and when.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much! So if a site has already had their site visit, are they technically considered accredited?
 
Mordz said:
The frustrating thing about this whole process is the lack of feedback we receive on rejections beyond "Sorry, we had too many qualified applicants." How the hell does that help us improve ourselves in the future? It gets really discouraging getting back to back rejections without any knowledge of why you didn't meet their standards. Did they dislike one of my essays? Was it a problem with a letter of rec? The complete lack of feedback makes it unable for us to work on improving in the future (I mean, not that we're doing this again, hopefully).

APPIC should require sites to give a reason for rejection. Hell, we all applied on the APPIC site, these locations should be required to give something with regards to feedback. It could just be a drop down list of options like "Not enough assessment experience," "Not enough therapy experience," "Poor letter of recommendation," "Poor multicultural essay" etc etc. It would at least give us SOMETHING that we could look at and see how we could improve in the future.
Click to expand...

I agree! I e-mailed a few sites and received helpful/kind responses from all of them. It's worth a shot!
 
Mordz said:
The frustrating thing about this whole process is the lack of feedback we receive on rejections beyond "Sorry, we had too many qualified applicants." How the hell does that help us improve ourselves in the future? It gets really discouraging getting back to back rejections without any knowledge of why you didn't meet their standards. Did they dislike one of my essays? Was it a problem with a letter of rec? The complete lack of feedback makes it unable for us to work on improving in the future (I mean, not that we're doing this again, hopefully).

APPIC should require sites to give a reason for rejection. Hell, we all applied on the APPIC site, these locations should be required to give something with regards to feedback. It could just be a drop down list of options like "Not enough assessment experience," "Not enough therapy experience," "Poor letter of recommendation," "Poor multicultural essay" etc etc. It would at least give us SOMETHING that we could look at and see how we could improve in the future.
Click to expand...
I definitely feel this way too. It's super frustrating to get a whole bunch of rejections and have no idea if/where you went wrong. For what it's worth, someone else here mentioned a while back that their DCT said it's ok to ask sites for feedback about why you were rejected (unless they explicitly say they do not give feedback - I've had a couple of those). That is definitely an intimidating prospect though...
 
Hey everyone, my friend is wondering if anyone heard anything about "CorrectCare, LLC/South Florida State Hospital (APPIC #1211)" I tried to search for it in the thread, but nothing's come up. Has anyone heard anything regarding this site?
 
WiseMind said:
Thank you so much! So if a site has already had their site visit, are they technically considered accredited?
Click to expand...
No, if their application gets approved, then they are accredited, but it's the date of the site visit, not the date they're notified.
 
Marissa4usa said:
Has anyone heard from the University of West Virginia Health Sciences Center (in Charleston, WV)? They had a late application deadline (12/1), and their interview notification date is 1/6/2018. However, their earliest interview date is also 1/5.
Click to expand...
Are you talking about West Virginia University Health Sciences Center, Charleston (#1637)??

If so- you are supposed to contact them to request an interview. The interview procedures are outlined on the website main page. They don't offer interviews, you have to show interest.
 
eventualphd said:
That means they've applied to be either fully accredited or accredited on contingency, but their application is under review. The process can take months, so it's no guarantee, but the accreditation date goes from the site visit date. You'd want to contact the site and ask if they've had their site visit and when.
Click to expand...

That has actually changed. Accreditation no longer goes back to the date of the site visit and now goes to the date of the meeting in which accreditation is granted.
 
m0chicheeks said:
Hey everyone, my friend is wondering if anyone heard anything about "CorrectCare, LLC/South Florida State Hospital (APPIC #1211)" I tried to search for it in the thread, but nothing's come up. Has anyone heard anything regarding this site?
Click to expand...


A friend of mine got a rejection yesterday
 
I'll just be over here, waiting.
4uxyh0cx.wza.gif
 
Full Site Name: university of Florida counseling and wellness center
Track: none
Invite/Rejection: invite
How Notified: mass email
Date Notified: 12/13/17
Interview Dates: Skype interviews 1/9-1/22 and then second interview 1/24-2/2

If & how you’re staying sane: I see the light at the end of the tunnel
 
onwardsandup said:
Waiting for these last two rejections and it feels like I'm in a relationship with a guy who is really distant recently, maybe checking out girls and taking their numbers (and thinks I don't know, HA!), and I just want it to work out between us - but also preparing myself for him to eventually break up with me. CHOC and Phoenix need to just break up with me, real quick.
Click to expand...

this made my day
 
Mordz said:
The frustrating thing about this whole process is the lack of feedback we receive on rejections beyond "Sorry, we had too many qualified applicants." How the hell does that help us improve ourselves in the future? It gets really discouraging getting back to back rejections without any knowledge of why you didn't meet their standards. Did they dislike one of my essays? Was it a problem with a letter of rec? The complete lack of feedback makes it unable for us to work on improving in the future (I mean, not that we're doing this again, hopefully).

APPIC should require sites to give a reason for rejection. Hell, we all applied on the APPIC site, these locations should be required to give something with regards to feedback. It could just be a drop down list of options like "Not enough assessment experience," "Not enough therapy experience," "Poor letter of recommendation," "Poor multicultural essay" etc etc. It would at least give us SOMETHING that we could look at and see how we could improve in the future.
Click to expand...

You are always welcome to ask. Making it an APPIC requirement would be...problematic to say the least. You'd get equally vague descriptions about "blah blah, so many qualified applications blahblah, could only invite XX many" and so on. And quite frankly, most of us do not have the time to write an individualized reason for every applicant that did not get an interview. Many sites get triple digits of applicants, and the majority of those applicants will not get an interview. That's a lot of individualized e-mails to write when you also have a full patient load, administrative meetings, and current trainee responsibilities. I understand that it's a frustrating process. Every one who is at a training site/part of a training committee has been there too. But, we're doing out best as well. If you really want to know, ask nicely. Some of the sites will provide feedback as to why an application was rejected.
 
Off-topic: Go watch the opening sequence of She's Gotta Have It, Season 1: Episode: 8
#netflixandcry
 
University of Florida UCC
Rejection
Mass email
notified 12/13

🙁
 
WisNeuro said:
You are always welcome to ask. Making it an APPIC requirement would be...problematic to say the least. You'd get equally vague descriptions about "blah blah, so many qualified applications blahblah, could only invite XX many" and so on. And quite frankly, most of us do not have the time to write an individualized reason for every applicant that did not get an interview. Many sites get triple digits of applicants, and the majority of those applicants will not get an interview. That's a lot of individualized e-mails to write when you also have a full patient load, administrative meetings, and current trainee responsibilities. I understand that it's a frustrating process. Every one who is at a training site/part of a training committee has been there too. But, we're doing out best as well. If you really want to know, ask nicely. Some of the sites will provide feedback as to why an application was rejected.
Click to expand...

I agree re. reaching out. I said this earlier but I will say it again (just in case it got lost in all of the conversation)...I reached out to a few places and the responses I got were super nice and helpful. I think that most people appreciate and understand the need for feedback. It's the only way to grow :clap::clap::clap:
 
WisNeuro said:
You are always welcome to ask. Making it an APPIC requirement would be...problematic to say the least. You'd get equally vague descriptions about "blah blah, so many qualified applications blahblah, could only invite XX many" and so on. And quite frankly, most of us do not have the time to write an individualized reason for every applicant that did not get an interview. Many sites get triple digits of applicants, and the majority of those applicants will not get an interview. That's a lot of individualized e-mails to write when you also have a full patient load, administrative meetings, and current trainee responsibilities. I understand that it's a frustrating process. Every one who is at a training site/part of a training committee has been there too. But, we're doing out best as well. If you really want to know, ask nicely. Some of the sites will provide feedback as to why an application was rejected.
Click to expand...

That's the thing though, I'm not asking for people to take the time to write personalized messages. I'm saying that APPIC should provide a drop down selection list of all the common reasons (bad references, bad cover letter, bad essay, etc etc). Then all the person has to do is select from the drop down list what was wrong.

If the site has enough time to send me an email with a rejection, they have enough time to select a reason from a drop down list.
 
FeeltheFeels said:
Awhile back Lucile Packard invites got posted and I think they all listed it as a mass email. I haven’t received anything either way either but assuming rejection based on that!
Click to expand...

Confirmed :/

Site: Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford and Children’s Health Council
Rejection, 12/13 6pm EST
personalized email, short and sweet!
 
Mordz said:
That's the thing though, I'm not asking for people to take the time to write personalized messages. I'm saying that APPIC should provide a drop down selection list of all the common reasons (bad references, bad cover letter, bad essay, etc etc). Then all the person has to do is select from the drop down list what was wrong.

If the site has enough time to send me an email with a rejection, they have enough time to select a reason from a drop down list.
Click to expand...

There are literally dozens of reasons that someone may not get an interview. There may also be several reasons that someone does not get a interview. This drop down menus would be more unwieldy than actually writing the personalized e-mail in many circumstances. I guarantee you if they make that drop down list, almost all of the responses will be the most vague choice there, or "other." It would not be helpful.
 
Mordz said:
That's the thing though, I'm not asking for people to take the time to write personalized messages. I'm saying that APPIC should provide a drop down selection list of all the common reasons (bad references, bad cover letter, bad essay, etc etc). Then all the person has to do is select from the drop down list what was wrong.

If the site has enough time to send me an email with a rejection, they have enough time to select a reason from a drop down list.
Click to expand...

Would that feedback actually be helpful, though? Like "bad cover letter?" Okay, so what do you do to improve the cover letter? Either you want actual constructive criticism, which can't be had from a drop down menu, or maybe you just want to make this process a little less dehumanizing, which also can't be had from a drop down menu.

The unfortunate truth is that many TDs are just too busy to personalize this for us, and we have to have some respect for that. There are some pretty inherent problems in the system, but they require systemic change.
 
WisNeuro said:
There are literally dozens of reasons that someone may not get an interview. There may also be several reasons that someone does not get a interview. This drop down menus would be more unwieldy than actually writing the personalized e-mail in many circumstances. I guarantee you if they make that drop down list, almost all of the responses will be the most vague choice there, or "other." It would not be helpful.
Click to expand...

Because the current process of "So many talented applicants, so we couldn't pick you" is so informative and helpful!

thisisaname said:
The unfortunate truth is that many TDs are just too busy to personalize this for us, and we have to have some respect for that. There are some pretty inherent problems in the system, but they require systemic change.
Click to expand...

So we are supposed to have some respect for that and they're not expected to have any respect for us?

Most of us have slaved away 20+ hour a week practicums while in school for the last three+ years at zero pay. We spend weeks and months working on essays and cover letters and hour tracking. We spend hundreds of dollars on applications only to be told "Sorry, we were just SO popular. Sucks to be you."
 
Last edited:
Mordz said:
Because the current process of "So many talented applicants, so we couldn't pick you" is so informative and helpful!
Click to expand...

The intent of the e-mails is not to be informative and helpful as to the reason someone did not get an interview invite, it is merely supposed to serve as a means to convey whether or not they received one.

I'm sorry that you do not feel respected during this process. It's obviously a very stressful time for all involved. Once again, I urge you to ask for feedback in a constructive way if you would like some as I'm sure some sites will oblige.
 
Mordz said:
Because the current process of "So many talented applicants, so we couldn't pick you" is so informative and helpful!



So we are supposed to have some respect for that and they're not expected to have any respect for us?

Most of us have slaved away 20+ hour a week practicums while in school for the last three+ years at zero pay. We spend weeks and months working on essays and cover letters and hour tracking. We spend hundreds over dollars on applications only to be told "Sorry, we were just SO popular. Sucks to be you."
Click to expand...

It seems like many people (myself included) are struggling with the lack of control we have in this process. I would venture that even if TD's supplied a "reason" our application was flawed, it would more often than not lead to self-blame instead of "growth." In reality, we beat ourselves up over typos in a cover letter because we're human. The people reviewing our files are just as human. And to make it more complicated, they could each be focusing on a different aspect of your application than a different person on the same committee would. Maybe your grades were too low. Maybe you didn't have enough hours. Maybe your essays needed work. Cover letter too vague. Etc. Etc. Would knowing this really make you feel any better about this process? Or about yourself? I'd venture that it would not. Some schools set students up with a s*** ton of hours. Mine didn't. Point against me. I learned a lot in my first two years and my grades show it. Point against me. I was working a full time prac, working on dissertation, holding a part time job, and taking classes during applications and I'm sure my essays and cover letters show that. Point against me.

But these things have little to do with the real me or what I'm capable of. I've had to accept that there's a huge element of serendipity within this process. Also, internship is not the end all be all of your academic career. It's a year long stepping stone to post-doc. It's a stepping stone to a lifelong fulfilling career that you get to build. It is not a destination.
 
WisNeuro said:
The intent of the e-mails is not to be informative and helpful as to the reason someone did not get an interview invite, it is merely supposed to serve as a means to convey whether or not they received one.
Click to expand...

Isn't the process of being in school and applying to internships supposed to be a process of teaching and learning? What is this process teaching us? What are we supposed to learn from this? I certainly am not learning ways to better myself. Instead, I'm just learning that a large portion of this career field is about pending over backwards, slaving away at zero pay for years on end, working as free labor, spending hundreds and thousands of dollars of my own money only to be told "No thanks. You just don't understand what it's like to be us. We are sooooooo popular."
 
To me the most frustrating part of this process is that pre-doctoral internship is a requirement. The training is invaluable and needed, certainly. But to work us to death on minimal to no pay for 4-6 years, and then require us to fork over several thousand for applications and interviews is ludicrous. This of course then culminates in a multitude of rejections, with individuals not able to get into sites that fit well with their research, career goals, and training needs. And this is not even for a long-term job placement! It's for a PRE-doctoral internship milestone that must be satisfied just to finally get our degree and begin impactful work.

I had to chime in; the whole process of relatively cheap labor for years in graduate school, leading to even more debt just to have a chance to complete our PhD degree is ridiculous. And this is coming from someone with multiple interviews.
 
Mordz said:
Isn't the process of being in school and applying to internships supposed to be a process of teaching and learning? What is this process teaching us? What are we supposed to learn from this? I certainly am not learning ways to better myself. Instead, I'm just learning that a large portion of this career field is about pending over backwards, slaving away at zero pay for years on end, working as free labor, spending hundreds and thousands of dollars of my own money only to be told "No thanks. You just don't understand what it's like to be us. We are sooooooo popular."
Click to expand...

It sucks that you feel that way. It's clear that this is a fairly emotional time at the moment and an objective discussion may not be possible at this moment. Once things calm down, if you have any questions about the process, feel free to ask.
 
serotoninbelief said:
I had to chime in; the whole process of relatively cheap labor for years in graduate school, leading to even more debt just to have a chance to complete our PhD degree is ridiculous. And this is coming from someone with multiple interviews.
Click to expand...

I imagine it depends on what you got from your education. If you got full tuition remission, a stipend, health insurance, and clinical training and supervision, many would say that grad school is quite the deal.
 
Mordz said:
That's the thing though, I'm not asking for people to take the time to write personalized messages. I'm saying that APPIC should provide a drop down selection list of all the common reasons (bad references, bad cover letter, bad essay, etc etc). Then all the person has to do is select from the drop down list what was wrong.

If the site has enough time to send me an email with a rejection, they have enough time to select a reason from a drop down list.
Click to expand...

Speaking as a TD of a site with hundreds of applicants each year, this would not be useful for anyone. It's extremely rare for an applicant to have a bad reference, cover letter, essay, etc. It is much more nuanced. Most TDs would probably almost always choose "Not the best fit" from a list like you described. This would just create more work for programs and more confusion for applicants. We understand that this process is stressful and we are all doing our best to support the applicants as best we can. I agree with the others - if you truly want feedback, it's okay to reach out and ask; however, if you have a decent number of interviews, the feedback likely won't be helpful because there likely wasn't anything bad about your application. The feedback from sites will tend to be most helpful if you receive few to no invites for interviews or if you don't match. Throughout your training and career, hopefully you are getting feedback on your application materials. If you are, this will avoid a "bad" piece of your application. I know it's frustrating to not have specific reasons why you might not forward with a site, especially if it seems like a great fit; however, please know that we are truly doing our best on the other side.
 
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