2019 Internship Interview Prep Thread

[FeelTheFearDoItAnyway]

Just came back from an interview. Didn't go great but luckily I also didn't like the site! Good learning experience. Does anyone have/know of resources for responding to the case vignettes (running the gamut from case conceptualization, diagnoses, and treatment plan)? That was the main thing that tripped me up. One of the interviewers kept being like "and what else? ok, what else? ok, what else?" with an intense face and spoke very quickly and interrupted me a bunch. I already didnt feel great about how I was answering, but his demeanor made it worse. I want to prepare more for these next time.

I'm sorry you had that experience, it sounds super stressful! I agree, it does still give you valuable interviewing experience and it helped you to evaluate goodness of fit (or in this case, lack thereof) with that site. I don't know of a formal reference other than doing an online search on those various aspects you mentioned (case conceptualization, dx, tx planning) specific to your orientation and brushing up on it. What I've found helpful is to write down the most common vignette themes that I've seen or been asked across my years of interviews (i.e. a crisis intervention case, a diversity case, a consultation case, etc), as well as vignette themes that I can guess may be commonly seen at that type of site. Then I go through the case conceptualization, dx, and tx plans for each of those from my orientation and previous experiences. The focus is more on the concepts than a specific vignette and in that way become easily generalizable to any vignette I'm given within those themes. It's a lot of work, I'm basically creating my own personalized reference book, but it has helped to calm my nerves immensely and feel competent.

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[CARCAL515]

I'm sorry you had that experience, it sounds super stressful! I agree, it does still give you valuable interviewing experience and it helped you to evaluate goodness of fit (or in this case, lack thereof) with that site. I don't know of a formal reference other than doing an online search on those various aspects you mentioned (case conceptualization, dx, tx planning) specific to your orientation and brushing up on it. What I've found helpful is to write down the most common vignette themes that I've seen or been asked across my years of interviews (i.e. a crisis intervention case, a diversity case, a consultation case, etc), as well as vignette themes that I can guess may be commonly seen at that type of site. Then I go through the case conceptualization, dx, and tx plans for each of those from my orientation and previous experiences. The focus is more on the concepts than a specific vignette and in that way become easily generalizable to any vignette I'm given within those themes. It's a lot of work, I'm basically creating my own personalized reference book, but it has helped to calm my nerves immensely and feel competent.

Excellent advice!


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[areyoubusy]

Thank you! It's really shaken my confidence.
Alsoo--- does anyone know what a "writing exercise" at a site might be???

 

[ClinicalPsych2013]

Thank you! It's really shaken my confidence.
Alsoo--- does anyone know what a "writing exercise" at a site might be???

What I’ve read in past threads include writing a progress note (U Miami) and writing a case conceptualization/treatment plan based on a vignette (a military site).

 

[I_love_brains]

Trying to figure out rankings, and one of my sites is “Accredited on contingency” while all the rest are fully accredited. How much should that accreditation status play into my ranking decisions?