need_advice
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I was hoping to get some advice from current faculty as well as internship directors on a tough situation I am in. I have just finished my first year at a fully funded APA accredited clinical psychology program. I have done very well academically, but there have been a multitude of reasons that have made me second guess if this program is the right program for me. For fear of being too specific and losing anonymity, I will keep it as vague as possible while still trying to convey my message. This program started a new emphasis this year in the area I want to specialize in one day, and the professor who made me my offer talked about promising practicum experiences the emphasis students would be getting. However, none of those have panned out, and there is no real solution in sight as to how the emphasis students (both my year and the incoming year) will get the experience they need to be competitive for internship. I feel pretty mislead, as these practicum experiences were a huge deciding factor in me coming to my program. When I asked the DCT if students could trail blaze their own practicum sites, they said this was discouraged. Furthermore, my advisor's research interests are not really in the area they were advertised to be in when I was applying, and now I am feeling like neither my research or my practicum experiences are in the areas that I believed they would be in, and areas that will one day make me competitive for internship. The students just keep getting vague promises that "we will definitely get the experience we need by the time we need to apply". I want to stand up for my professional career, and if I had known this was the situation, I absolutely would have reapplied again to try my chances at getting in a lab/program that would have helped make me competitive for the specialization I want to go into one day. Would I have any sort of case for reapplying to other programs this fall? Or would that be perceived negatively by other schools, and one day future internship sites? If I were to reapply, would I need a letter of rec from my DCT and/or advisor? Or could I use the letters of rec from my prior school/work experience? It feels so unfortunate that it is a poor professional fit but that I might ultimately be punished for it. A PhD program takes a lot of time and sacrifice, and I just want to do it right! Any advice anyone has would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time!
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