The Match morass -- more attention?

[psychwhy]

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Inside Higher Education has reported on this year's Match.

Matchmaker, Matchmaker, is there really no Match?

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

That was an excellent article. Unfortunately whenever the APA is involved/not as involved as they should be, they tend to move at a glacial pace, often not in the best interest of professionals. There is a reason why their membership %'s are low.

 

[bigdodge53]

This is frightening for me since I just spent the last 5 years of my life preparing for a doctoral program and just recently was accepted. I am curious whether or not there will be a change in the situation by the time I am going through this process. I am fairly confident APA's answer would be do as much research and clinical work as you can get in your doc program and then cross your fingers; however, it doesn't seem like they are at all interested in creating a system that is more efficient and less stressful for applicants. I understand that there is an increasing need for mental health services in the country but so far the system has done a poor job of creating those job opportunities for early career psychologists. I am still going to pursue my PhD next fall but I do have some concerns as I have a growing family that is going to be in need of my income (I did get a really good deal on an assistantship though, so I shouldn't have anymore extra debt).

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

This is frightening for me since I just spent the last 5 years of my life preparing for a doctoral program and just recently was accepted. I am curious whether or not there will be a change in the situation by the time I am going through this process. I am fairly confident APA's answer would be do as much research and clinical work as you can get in your doc program and then cross your fingers; however, it doesn't seem like they are at all interested in creating a system that is more efficient and less stressful for applicants. I understand that there is an increasing need for mental health services in the country but so far the system has done a poor job of creating those job opportunities for early career psychologists. I am still going to pursue my PhD next fall but I do have some concerns as I have a growing family that is going to be in need of my income (I did get a really good deal on an assistantship though, so I shouldn't have anymore extra debt).

There is a need for MH, but that doesn't mean it can effectively be met, but the current system is not equipped to address that need. If we wait in the APA, we may all die of old age. There needs to be a concerted effort to address the issues in the field.

 

[layleh]

That was an excellent article. Unfortunately whenever the APA is involved/not as involved as they should be, they tend to move at a glacial pace, often not in the best interest of professionals. There is a reason why their membership %'s are low, and there has been a big push for associations like the NAPPP.

[email protected] --The CEO of the APA. Maybe he can take your concerns to the executive board? He's actually pretty accessible.

 

[bigdodge53]

I have recently read a series of articles about the increasing number of doctoral students who do not end up matching with an internship site after the matching process (I know this issue was brought up in a recent thread but no one seems to actually be considering the implications of the news). I recently read this article in GradPsych magazine (http://gradpsych.apags.org/2008/03/regroup.html) that gives advice to students on how to "move on" from the trauma of not matching with an internship. I have to honestly admit that I had a mental aneurism after reading this article. 😡 I am just starting my doctoral program next fall but already I have some concerns about having a career after I finish my degree. I am not going to be totally negative because the program that accepted me has very good acceptance rates for their students but this just appears to be APA's attempt to assuage students' reasonable frustration with words terms such as "further professional development" and "revaluating your application strengths for the next go round."

After taking pride in getting accepted into a doc program, I have to go through an even tougher process to finish off said degree which I jumped through various hoops to attain. I am not saying that I am special in relation to the thousands of other students who do this every year but I am annoyed with the tone of the previous article because it doesn't appear to fully acknowledge the dangerous extent of the present situation facing doctoral students. Has anyone else looked beyond just getting accepted into programs and explored the steps that are involved in getting a degree and liscensure? Am I just overreacting or is this a reasonable cause for concern?

 

[deleted106747]

I'm a 2nd year in a doctoral program and it is a source of a great deal of concern to me - I started a thread and got some great advice from people on this board. But I've seen phenomenal people not place, and that scares me. I think that every year it gets slightly worse because the people who didn't place the previous year may choose to wait and apply again. It bothers me that APA isn't doing more about this. I wonder if there are any student advocacy groups that could put some pressure on them.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I started a thread and got some great advice from people on this board.

HERE.

 

[Ollie123]

I wouldn't worry too much about it, especially not yet. Its obviously something to have in the back of your head, but its not worth freaking out over.

For one, it IS being addressed (albeit slowly), and this match WAS slightly better than the year before. For two, having to take an extra year is really not the end of the world. Not matching is definitely a possibility for me since I'm going to be trying to minimize my clinical hours, and am pretty deadset on only going to an academic site and would likely rather take an extra year then go to a non-academic one. Not because of the "prestige" or anything, just for my own happiness.

Really, it will be fine. Even if you don't match, you spend an extra year writing up some pubs, doing some externships, etc. and try again the following year.