APA vs APPIC

[Olivia101884]

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What is the difference between APA and APPIC internships? Is one regarded as more prestigious than another?

 

[Cosmo75]

APA internships seem to be more sought after and well-respected. Some places, such as VA hospitals and many academic hospitals, require you to have an APA-approved internship to be considered for a post-doc or employment. For licensing you need an APA approved internship, or "equivalent." You can certainly get the equivalent with many APPIC only internships, but you have to provide documentation that the site meets the APA requirements. I haven't really spoken to anyone who's had to go through that process. I assume it's added hassle.

An APPIC internship is certainly better than one that doesn't have either. I would think life would be difficult if you didn't have either.

Hope that helps.

 

[Olivia101884]

Thank you so much! That was very helpful.

 

[Ferenzsci]

It is not an issue of prestige. After you are licensed, almost no one will care if you have been to an APA approved Internship or not. (Although some government jobs for psychologists will want you to have an APA Internship.) The real issue is that in some (many) states, if you did not go to an APA approved school, or did not go to an APPIC internship, you are going to have to demonstrate to the licensing board of your state, that your training really was up to par. If you go to a non-APA school, you can still get an APPIC internship, but if your Internship is non-APPIC, you mighthave a harder time getting licensed.


EDITED IN RESPONSE TO WHAT Markp WROTE BELOW:
Mark, you are right. There can be a problem with licensure if your program was not APA approved. APPIC is merely a clearing house.

 

[deleted176373]

It is not an issue of prestige. After you are licensed, almost no one will care if you have been to an APA approved Internship or not. (Although some government jobs for psychologists will want you to have an APA Internship.) The real issue is that in some (many) states, if you did not go to an APA approved school, or did not go to an APPIC internship, you are going to have to demonstrate to the licensing board of your state, that your training really was up to par. If you go to a non-APA school, you can still get an APPIC internship, but if your Internship is non-APPIC, you mighthave a harder time getting licensed.

I think you have it backwards.

You have problems when you don't have the APA internship and program, APPIC has no accreditation function, it's a matching system. For instance the Navy is planning to take the USUHS and HPSP students out of the APPIC system and having them go to an APA approved internship in Portsmouth, VA (soon, it still needs to be re-accredited or they won't send us.) This will make the process of competing for slots more fair, I believe, for those who have not already incurred a debt to the Navy.

The reason is to stop having Navy sponsored students run the risk of not matching in the APPIC system. With only 2 USUHS people in the pool before, it was a pretty sure deal that we would be very competitive due to the nature of the system and the multiple Navy internship sites. With HPSP coming on and the inability to reserve slots in APPIC system the Navy had to come up with a plan that would not violate APPIC policy.

So with that said, I am glad that I will not have to go through the match system. APPIC has both APA and non-APA accredited sites.

From APPIC's Site: "APPIC MEMBERSHIP: APPIC is not an accrediting body. However, in order for an internship program to be a member of APPIC, it must submit an application that describes how the program meets APPIC's membership criteria. No site visit is required, and programs that are accredited automatically qualify for APPIC membership. As of June, 2006, there were approximately 620 APPIC-member internship programs, 160 of which were non-accredited."

Mark

 

[Eruca]

2 sources you should probably read:

http://www.appic.org/match/5_2_1_2_17.html

http://gradpsych.apags.org/apr04/accreditation.cfm

 

[docma]

The GradPsych article quoted below is out of date now (eg: Utah does not require APA); it is always important to check directly with specific state boards because regulations change. The APPIC FAQ on the topic is kept current and definitely worth reviewing. It is also reasonable to ask non-APA internship sites where their grads have been licensed as a way of assessing outcomes if you need to consider non-APA APPIC sites. There are good training sites that cannot afford the costs of APA accreditation. Depending on your career aims they can be viable alternatives and are used to answering questions on this issue.