PhD/PsyD APPIC Internship Interview Invitation Thread (2019)

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neuropsych2020 said:
Has anyone received confirmation from Canandaigua? I emailed them on Monday with my requested interview date but I still haven't heard anything and I'm not sure if they forgot about me...
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No, I haven't heard from them. I logged on to post the same question haha
 
CatLover&PsychEnthusiast said:
Neuropsych peeps: I've seen several posts on here from individuals are seeking to specialize in this area, as well as feeling discouraged about few invites received. I just wanted to provide some informative feedback, not sure if this will help anyone feel any better but I feel it's quite telling. There appears to be a huge imbalance of neuropsychology applicants compared to other areas.

So one VA that I interviewed at has one spot for their neuropsychology track and they received 65 applications for this ONE position, they interviewed roughly 10 for the 1 spot. For the other emphasis positions at this site (there were 6 of them), each spot received only roughly 16 applications for each individual position. So, what I guess I'm saying is that you shouldn't get down on yourself because the odds for the neuropsych positions are very very tough. Not sure if this level of imbalance is a normal thing, or if perhaps this year happens to be saturated with people seeking neuropsychology specialization. I am convinced that if I had applied last year I wouldn't have gotten the invites that I did because in this past year I really beefed up the number of publications on my CV.

Anyhow, if you didn't get an invite somewhere you really wanted and other cohort members that are specializing in other areas are getting more invites than you, this is why, it's not that you're not a good applicant. Don't forget self-compassion.

Good luck everyone!
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Thanks for the info. If you or anyone else has neuro interview tips or practice interview questions, I would really appreciate it. I am interviewing for both ped neuro and adult neuro.
 
attitudelikeasunrise said:
So true! Specialty tracks like neuro, forensic, and peds are an entirely different process all together from general tracks. One thing that I think would be SUPER helpful in the future would be for sites to break down the information in the APPIC directory by track and not by site (e.g. 65 applications for the neuro track, 11 interviews, 1 intern). That way you could have a much better sense what the actual match rates are and how competitive it is. Similarly, it would be awesome if the APPIC match statistics could also account for different tracks. For instance, in the 2018 match, 90% of applicants matched at their 5th or higher ranked site, but I wonder what that breakdown would look like if it was just neuro applicants alone?


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Yes agreed, wish something like that was available.

To clarify, the other 6 positions I was referencing for that site were specialty specific tracks as well (ex: health psych, substance abuse) and not catch-all generalist spots. So the neuro track in particular was flooded with applicants. However that site didn’t have a forensic specialty or peds obviously since it’s a VA, so I can’t speak to the stats for those specialties. But just want to clarify that the other positions I was referencing were not generalist, they were other speciality tracks as well.


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I have a neuro question. If I match with an internship with less than 50% neuro, is it still likely I can get a neuro postdoc? If the internship supervisor is not board certified in neuro but provides neuro assessment, does that count as neuro? If I eventually want to specialize in pediatric neuro but am happy in adult, too, would it be better to do an adult neuro internship that meets the Div. 40 guidelines or a non-neuro child assessment site? I am trying to not lock myself out of neuro or future ped neuro, but I applied to and am interviewing at a range of sites in addition to Div. 40 neuro sites. Thanks everyone!
 
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Intern2019 said:
I have a neuro question. If I match with an internship with less than 50% neuro, is it still likely I can get a neuro postdoc? If the internship supervisor is not board certified in neuro but provides neuro assessment, does that count as neuro?
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To your first question, I would also like to know this. I too applied to some sites with a neuro rotation consisting of 1/3 of the year, but not 1/2 like the guidelines suggest. I figure I it may make a neuro postdoc a bit harder to obtain, but not impossible. But I really can’t say obviously, perhaps @WisNeuro will see this and chime in.

To your second question, yes it does count, a supervisor doesn’t have to be board certified, it’s more about the nature of the work you are doing in the rotation. However, perhaps you get brownie points if your supervisor is board certified. Networking I feel counts for a lot as well, how well connected your supervisor is with other neuropsychologists.

Can’t speak to peds.

Just my two cents.



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Intern2019 said:
I have a neuro question. If I match with an internship with less than 50% neuro, is it still likely I can get a neuro postdoc? If the internship supervisor is not board certified in neuro but provides neuro assessment, does that count as neuro? If I eventually want to specialize in pediatric neuro but am happy in adult, too, would it be better to do an adult neuro internship that meets the Div. 40 guidelines or a non-neuro child assessment site? I am trying to not lock myself out of neuro or future ped neuro, but I applied to and am interviewing at a range of sites in addition to Div. 40 neuro sites. Thanks everyone!
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I don't think someone reviewing your application would know whether your site was 33% neuro or 50% neuro unless they know the site. There are quite a few neuro postdocs - some that do not have internships. If they lock out everyone who did not have a 50+% neuro internship, then I don't think they would all be able to fill their spots. However, the postdoc match only covers a small portion of sites and it will take more legwork than internship. I have saved all of the post-doc emails I've received over the past 2 years so I can have a decent starting place when that time comes around.

Also, I had a supervisor who essentially crafted his own post-doc with a mix between a private practice and a local rehab setting. He had to be organized to ensure he met the specifications, but he qualified for board certification. So, even without a tailor-made postdoc, it is still possible to work toward board certification.

Edit: Also, not sure about the peds portion. I'm fairly certain peds board certification requires you to first pass the regular certification process. So, lifespan knowledge would not be harmful. Logically, it seems hard to me to imagine applying to peds neuro sites without having peds work in your internship. So, not sure what the best route would be.
 
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ClinicalPsych2013 said:
I saw two people received invites a few days ago. I also haven’t heard either way but I’m assuming it’s a rejection.
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Thanks! I completely missed those posts some how. Do you think you’ll reach out? Part of me wants that formal no for my own closure, but part of me doesn’t think it’s worth the trouble.


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Intern2019 said:
I have a neuro question. If I match with an internship with less than 50% neuro, is it still likely I can get a neuro postdoc? If the internship supervisor is not board certified in neuro but provides neuro assessment, does that count as neuro? If I eventually want to specialize in pediatric neuro but am happy in adult, too, would it be better to do an adult neuro internship that meets the Div. 40 guidelines or a non-neuro child assessment site? I am trying to not lock myself out of neuro or future ped neuro, but I applied to and am interviewing at a range of sites in addition to Div. 40 neuro sites. Thanks everyone!
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  • The 50% "rule," to some extent, is more aspirational/a guideline than a formal requirement (although it's required of AITCN member programs). The amount of neuro experienced required on internship can vary from applicant to applicant, based on the amount of experience you have coming in and what your training interests and goals are. That being said, I always recommend trainees have some amount of neuro experience on internship.
  • Yes, it still counts if the supervisor is not board-certified.
  • Will depend in part on what types of experiences you've had up to this point. If you've had some peds neuro in grad school, then not getting much/any on internship could potentially be remediated by having a peds-focused fellowship. But if the non-neuro child assessment site is going to substantially limit your amount of internship neuro experience, that could affect your competitiveness for fellowship
 
Pretty much exactly what @AcronymAllergy said. It really depends on what you looked like training-wise before internship. If you were pretty strong in your neuro background beforehand, only doing 1 rotation will be fine. If you we were only so-so in grad school and only got a minor rotation on internship, you won't be competitive for the quality postdocs. It still counts if the supervisor is board certified, but it's probably better at some sites if someone writing you a letter is ABPP in neuropsych. As far as the child v adult thing. If I am an adult site, your CV should make sense to me. It should reflect a somewhat narrowing of interest in training into the adult world. If your experiences are 80% child and you are applying to my adult postdoc, you're automatically fighting an uphill battle compared to the rest of the field application wise.
 
Unsurprisingly I’ve received no communication from Ann Arbor VA even though today is their stated notification date. I feel like with all the time, effort, and money you put into these applications the least a site can do is email you to say they never want to talk to you again [emoji12]


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attitudelikeasunrise said:
Unsurprisingly I’ve received no communication from Ann Arbor VA even though today is their stated notification date. I feel like with all the time, effort, and money you put into these applications the least a site can do is email you to say they never want to talk to you again [emoji12]


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Mhmm. Not even worth sending an email due to the timing of the weekend/holiday. It is what it is.


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So I’m trying to rank sites as I interview so that, come February, I have my list. Is there a thread for asking advice on which sites would be better suited for specific career goals? A lot of my sites seem to offer similar experiences, but if I’m missing something then I would love to know whether it’s something good/bad about a certain site, one site has a better reputation/prestige than the other, etc.


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psydstudent2020 said:
So I’m trying to rank sites as I interview so that, come February, I have my list. Is there a thread for asking advice on which sites would be better suited for specific career goals? A lot of my sites seem to offer similar experiences, but if I’m missing something then I would love to know whether it’s something good/bad about a certain site, one site has a better reputation/prestige than the other, etc.


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I am in the same boat. I am trying to rank sites as I go and really struggling. The top, mid, and low tier is clear, but ranking within those tiers is difficult.
 
fallen625 said:
I am in the same boat. I am trying to rank sites as I go and really struggling. The top, mid, and low tier is clear, but ranking within those tiers is difficult.
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Yes! I also feel like there’s “insider info” I should know. For instance, I’ve met a lot of people who say they’re ranking a site I’m interviewing at #1 but I’m still not sure what it is about that site everyone is ranking first.


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psydstudent2020 said:
Yes! I also feel like there’s “insider info” I should know. For instance, I’ve met a lot of people who say they’re ranking a site I’m interviewing at #1 but I’m still not sure what it is about that site everyone is ranking first.


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They’re maybe insider info out there you should consider BUT rankings should ideally be based on where YOU want to be. I believe that’s the mist important thing to consider.


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CatLover&PsychEnthusiast said:
Neuropsych peeps: I've seen several posts on here from individuals are seeking to specialize in this area, as well as feeling discouraged about few invites received. I just wanted to provide some informative feedback, not sure if this will help anyone feel any better but I feel it's quite telling. There appears to be a huge imbalance of neuropsychology applicants compared to other areas.

So one VA that I interviewed at has one spot for their neuropsychology track and they received 65 applications for this ONE position, they interviewed roughly 10 for the 1 spot. For the other emphasis positions at this site (there were 6 of them), each spot received only roughly 16 applications for each individual position. So, what I guess I'm saying is that you shouldn't get down on yourself because the odds for the neuropsych positions are very very tough. Not sure if this level of imbalance is a normal thing, or if perhaps this year happens to be saturated with people seeking neuropsychology specialization. I am convinced that if I had applied last year I wouldn't have gotten the invites that I did because in this past year I really beefed up the number of publications on my CV.

Anyhow, if you didn't get an invite somewhere you really wanted and other cohort members that are specializing in other areas are getting more invites than you, this is why, it's not that you're not a good applicant. Don't forget self-compassion.

Good luck everyone!
Click to expand...


Just keep repeating to yourself, you only have to match to one site. Last year, I only received 4 interviews and had peers that only received 1 or 2 invites, and we all still matched to great neuro sites. Don't know if it helps or not, but the post doc app process is totally different, and I have received invites to all of my top sites for post doc - go figure! There is light at the end of the tunnel, I promise.

Also, I have learned that it really doesn't matter if your supervisor is ABBP-CN on internship. Who they know and are connected to seems to matter a whole lot more. Don't give up hope! You got this!
 
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I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays! For those who got invites at Kennedy Krieger Trauma Track: did anyone get more information about start and end times for the interview day? I know it starts at 8:30, but haven’t heard about how long the interview will be and want to book my flight soon.

Thanks!


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Did anyone request a phone interview for Broughton Hospital? They said I would be contacted to schedule a time but I haven’t heard anything yet... in general, how long should I wait to follow up?


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Hello everyone!

Thank you for being such a great source of support. I have been more of a lurker on this thread, but very much appreciate each and every one of you.

I have a question about interview clothes. I have a suit set that has a suit jacket and skirt that match, but it is made of polyester/rayon and I’m afraid it’ll look more informal? It’s a softer material.

I have another suit jacket and bottom that are made of a more typical suit material, but they are not entirely the same shade of black. Not sure if anyone would actually notice.

Thank you again, and have a very happy new year!
 
I believe as long at it’s not velvet or spandex you should be fine. As long as the color matches you’re fine!


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SoPSYcheD2020 said:
I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays! For those who got invites at Kennedy Krieger Trauma Track: did anyone get more information about start and end times for the interview day? I know it starts at 8:30, but haven’t heard about how long the interview will be and want to book my flight soon.

Thanks!


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I have not heard about an end time yet; I would reach out to the training director. I just ended up booking my flight out for the next day. Sorry I could't be of more help! Good luck!
 
Talk to me about strategy for winter storms. I am in the south so not a crazy place with winter weather, and we have forecasted rain / light snowfall tomorrow, right as I am about to fly to interview for my #1 site. Should I move my flight to my #1 site to tonight?? Hard to decide whether it's worth it. Obviously an expense and a huge hassle (for me and family who is watching kids while I am gone). Thoughts?? Not sure what the real risk of cancelled flights is.
 
fallen625 said:
Talk to me about strategy for winter storms. I am in the south so not a crazy place with winter weather, and we have forecasted rain / light snowfall tomorrow, right as I am about to fly to interview for my #1 site. Should I move my flight to my #1 site to tonight?? Hard to decide whether it's worth it. Obviously an expense and a huge hassle (for me and family who is watching kids while I am gone). Thoughts?? Not sure what the real risk of cancelled flights is.
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Sadly, there are not really any great ways to predict when flights will/won't be canceled because there are too many unknown factors involved. However, having grown up in a state that frequently has bad winter weather/snow storms I can give you a few things to consider:

1. If you are in a state where it rarely snows then there is a higher likelihood that a flight will be canceled (or greatly delayed) due to "winter" weather. This is simply because they don't have access to as many resources to deal with this sort of thing, nor are they experienced in following pertinent protocols, as places that do it frequently.

2. With that said, rain/light snow aren't necessarily going to be deterrents for flying. Some of the biggest contributing factors to weather-related cancellations are actually thunderstorms/heavy rain, low visibility/fog, and/or high winds. Weirdly, there are just as many weather-related cancellations during the summer months as there are during the winter (if not more).

2. Your flight could get canceled even if there isn't bad weather in your city of departure or arrival if there happens to be bad weather in a city that your plane may be coming from. This is going to be particularly true if one of the affected cities is a nearby hub for the airline that you are flying.
 
Anyone down near Miami, FL? I’ll be down that way this weekend for an interview at South FL State Hospital Monday!
 
psydstudent2020 said:
Did anyone request a phone interview for Broughton Hospital? They said I would be contacted to schedule a time but I haven’t heard anything yet... in general, how long should I wait to follow up?


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I requested a phone interview and have not heard from them either. I emailed them before the holidays and was told I didn't have to worry as the TD would contact me and is being mindful of Christmas/New Years. I assumed I would have heard from them this week but will wait until next week before reaching out again.
 
Why does APA Accreditation matter again? Does doing a non-APA accredited internship screw up my chances of getting a good post doc?

Context: Two really good internships just became APPIC members (still not APA-accredited) and I really want to apply. However, I can't decide whether or not it is worth it to write the cover letter, pay for the app, potentially get an interview, fall in love with it, and then not have an APA-accredited internship under my belt for post-doc.

What am I doing? I can't wait for this process to be over.
 
nadiainpink said:
Why does APA Accreditation matter again? Does doing a non-APA accredited internship screw up my chances of getting a good post doc?

Context: Two really good internships just became APPIC members (still not APA-accredited) and I really want to apply. However, I can't decide whether or not it is worth it to write the cover letter, pay for the app, potentially get an interview, fall in love with it, and then not have an APA-accredited internship under my belt for post-doc.

What am I doing? I can't wait for this process to be over.
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Frankly, I wouldn’t apply to anything that would limit my options in the future - especially after all the hard work we’ve all done for the last decade or so to get to this point - and having an internship that is not APA accredited can limit your options substantially.

If you’re worried about not matching, it sounds like Phase II is a really great opportunity to match with an awesome accredited program. Lots of excellent sites have been in Phase II over the last couple years and some other people who participated in Phase II on this forum noted that they had obtained an internship that had a better reputation than the sites they originally applied to.

We’re so close! Don’t panic yet.


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Hello everyone,

Just an FYI: I have created a new thread for those of us who know we are going into Phase II already or who want to prepare for Phase II. I know it's early, since we still have a month and a half before match. But I also know that a large handful of students may have already withdrawn from Phase I for various reasons! Good luck to you all!!

Here's the link:
APPIC Internship Match 2019-20-- Phase II
 
Seven_Costanza said:
Frankly, I wouldn’t apply to anything that would limit my options in the future - especially after all the hard work we’ve all done for the last decade or so to get to this point - and having an internship that is not APA accredited can limit your options substantially.

If you’re worried about not matching, it sounds like Phase II is a really great opportunity to match with an awesome accredited program. Lots of excellent sites have been in Phase II over the last couple years and some other people who participated in Phase II on this forum noted that they had obtained an internship that had a better reputation than the sites they originally applied to.

We’re so close! Don’t panic yet.


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That’s great advice! You should follow it!


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laughingasong said:
Just checking it to say I hope people are surviving the interview phase! I am in what is supposed to be a gorgeous temperate city and of course I get the rainiest 24 hours of the year. However....wow I would love to move here. Gosh is this an exciting time!
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What city?


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If you interviewed at mid-Ohio psychological services this week and want to chat please private message me! I need to process that interview, like, ASAP.
 
If a currently accredited APA site has a site visit this year, should this impact our ranking at all? I mean, is it even remotely possible the site would lose its accreditation?
 
I mean, yeah it's remotely possible. That's why the review and re-accreditation process is there to check in on programs. I would look at how consistently they are renewed for the longest term possible. Also, you could google them and see if anything bad comes up that could affect renewal. Ask around about reputation. That sort of thing.
 
fallen625 said:
If a currently accredited APA site has a site visit this year, should this impact our ranking at all? I mean, is it even remotely possible the site would lose its accreditation?
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If they have been continually accredited for a while, it is unlikely that they would lose accreditation unless something really big happened. I wouldn't let it affect my rankings unless there were some major red flags that popped up.
 
fallen625 said:
If a currently accredited APA site has a site visit this year, should this impact our ranking at all? I mean, is it even remotely possible the site would lose its accreditation?
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Technically, there's a possibility that any site can lose accreditation, even if they are not up for a routine visit. If the site has been accredited for a while, I wouldn't factor that into rankings at all unless you get a sense that there are problems when you interview.
 
I had an interview yesterday with a site that I didn't LOVE or anything, but the interviewer really seemed to love me. Like, straight up stated "I LOVED our answer to that question". I'm starting to feel scared I won't match. I know that rationally I should not rank that site #1 since it's not my first preference...but I also would rather go there then not match...I am not sure what to do!
 
laughingasong said:
Santa Barbara! I LOVED the city though omg! The site is non APA-accredited but I really liked it..so there's a consideration there of whether APA accreditation is truly necessary for my career goals.
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Don't be short sighted. APA accreditation is necessary for everyone's career goals. If your goal is to shut yourself out of a variety of jobs because you wanted to live in a "gorgeous temperate city" for a year, then have at it!
 
@laughingasong It makes zero sense to rank something other than your top preference as number one. Using your example and they rank you first and you rank them first, you match. If they rank you first and you rank them third, you have a chance to match to your first or second sites. If you do, yay! If you don't, then you'd still match to this third ranked site. This is a simplified example, but hopefully it makes sense.

The algorithm favors applicants so please, rank according to your true preferences. Otherwise you're setting yourself up for disappointment.
 
bigdreamer3 said:
@laughingasong It makes zero sense to rank something other than your top preference as number one. Using your example and they rank you first and you rank them first, you match. If they rank you first and you rank them third, you have a chance to match to your first or second sites. If you do, yay! If you don't, then you'd still match to this third ranked site. This is a simplified example, but hopefully it makes sense.

The algorithm favors applicants so please, rank according to your true preferences. Otherwise you're setting yourself up for disappointment.
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This. Where you rank a site would not impact your chances of ultimately matching with them if they've ranked you highly enough. All it would do is essentially prohibit you from matching to any sites you've ranked lower than them.

I always recommend applicants rank based on your preferences, not based on how you think the sites are perceiving or responding to you.
 
boomshakalaka said:
Don't be short sighted. APA accreditation is necessary for everyone's career goals. If your goal is to shut yourself out of a variety of jobs because you wanted to live in a "gorgeous temperate city" for a year, then have at it!
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In my defense, I’m in school psychology so it’s not necessarily that important. Also, I’m mostly just trying to psych myself up for that site in case I do end up there.
 
fallen625 said:
If a currently accredited APA site has a site visit this year, should this impact our ranking at all? I mean, is it even remotely possible the site would lose its accreditation?
Click to expand...

It’s a lot harder to lose accreditation than it is to get initially accredited. The site issues would have to be particularly egregious and even then it’s more likely they would be put on probation than have accreditation removed. In all likelihood if a site is crappy and up for reaccreditation they’ll likely get renewed for 3 years (the shortest option).

So basically, I seriously wouldn’t worry about it. If you like the site, rank them. In fact chances are you’ll get better training as a result of the TD having just spent the last couple of years making sure everything is in alignment t with the new standards of accreditation and well thought out/polished because of the self study and site visit.

Source: TD who just went through this process and APA site visitor.
 
Anybody else falling in love with all their sites? My heart’s breaking a little over all the amazing people I’ve met so far who I won’t be able to work with next year. Rankings are going to be tough!

Hope everybody’s having a great experience! I’m rooting for you!


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Anyone have their Henry Ford neuro email coming up in this coming week? I never received a confirmation email of date or time after initially scheduling. Just wanted to verify that the silence was normal and they did not potentially have incorrect contact information. I emailed the assistant just to verify but have yet to hear back.
 
Do you have any advice for weather disrupting travel plans ? We have a snowstorm heading in next weekend and I do not feel comfortable driving several hours in it. Worse case scenario, if I can’t make the interview, do you think the site would be willing to do Skype or reschedule ?
 
Upon further reflection, one of the sites I am scheduled to interview at in 2.5 weeks is really not the best fit for me. Since it is still a ways off I am hoping to cancel it with enough time for them to fill my slot. Any thoughts on how I should phrase my email to the site cancelling my interview? I'm not sure if I should just say I've realized it's not the best fit for me or if I should just say I can no longer attend? I don't want to be rude. Definitely still overthinking everything!
 
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