APPIC Internship Phase II Interview & Support Thread (2023)

[theSteppenwolf]

For the poster that's been waiting, I think your site has sent invites. People are reporting on the spreadsheet.

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[theSteppenwolf]

Official Site Name: Center for Multicultural Training in Psychology - Boston University Medical School
Speciality Track or Site (e.g., for consortiums): Community Health Centers
Date Invitation Received: 3/8 @ 1:06pm MST
Method of Invitation (Phone call, personal/mass email): Mass email
Interview Dates Offered: March 9th or 13th Various time slots

 

[theSteppenwolf]

*****ANXIETY***** I'm trying to take to heart what elders in our community have said about the collective over-emphasis on particular internship sites and attributes but the struggle is constant and evolving. As someone with control issues being at the mercy of others' decisions feels disorienting and frightening. The 22nd cannot come soon enough. I've become an obsessed individual.

 

[psychqueen12]

*****ANXIETY***** I'm trying to take to heart what elders in our community have said about the collective over-emphasis on particular internship sites and attributes but the struggle is constant and evolving. As someone with control issues being at the mercy of others' decisions feels disorienting and frightening. The 22nd cannot come soon enough. I've become an obsessed individual.

SAME. I keep checking all the sites. I hope it all works out this time for us

 

[GetPsyched!]

Feeling super anxious! Anyone feel like they were blind-sided last time and now it's hard to trust that there'll be a good outcome? Almost feels like it was a little traumatizing not matching and it's making me super anxious for tomorrow. Trying my best to stay positive though! Telling myself that what's meant for me will find me. We're in this together and I wish the best for you all!

 

[FantasticMrsFox]

Wishing everyone all the best tomorrow - or today, on my time zone.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I'm not a training director or have enough background process info so I don't know if every site that has unmatched spots from Phase 1 automatically participates in Phase 2 (or is required to regardless of site preference) or if each program has to specifically affirm their preference or withdraw from further participation.

If it's the former, that's less than ideal and would put unorganized/disinterested programs in a position to receive applications that take a lot of time which may not be considered.

If it's the latter, then these sites are likely still reviewing applications in good faith and with due diligence but potentially not extending many/any interview offers based on how their application review process goes. I'm sure there are exceptions (but hopefully not too many since I've found people interested in training to be some of my favorite professionals in our field but that's my bias).

The best case scenario is that a site finds applications from people who could have matched with the site in Phase 1 had they applied/ranked the program, do a handful of interviews, and match with one of those people.

The worst case scenario is that a site only receives applications from interns that they don't believe would be a good fit for their training program and don't offer any interviews or submit any Phase 2 ranks, which sucks for applicants.

As far as transparency goes, there will always be some inherent lack of transparency (why somebody received an interview versus somebody else who didn't, why an applicant ranked site A but not site B, etc). I agree that more transparency such as if a site is no longer considering Phase 2 interviews, that should be made public to inform people and potentially save Phase 2 application time.

First, just wanted to say good luck to everyone today.

I'm late to the party for the string of replies related to the quoted post, but just wanted to clarify--if a site participates in Phase I, per the APPIC Match agreement, they are automatically entered into Phase II and are required to offer all unfilled spots in Phase II unless they elect not to fill those spots at all for that training year.

If a site decides to withdraw from Phase II (e.g., they've decided not to fill the spot for the upcoming year), they're required to notify APPIC and the information is sent out in one of the "late-breaking news" updates.

There's not any direct regulation of that per se, and I'm not sure APPIC would have the resources to monitor it even if they tried (e.g., by requiring sites to do something like send the names of applicants they're interviewing, or to produce a schedule of interviews); like many things in health professions, much of it is on the "honor system." That being said, if APPIC learned that a site knew it wasn't going to be accepting any interns in Phase II but for some reason participated anyway, there would almost certainly be some frank discussions had.

As for why sites participate in Phase II, there are a few reasons:

• Most/all sites recognize that many highly-qualified applicants participate in Phase II, and most sites likely want to fill their positions just as much as applicants want to obtain positions; programs spend a great deal of resources preparing their training programs for the number of spots available, and not filling spots means those resources go un- or under-utilized
• It's generally better for the incoming class when all spots are filled; larger cohorts allow for more intern interaction, support, etc.
• Internship TDs are people, too, and they (along with training staff) take their responsibility of being stewards of the profession seriously, which includes helping participate in the ongoing "production" of well-trained psychologists; they also were, at one point, interns themselves and realize how important it is for positions to be available
• Particularly in VA, if a spot goes unfilled, especially for more than one year, there's a very good chance funding for that spot will be pulled
• For sites with already-small cohorts, they want to do all they can to ensure they have at least two interns; APPIC will generally allow a one-intern class if it was essentially unavoidable, but it can be less-than-ideal for the intern and the site

There are likely other reasons, some specific to individual sites. Those are just the main ones I could think of off the top of my head.

 

[theSteppenwolf]

I matched to the University of Colorado School of Medicine! I'm ecstatic and relieved. Mac 18 is the order at some point today!

 

[rerope]

I matched to the University of Colorado School of Medicine! I'm ecstatic and relieved. Mac 18 is the order at some point today!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Colorado is beautiful and I hope you're able to get the training experiences you hope for

 

[theSteppenwolf]

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Colorado is beautiful and I hope you're able to get the training experiences you hope for

No doubt I will! Thanks for the well wishes.