PhD/PsyD **deleted**

[mypointlesspov]

**deleted**

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[Therapist4Chnge]

There are a cluster of more School Psych friendly internships out there, but I definitely think you won’t be on equal footing at the more traditional sites. I’m probably too far removed from the process, so YMMV, but I definitely saw preference for clinical/counseling psych students over school psych when I went through the internship process.

 

[SchoolPsycho]

School Psych PsyD programs, as a group, do not perform as well in the match (see here). But there are several very high quality sites that might welcome you with open arms. What kind of programs do you have in mind? If you want to go to programs that are traditionally clinical/counseling focused, you'll need to work hard to build an application that will get your foot in the door. Our training has a different emphasis than clinical/counseling programs. That's good in a lot of ways, but it impacts competitiveness for traditional therapy-oriented internships.

 

[SchoolPsycho]

Hi,

It was viewing the match rates that prompted me to ask here. I'm not sure if you saw, but I am aware of the unfortunate match rates for people in School PsyDs. I'm working on gaining more clinical skills by taking an extra year for externship. Did you happen to go through this process? If so, what was it like? Right now, I have a short list of school districts and sites that I know have taken school PsyDs or any school students in the past.

I came from a school psych phd program, and went through the internship match a few short years ago. So the process remains very fresh in my mind . I am happy to share my experiences.

Students in my program typically matched at hospitals or clinical settings that had a behavioral orientation, or had a CBT orientation with an emphasis on the "B". Some of the sites that we had good luck at included Munroe Meyer, Kennedy Krieger, May Institute, Boys Town, Devereux, and St. Jude. Other students matched at clinical placements that had a mix of clinical and school experiences (e.g., part time inpatient, part time public school). A small minority matched in a primarily school-based setting.

The program had a 100% APA match rate. I think what helped us be successful (in addition to the training itself) was that we didn't try to be off-brand clinical psychologists. Instead, we focused our applications on highlighting what makes our training a unique asset to the internship site. For example, my program focused on implementation science and systems-level interventions. What does your program specialize in, and how can you use that as an asset? We were also encouraged to apply, like you mentioned, to sites with a history of taking school psychologists. If I had applied to 15 VAs, I would have been rejected at all of them (and rightly so). Instead, I applied to 15 sites that my training prepared me to excel in, and I had a positive match as a result.