Help me rank sites!

[MidWestLass]

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I've finished interviewing for internship and am struggling with rankings. I'm lucky enough that I really liked many of the sites I interviewed with and would be happy with most of them.

I've interviewed at 12 sites and have figured out my top and bottom sites, but I am having a difficult time trying to sort out the remaining sites. There are some minor pros and cons for each, but they all feel pretty equal in my heart and I can reach all of my internship objectives at all of them.

Please help! Do any of you know which sites have better reputations in the field? How would you rank the following if you were interested in generalist training?

American Lake VA
Madison VA
Phoenix VA
Indianapolis VA
Orlando VA
Jesse Brown VA
San Diego VA

I'd rank SD higher but I'm concerned about cost of living since I don't have a partner to share expenses with. Do you know if their reputation is strong enough to make up for the additional expenses?

Thanks for all of your help!

 

[denimfan]

I wonder how a training director at one of those sites would feel if they learned that one of their interviewees asked the Internet to help them with ranking. Not sure it's the best idea, but I honestly don't know.

Same, I'm kind of shaking my head here reading the initial post.

 

[MidWestLass]

There's no reason to shake your head. I'm simply asking whether sites have better reputations than others since I had a wonderful interview experience at all of them and they'll all help me towards my overall goals. There are so many people here who are very familiar with different sites - many of you are experts in the field. I was just asking for opinions.

I'm assuming this means that none of you asked people in the field for advice?

 

[MidWestLass]

I've seen plenty of other people ask for the same advice on this forum and people were helpful. See the below link for someone who did just a few days ago. I thought I would give it a shot since I don't know many people familiar with the VA system who can help me. Isn't this the sort of thing the student doctor forum is here for? For people in the field to help provide students with information and guidance about the field?

PhD/PsyD - Clinical Neuropsychology Internship Site Rank Help Thread

 

[foreverbull]

This is probably more general advice than you’re looking for since I don’t work in a VA at present, but if they’re all in the middle....rank them however you want based on your experience/interview or location preference. The middle sides don’t matter much since you’ve already picked your top choices and bottom choices. The rest is just minor details. I’d suggest that you try not to overthink it and get caught up in which site “looks” better...I mean, they’re all VAs.

 

[MidWestLass]

Thanks so much for your response, foreverbull! It’s much appreciated. Yes, they’re all VAs which probably also adds to the challenge of ranking because they all offer such similar experiences. I know they’re all solid sites and I’m pretty enamored with all of them. I truly feel lucky to be in this position. Given my main goal of working at a VA with hopefully some percentage of time dedicated to research, I was just wondering if any of the sites have a better reputation within the VA system so that I could be a more competitive applicant for staff positions later on.

If there are no strong opinions, I’ll start considering more tangential things like preferred location, etc. Thanks again!

 

[str63]

As a training director, I think it's a bit odd when people are asking for ranking advice on this forum. It's not going to be helpful to get others' opinions when they don't know your background, training goals, or future career goals. Although some sites may have better name recognition it doesn't necessarily mean much about the training or how it can impact your career. I'd suggest talking to those who know you to get feedback that will be personalized to your situation. Congrats on your interviews and I wish you the best of luck!

 

[ClinicalABA]

If all are relatively the same training-wise, rank based on where you want to live for a year. For me- knowing nothing about any of the programs- this would be my ranking with reasons):

Madison VA- Madison seems like a cool college town (though never been there)- with socio-political attitude similar to my own hometown (e.g. very liberal)
American Lake VA- Nearby Mountains and Rivers. Opportunities to hike and fish (though never been there)
San Diego VA - Beautiful city, but expensive and everybody there is much prettier than I am. Also, High of 68, low of 62 everyday might get a little old.
Jesse Brown VA- Chicago is, imho, just ok. Also expensive
Phoenix VA- Too Freakin' hot there! Maybe a little to conservative for my tastes (never been there)
Indianapolis VA- Too flat. Probably too conservative for my tastes (never been there)
Orlando VA- I'm a snob and I think (probably unjustifiably- I only been to the airport!) bad things about Central Florida. Also, Freakin' hot and humid!

All that said, i ended up living in Pawtucket, RI during my internship year, so you really shouldn't be trusting any advice I give on picking out nice places to live!

In all seriousness- best of luck. Sounds like you got the hard part (top rankings) taken care of. Hope you enjoy wherever the next year(s) bring you.

 

[WisNeuro]

American Lake VA- Nearby Mountains and Rivers. Opportunities to hike and fish (though never been there)

If you don't mind hiking and fishing in the constant rain 9 months of the year 😉

 

[ClinicalABA]

If you don't mind hiking and fishing in the constant rain 9 months of the year 😉

If the fish don't mind, I don't mind!

 

[WisNeuro]

If the fish don't mind, I don't mind!

It bothered me a lot more than I thought it would, much happier with more access to sunshine, even if it is colder.

 

[psydstudent2020]

I wonder how a training director at one of those sites would feel if they learned that one of their interviewees asked the Internet to help them with ranking. Not sure it's the best idea, but I honestly don't know.

They should mind their own business. We’re allowed to look for insider info on how we should rank sites if we don’t know much about them. This isn’t Reddit, it’s supposed to be a site with professionals who want to help. I also asked for help with ranking some of my more similar sites. I honestly did think this site would be more helpful when I made it to this stage.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[MidWestLass]

If all are relatively the same training-wise, rank based on where you want to live for a year. For me- knowing nothing about any of the programs- this would be my ranking with reasons):

Madison VA- Madison seems like a cool college town (though never been there)- with socio-political attitude similar to my own hometown (e.g. very liberal)
American Lake VA- Nearby Mountains and Rivers. Opportunities to hike and fish (though never been there)
San Diego VA - Beautiful city, but expensive and everybody there is much prettier than I am. Also, High of 68, low of 62 everyday might get a little old.
Jesse Brown VA- Chicago is, imho, just ok. Also expensive
Phoenix VA- Too Freakin' hot there! Maybe a little to conservative for my tastes (never been there)
Indianapolis VA- Too flat. Probably too conservative for my tastes (never been there)
Orlando VA- I'm a snob and I think (probably unjustifiably- I only been to the airport!) bad things about Central Florida. Also, Freakin' hot and humid!

All that said, i ended up living in Pawtucket, RI during my internship year, so you really shouldn't be trusting any advice I give on picking out nice places to live!

In all seriousness- best of luck. Sounds like you got the hard part (top rankings) taken care of. Hope you enjoy wherever the next year(s) bring you.

Thank you so much for your opinion! I hadn't considered all of the beautiful people in SD which I imagine would make online dating much harder. That is a legit concern.

And American Lake looked like Twin Peaks everywhere. That was pretty cool.

This is what decision making has come to. 🤣

 

[MidWestLass]

As a training director, I think it's a bit odd when people are asking for ranking advice on this forum. It's not going to be helpful to get others' opinions when they don't know your background, training goals, or future career goals. Although some sites may have better name recognition it doesn't necessarily mean much about the training or how it can impact your career. I'd suggest talking to those who know you to get feedback that will be personalized to your situation. Congrats on your interviews and I wish you the best of luck!

Thanks so much for the well wishes. I had spoken with my advisors but they weren't familiar with the different sites. Since each site could help me reach my goals, they weren't able to help me further differentiate between my middle sites. I thought I'd just check here to see if anybody had any strong opinions about any of the sites, but it doesn't appear so. Which is a bit reassuring actually.

 

[MidWestLass]

They should mind their own business. We’re allowed to look for insider info on how we should rank sites if we don’t know much about them. This isn’t Reddit, it’s supposed to be a site with professionals who want to help. I also asked for help with ranking some of my more similar sites. I honestly did think this site would be more helpful when I made it to this stage.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

THANK YOU! I really appreciate your comment so much. Where else are we supposed to go when our advisors aren't familiar with the sites we applied to? Also, people ask advice about different graduate programs, etc. all the time. Not sure how this is different. The SDN mission is stated as follows:

Founded in 1999 by students and doctors, the Student Doctor Network is a non-profit educational website dedicated to building a diverse doctor workforce. We achieve our mission by providing free advising resources, tools, and peer-support forums to those who would otherwise not have access to advising services.

 

[concernedapplicant]

...I honestly did think this site would be more helpful when I made it to this stage.

This.

...Where else are we supposed to go when our advisors aren't familiar with the sites we applied to? Also, people ask advice about different graduate programs, etc. all the time. Not sure how this is different. The SDN mission is stated as follows:

Founded in 1999 by students and doctors, the Student Doctor Network is a non-profit educational website dedicated to building a diverse doctor workforce. We achieve our mission by providing free advising resources, tools, and peer-support forums to those who would otherwise not have access to advising services.

And this.

I've always found this site extremely useful and still believe most of the faculty/experts' insight on here are for the most part pretty invaluable.

But after the privileged-folks and random all-lives-matter-takes created a **** show on my "diversity" post yesterday, I will definitely think twice about the nature of questions posted on here. Best of luck in your rankings!

 

[futureapppsy2]

Perhaps an unpopular opinion, but once you’re equal on site type and specific training experiences, I don’t think it matters all too much how you rank. Internship is an intense year, but it is only one year, and many people have to start applying for postdocs pretty much immediately after starting internship.

 

[hillies]

I have personal experience with one of the sites you listed above. If you're interested in my likely-biased opinion, happy to discuss privately.

Please help! Do any of you know which sites have better reputations in the field? How would you rank the following if you were interested in generalist training?

American Lake VA
Madison VA
Phoenix VA
Indianapolis VA
Orlando VA
Jesse Brown VA
San Diego VA