Hi everyone! Longtime lurker here and current post-doc applicant. This site has been immensely helpful to me from being a prospective applicant to now being (almost) done my clinical training. I was hoping to create a thread of success stories- for people who either matched in Phase 2 or went through the post-match. Learning about other people's experiences last year on these forums was extremely helpful for me since I didn't know of anyone personally who did not match.
I'm currently applying for post-doc sites and I am finding it a very different feeling than I did last year while going through the internship process. Last year, I applied to 8 sites, received 6 interviews, and went unmatched. I was disappointed, and the Phase 2 thread really helped me to keep motivated, and I was ultimately successful in getting a spot I really loved for internship.
Although everyone tried to console me by telling me that I'm still a worthy clinician, the self-critic inside had an absolute field day. I picked apart my interview performance since in my mind, my experiences and cover letters were 'good enough' to make it to the interview stage- therefore, it must have been something about 'me'. The worst part was that I actually finished each interview thinking that it went well- so I felt awful thinking that I had 'red flags' AND I could not identify them.
As a result, I still had many reservations going into post-doc season this year- to the point that I was embarrassed to tell anyone that I was applying (and dusting off my old account to post this!!). Thus far, I have been very pleasantly surprised. I applied to 6 spots, and have 5 interviews with 1 pending. Two of these spots are dream places- I would have never fathomed even possibly being a contender, but I found myself really enjoying the interview process. I am surprised at the differences between internship and post-doc, given that a) my experiences and cover letters have stayed relatively the same and b) my interview style has also remained the same. From what I've read in these forums, it also appears that many people feel the same way.
For the people who went through phase 2/post-match, I was wondering what you felt made the difference between an unsuccessful internship match to a successful post-doc position and/or job position? For me, my thought is that I work with a very specific clinical population and for my internship applications, I wanted a more generalist training in order to fill my gaps. However because I did not have much experience in other clinical populations, I didn't 'fit' with the generalist training. For post-doc, I am seeking more depth within my specialized area, which is probably why I am finding the process easier since this is what I love to do. That being said, I'm not sure what I could've done differently during my internship match since I have heard from many supervisors that it is important to obtain both breadth and depth throughout your training.
I'm currently applying for post-doc sites and I am finding it a very different feeling than I did last year while going through the internship process. Last year, I applied to 8 sites, received 6 interviews, and went unmatched. I was disappointed, and the Phase 2 thread really helped me to keep motivated, and I was ultimately successful in getting a spot I really loved for internship.
Although everyone tried to console me by telling me that I'm still a worthy clinician, the self-critic inside had an absolute field day. I picked apart my interview performance since in my mind, my experiences and cover letters were 'good enough' to make it to the interview stage- therefore, it must have been something about 'me'. The worst part was that I actually finished each interview thinking that it went well- so I felt awful thinking that I had 'red flags' AND I could not identify them.
As a result, I still had many reservations going into post-doc season this year- to the point that I was embarrassed to tell anyone that I was applying (and dusting off my old account to post this!!). Thus far, I have been very pleasantly surprised. I applied to 6 spots, and have 5 interviews with 1 pending. Two of these spots are dream places- I would have never fathomed even possibly being a contender, but I found myself really enjoying the interview process. I am surprised at the differences between internship and post-doc, given that a) my experiences and cover letters have stayed relatively the same and b) my interview style has also remained the same. From what I've read in these forums, it also appears that many people feel the same way.
For the people who went through phase 2/post-match, I was wondering what you felt made the difference between an unsuccessful internship match to a successful post-doc position and/or job position? For me, my thought is that I work with a very specific clinical population and for my internship applications, I wanted a more generalist training in order to fill my gaps. However because I did not have much experience in other clinical populations, I didn't 'fit' with the generalist training. For post-doc, I am seeking more depth within my specialized area, which is probably why I am finding the process easier since this is what I love to do. That being said, I'm not sure what I could've done differently during my internship match since I have heard from many supervisors that it is important to obtain both breadth and depth throughout your training.
