Intervention Hours for APA Internship Applications

[LAPsyGuy]

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Per the Applicant Surveys about median number of intervention, supervision and assessment hours:

"APPIC advises applicants to interpret these numbers cautiously.
Applicants should NOT assume that the numbers of practicum hours
listed above are necessary to successfully obtain an internship,
as many Training Directors have told us that they consider these
numbers to be one of the less important aspects of an application."
​

Do y'all agree with this statement? Is it one of the less important aspects of an application?

 

[erg923]

Qualitatively, yes. There are minimum cutoffs that are used though, and I would pay attention to those, even those are often mildly flexible depending on thew site.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Qualitatively, yes. There are minimum cutoffs that are used though, and I would pay attention to those, even those are often mildly flexible depending on thew site.

This. After you're beyond the cut-off, the number of hours (at least where I've been) generally aren't very important. Breadth of clinical exposure tends to be given much more weight.

 

[Ollie123]

Like they said above, I think it is of relatively little importance once you cross the minimum. So applying with 200 hours is a definite problem, but the difference between 1000 and 600 is likely negligible (at least for the type of sites I applied to - some do have higher cutoffs). Anecdotally, my impression talking with numerous people involved in the process is that it matters far more about the type of experiences (ideally including both broader experiences, a reasonable balance of intervention and assessment and at least a minimal background in the focus of the site/track) and also a somewhat more holistic focus (good letters, strong research, other involvement, etc.).

 

[MCParent]

I think (and have heard from people who make decisions about these kinds of things) that the intervention:supervision ratio can also be a flag. e.g., claiming 1000 hours of intervention, with 80 hours of supervision, is a red flag.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I think (and have heard from people who make decisions about these kinds of things) that the intervention:supervision ratio can also be a flag. e.g., claiming 1000 hours of intervention, with 80 hours of supervision, is a red flag.

Yep, this has come up in my experiences as well, in addition to ratios of group to individual supervision hours (although I personally didn't "flag" that one very much).

 

[GoPokes]

Could you post these numbers?

 

[WisNeuro]

Post what numbers?

 

[GoPokes]

The median hours from applicant surveys. I looked, but only saw 2012 as the most recent. Are there not more recent applicant surveys available?

 

[WisNeuro]

2012 is the latest comprehensive survey I have seen, usually takes them a while to get that data up, As others have said, I wouldn't worry too much about the numbers after the minimum. It can be somewhat misleading. IME, we tend to look at the quality of those hours rather than the sheer number (e.g., were they accrued at a reputable site, varied, etc).