NY Times Article about Internship Imbalance

[cara susanna]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/08/h...-frustrates-psychology-students.html?_r=2&hpw

Edit: The title should read NY Times

Mod note: Fixed the title for you --futureapppsy2

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[erg923]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/08/h...-frustrates-psychology-students.html?_r=2&hpw

Edit: The title should read NY Times

I sent this to my a parents, so they can finally understand how lucky I was and why I was so stressed last year. Im not even sure my wife fully understands all of it.

 

[roubs]

APAGS sent out an email about the article, then someone replied:

I think that clearly the best solution to solving the internship crisis is limiting the amount of students that can enroll in professional schools.

Aaaand we've gone there

 

[cara susanna]

Haha, the article mentions prof schools, too.

 

[OhHello]

A computer does it? What would the factors be?

People always talk about competing for internships, but what does one do while in grad school that makes them a worthy candidate?

 

[serendipity2]

A computer does it? What would the factors be?

People always talk about competing for internships, but what does one do while in grad school that makes them a worthy candidate?

Worthy? Interesting word choice. I like to think after years of intensive graduate study that most of us are "worthy". In terms of being competitive, some of the factors include # of clinical hours, assessment experience, publications, presentations, diversity in clinical practica, how you put your materials together, your essays, your letters of recommendations, your cover letters, your supplemental materials you submit such as additional essays or assessement reports or treatment summaries, etc, involvement in professional organizations, leadership roles, how you do in interviews/present yourself, etc... I am sure there is more. It's really the combination of all of these things and it also depends on the type of setting you apply to, i.e. hospitals are looking for you to have different experiences than perhaps a university counseling center.

People at the site, such as training directors and other psychologists rank order their final choice of applicants and then it is put in a computer along with the students ranking of their choice of sites. So that is where the computer bit comes in.

 

[OhHello]

Worthy? Interesting word choice. I like to think after years of intensive graduate study that most of us are "worthy". In terms of being competitive, some of the factors include # of clinical hours, assessment experience, publications, presentations, diversity in clinical practica, how you put your materials together, your essays, your letters of recommendations, your cover letters, your supplemental materials you submit such as additional essays or assessement reports or treatment summaries, etc, involvement in professional organizations, leadership roles, how you do in interviews/present yourself, etc... I am sure there is more. It's really the combination of all of these things and it also depends on the type of setting you apply to, i.e. hospitals are looking for you to have different experiences than perhaps a university counseling center.

People at the site, such as training directors and other psychologists rank order their final choice of applicants and then it is put in a computer along with the students ranking of their choice of sites. So that is where the computer bit comes in.

Thanks, I have saved this on a connect mind map

 

[ClinicalABA]

From the article (emphasis mine):

"Nevertheless, even top students at highly regarded schools sometimes do not match because they did not include enough of the less competitive programs in their list or did not rank those programs highly enough to convince the admissions officers of their enthusiasm."

Is this simply speculation on the part of the author? Intern "admissions officers" don't have access to the applicants formal rankings.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

It is sloppy reporting, as they don't have access to that information.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

It is sloppy reporting, as they don't have access to that information.

I caught that as well, yeah. Maybe one of the student sources for the article had a misconception of how the rankings worked or why they didn't match (e.g., "I must not have ranked Program X highly enough, and they found out about it and got upset"), and then passed that misconception on to the article author.

In general, in all but the most extreme circumstances, and as I'm sure we're all aware (but for the sake of those who haven't yet gone through the process and thus might be worried/confused)--the way you rank a program has no impact on their ranking of you, nor on whether or not you'll match; rather, it simply affects where you might end up. If a program asks you where you'll be ranking them, they've broken one of APPIC's rules.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I caught that as well, yeah. Maybe one of the student sources for the article had a misconception of how the rankings worked or why they didn't match (e.g., "I must not have ranked Program X highly enough, and they found out about it and got upset"), and then passed that misconception on to the article author.

In general, in all but the most extreme circumstances, and as I'm sure we're all aware (but for the sake of those who haven't yet gone through the process and thus might be worried/confused)--the way you rank a program has no impact on their ranking of you, nor on whether or not you'll match; rather, it simply affects where you might end up. If a program asks you where you'll be ranking them, they've broken one of APPIC's rules.

This is a really important point that every applicant needs to understand. Every year this concern is voiced on the APPIC Listserv, so future applications take notice....your ranking only impacts where you match, not if you match.

 

[syzergy]

This is a really important point that every applicant needs to understand. Every year this concern is voiced on the APPIC Listserv, so future applications take notice....your ranking only impacts where you match, not if you match.

Thank you for making this clear. Although I'm still in the process of applying to graduate school I have been doing a lot of reading about the internship process. I really did think that you would be passed over for an internship slot if you didn't rank the program high enough. It's a huge relief that this isn't the case.

 

[cara susanna]

I also was annoyed that they mentioned that one student's "straight A's." Grades aren't a huge deal for internships when you're applying as long as you're above 3.5, and a lot of people think straight A's mean you weren't doing enough other things.

Or so I've heard, anyway.

 

[Huxwell]

Haha, the article mentions prof schools, too.

Actually, the thing that jumped out at me in this article is that professional schools are NOT MENTIONED. Yes, for us in the field when they mention schools in California and Florida admitting huge classes, we know what it means. The average consumer of the NYT, however, has no clue. I think it is completely negligent on the reporter's part to not even mention professional schools or the PhD/PsyD distinction.

So I'm torn on the article. On the one hand, it's great to see the problem getting more exposure. At the same time, the depth of analysis is horrible.

 

[Duck Duck Goose]

There's also no longer a "scramble" if you don't match. That must've been describing the old clearinghouse version of the match. This year, Phase II was Phase I, abbreviated. I actually liked it more than Phase I because there was less time to wait/waste. The Post-Match Vacancy Service may be more like a scramble but it didn't seem too bad from the outside...

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Unfortunately the NYT is infamous for sloppy journalism. I'm glad that they picked up the story, I just wish they spent more time fact checking the article. Hopefully they will publish at least one response from one of the major Psychology organizations. I believe there has been at least one letter drafted in response, though I can't recall the organization.

 

[KillerDiller]

Unfortunately the NYT is infamous for sloppy journalism. I'm glad that they picked up the story, I just wish they spent more time fact checking the article. Hopefully they will publish at least one response from one of the major Psychology organizations. I believe there has been at least one letter drafted in response, though I can't recall the organization.

There's definitely a letter circulating around my neck of the woods, but I'm not sure whether it has left the local schools/internship sites yet.

 

[serendipity2]

There's definitely a letter circulating around my neck of the woods, but I'm not sure whether it has left the local schools/internship sites yet.

See copy below of a letter APA drafted today, copy and pasting in so spacing is a bit off, but you get the point:


APA Response to New York Times

November 9, 2011

DearEditors:

Yourarticle “Intern Gap Frustrates Clinicians in Training” (Nov. 8, 2011) addressedthe important issue of ensuring a sufficient number of training internships foraspiring clinical psychologists. Thearticle is, however, incorrect in its suggestion that we encourage students whodo not match to an accredited internship to accept a non-accredited trainingposition. To the contrary, the AmericanPsychological Association (APA) is committed to the development of additionalaccredited internship programs to allow all clinical psychology students tocomplete their studies in a timely manner and to ensure quality in allinternship programs. APA accreditationis the only quality assurance mechanism recognized by the U.S. Secretary ofEducation and the Council on Higher Education Accreditation for the review ofprofessional psychology education and training programs.

Amongefforts to address the development of quality internship programs, the APA hascollaborated with the Council of Chairs of Training Councils to create apractical resource, the PsychologyInternship Development Toolkit (http://www.apa.org/education/grad/internship-toolkit.aspx). Further, wehave continuously advocated for increased funding for accredited internshipsthrough the Graduate Psychology Education (GPE) program of the federal HealthResources and Services Administration. During the September 2011 APA Education Leadership Conference, ourmembers made over 170 visits to Capitol Hill offices on behalf of GPE.

Althoughaccess to psychological services for underserved populations is a complex issueand not directly related to the internship shortage, some internship programsdo train students for work with underserved populations and allow students todeliver such services while being supervised by an experienced provider. Ensuringthat clinical psychology students have the opportunity to complete theirtraining in a timely fashion, meeting standards of quality set by theprofession, is not only fair to the student but good for society.

Sincerely,

CynthiaD. Belar, PhD, ABPP

ExecutiveDirector

EducationDirectorate/American Psychological Association

 

[erg923]

See copy below of a letter APA drafted today, copy and pasting in so spacing is a bit off, but you get the point:


APA Response to New York Times

November 9, 2011

DearEditors:

Yourarticle "Intern Gap Frustrates Clinicians in Training" (Nov. 8, 2011) addressedthe important issue of ensuring a sufficient number of training internships foraspiring clinical psychologists. Thearticle is, however, incorrect in its suggestion that we encourage students whodo not match to an accredited internship to accept a non-accredited trainingposition. To the contrary, the AmericanPsychological Association (APA) is committed to the development of additionalaccredited internship programs to allow all clinical psychology students tocomplete their studies in a timely manner and to ensure quality in allinternship programs. APA accreditationis the only quality assurance mechanism recognized by the U.S. Secretary ofEducation and the Council on Higher Education Accreditation for the review ofprofessional psychology education and training programs.

Amongefforts to address the development of quality internship programs, the APA hascollaborated with the Council of Chairs of Training Councils to create apractical resource, the PsychologyInternship Development Toolkit (http://www.apa.org/education/grad/internship-toolkit.aspx). Further, wehave continuously advocated for increased funding for accredited internshipsthrough the Graduate Psychology Education (GPE) program of the federal HealthResources and Services Administration. During the September 2011 APA Education Leadership Conference, ourmembers made over 170 visits to Capitol Hill offices on behalf of GPE.

Althoughaccess to psychological services for underserved populations is a complex issueand not directly related to the internship shortage, some internship programsdo train students for work with underserved populations and allow students todeliver such services while being supervised by an experienced provider. Ensuringthat clinical psychology students have the opportunity to complete theirtraining in a timely fashion, meeting standards of quality set by theprofession, is not only fair to the student but good for society.

Sincerely,

CynthiaD. Belar, PhD, ABPP

ExecutiveDirector

EducationDirectorate/American Psychological Association

Maybe students should write a response to the response discussing how "responsive" and helpful the APA has been in addressing this problem...

 

[cara susanna]

Haha, that was my thought exactly!

 

[zzzz2]

Maybe students should write a response to the response discussing how "responsive" and helpful the APA has been in addressing this problem...

Excellent response.

How hypocritical it is to be solely responsible for creating a problem and then say, we are working hard to fix it.

 

[SingingCow]

See copy below of a letter APA drafted today, copy and pasting in so spacing is a bit off, but you get the point:


APA Response to New York Times

November 9, 2011

DearEditors:

Yourarticle “Intern Gap Frustrates Clinicians in Training” (Nov. 8, 2011) addressedthe important issue of ensuring a sufficient number of training internships foraspiring clinical psychologists. Thearticle is, however, incorrect in its suggestion that we encourage students whodo not match to an accredited internship to accept a non-accredited trainingposition. To the contrary, the AmericanPsychological Association (APA) is committed to the development of additionalaccredited internship programs to allow all clinical psychology students tocomplete their studies in a timely manner and to ensure quality in allinternship programs. APA accreditationis the only quality assurance mechanism recognized by the U.S. Secretary ofEducation and the Council on Higher Education Accreditation for the review ofprofessional psychology education and training programs.

Amongefforts to address the development of quality internship programs, the APA hascollaborated with the Council of Chairs of Training Councils to create apractical resource, the PsychologyInternship Development Toolkit (http://www.apa.org/education/grad/internship-toolkit.aspx). Further, wehave continuously advocated for increased funding for accredited internshipsthrough the Graduate Psychology Education (GPE) program of the federal HealthResources and Services Administration. During the September 2011 APA Education Leadership Conference, ourmembers made over 170 visits to Capitol Hill offices on behalf of GPE.

Althoughaccess to psychological services for underserved populations is a complex issueand not directly related to the internship shortage, some internship programsdo train students for work with underserved populations and allow students todeliver such services while being supervised by an experienced provider. Ensuringthat clinical psychology students have the opportunity to complete theirtraining in a timely fashion, meeting standards of quality set by theprofession, is not only fair to the student but good for society.

Sincerely,

CynthiaD. Belar, PhD, ABPP

ExecutiveDirector

EducationDirectorate/American Psychological Association

There are good and popular child psychology sites in CA that choose not to become APA...