Please help! Does your program allow you to walk for graduation while on internship?

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Hi there,

I am a doctoral student in an APA accredited Clinical Psychology program and am hoping to change some policy within my graduate center.

Here's the problem: while on internship, we can't walk at graduation. Meaning that if you finish internship June 30, you can't walk for graduation until the following May...after you've been called "Dr." for 11 months. Pretty anticlimactic for the students and their family members. For my program, many students do not come back if they are living elsewhere. The excitement is somewhat deflated.

I know that there are numerous programs who allow their students to walk if they are in good standing e.g., dissertation already deposited, and a letter from their internship director saying that they are expected to meet all internship requirements. At the ceremony they are just handed a blank paper and of course official graduation status does not occur until dissertation and internship are complete.

What I want to know is: are the students in your doctoral program allowed to walk at graduation while on internship? I would really appreciate discussion here or a PM with your program. I would like to compile a list of programs as a jumping off point (and try to avoid contacting every single school on the APA accredited programs page).

thanks!

 

[BuckeyePsych]

At my program, students who finish internship in July (but not end of August or September) officially graduate and receive their diplomas for summer semester (August graduation date). All students who graduate in the summer (not just clinical psych) walk in December because there is no summer ceremony. Most people at my program come back to walk in December.

 

[WisNeuro]

What Buckeye said. Didn't bother me in the slightest.

 

[cara susanna]

My program didn't allow it (fortunately, we had a late summer graduation so I could walk at that point). However, another intern's program did allow it.

 

[Ollie123]

We have an August graduation where students can walk as long as they have completed internship by that time (and defended). Otherwise, December.

That said, I did not go at all and was pretty ecstatic about that. Not my thing.

 

[Quiche]

My program only allows individuals to walk after successful completion of ALL program requirements including dissertation and internship. We are not allowed to walk early and graduation ceremony is only held once per year in May.

 

[deleted343839]

I got to walk in May a few months before my graduation. I think it's silly to ask students to come back to walk after graduation when their dissertations are done and they're just a few weeks or months shy of completing 6+ years of training.

 

[WisNeuro]

I got to walk in May a few months before my graduation. I think it's silly to ask students to come back to walk after graduation when their dissertations are done and they're just a few weeks or months shy of completing 6+ years of training.

Are we assuming that people are doing internship in the same city as their program, though? Won't most people have to travel back at some point, regardless?

 

[psychrat]

My program allows us to walk as long as dissertation is done.

 

[Doctor Eliza]

It was a few years ago at this point, but many of us came back from internship to walk in May and our degrees were actually conferred in August.

 

[123EW]

We can walk in May and degree is conferred in August. We do have a December graduation as well

 

[erg923]

I understand the significance. But I think by that time I was so ready to be done with it and on with my life, I actually didn't care that much. Babies, money, buying a a home, etc.

 

[deleted343839]

Are we assuming that people are doing internship in the same city as their program, though? Won't most people have to travel back at some point, regardless?

Sure they will. I'm just assuming that people would prefer not to "graduate" halfway into their postdoc. Kind of anticlimactic, no?

 

[DynamicDidactic]

finished internship June 30th. PhD conferred August. Walked the following May while on postdoc.

Not really a big deal in hindsight. At the time, I wanted to walk before postdoc but it really doesn't matter in hindsight.

Funny thing, a clinical faculty became dean of graduate studies and changed the rule the following year allowing interns were able to walk.

 

[WisNeuro]

Sure they will. I'm just assuming that people would prefer not to "graduate" halfway into their postdoc. Kind of anticlimactic, no?

Meh, grad school and everything about it is anticlimactic. Write publishable papers, wait a year to see it in print. Pass the EPPP wait months for the state board to meet and grant you a license. It's no different. It happens when it happens.

 

[LPPSYD]

My school only has a May graduation ceremony, so those on internship who successfully defended their dissertations in time were allowed to walk, and received their diplomas for the August graduation date. What irked me was that the deadline was in March. Two full months ahead of time seemed excessive to me, especially given that many had to arrange to fly back to the area for the defense. I guess I'm happy my school at least offered that option, even if I could not do it in time. I'm surprised to hear that many schools do not do this.

 

[G Costanza]

I finished internship on July 31st and was conferred on August 21st. I wasn't allowed to walk until the December ceremony. I had taken a job across the country by then and it would have cost about $600 in travel plus a few days of vacation time at my new job. I could have made the trip but decided to skip graduation because of the hassle and it was fairly anticlimactic at that point. When I think about it now, I'm saddened I didn't walk and frustrated that I couldn't have simply done it during my internship year.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Not positive, but I want to say we weren't able to walk until having completed internship, which meant that lots of folks did so in December.

 

[stw2010]

Same here. I finish is June so I have to do summer graduation in August. C'est la vie ...

 

[PsychPhDone]

Have to be done (or close enough that if you add extra hours for a few weeks you have enough hours to be declared done). I agree, pretty sad.

 

[LETSGONYR]

My school only has a May graduation ceremony, so those on internship who successfully defended their dissertations in time were allowed to walk, and received their diplomas for the August graduation date. What irked me was that the deadline was in March. Two full months ahead of time seemed excessive to me, especially given that many had to arrange to fly back to the area for the defense. I guess I'm happy my school at least offered that option, even if I could not do it in time. I'm surprised to hear that many schools do not do this.

My school was similar. As long as we defended by a certain date (early April I think?) And were on track to complete internship by August, we could walk in may.

A bit silly to walk and then have to go back to internship for three months, but it is what it is... most schools have a ton of programs and don't rearrange their graduation ceremonies for the seven of us on psychology internships.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using SDN mobile

 

[temppsych123]

We have graduations in May and November, and clinical psych students can't walk until they complete all requirements, for which completing an accredited internship is one. That means that you don't complete the requirements until summer and therefore you don't get to walk until the November graduation.

 

[smalltownpsych]

I walked after almost a year of doing postdoc work and it was a little anti-climatic and all my friends and family kept saying that I could call myself a doctor now. When I had been a doctor for almost a year. It was nice to be licensed a month after grad though. The timing on a lot of this stuff didn't work well, but so it goes and in the end you get to do something you love and get paid to do it. Not a bad gig.

 

[MCParent]

Why would you have to wait all the way until May? Aren't there Summer and December walks, where you are?

My grad school let us walk in summer.

 

[bmedclinic]

I didnt really care about walking; mostly did it because my wife insisted that I (and family) would be disappointed if I didnt walk.
That said, my university doesnt have an August graduation, so I walked in December. Even though all my stuff (even internship/diss) were done by August.

 

[OneNeuroDoctor]

The student could choose to go through graduation in May or wait until December graduation or next May graduation. Since Internship is high stress some went through later rather than May.

Seems that internship cycle should be June-May rather than August-July.

I didn't go through graduation but one of my Intern cohort Schools requires students to go through graduation and she took that week off from internship to go back to Alabama for graduation. Otherwise, she would not have her degree conferred until December restricting her from getting licensed since Alabama doesn't require postdoc.

 

[President_LeslieKnope]

Our program used to be flexible with this but not so much anymore. I defended my dissertation last summer, and am finishing internship the first week of August which is approximately 5 days after our August graduation. Even though I am done with all coursework/dissertation/and 99.9% of my internship, they will not let me graduate until December. They may or may not be allowing me to walk in August. Very frustrating situation for me personally.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Related to some of the above posts, my degree wasn't granted until December (which is also when I was allowed to walk, although I didn't participate), as the completion of my internship occurred after the "cut point" for August graduation. Didn't matter as much for me, as my fellowship was two years, but that would've tacked on an extra 4 months of non-licensed practice had I gone straight to work (or completed a one-year postdoc).

 

[futurepsydoc]

I was allowed to walk. I had my dissertation completed and had about 2 months left before completing internship, but I needed a letter from my internship DCT indicating I was on track to successfully completing my internship before I was allowed to walk. To be honest, this was even anticlimactic, as I still was not officially finished. Though, it was nice for my parents and wife.

 

[EmotRegulation]

Both my graduate program and the program I'm faculty for now allow students to walk in May when the degree is not yet conferred. In fact, I didn't defend my dissertation until June, but I still walked in May. We also needed some kind of "good faith" letter from the DCT to be able to walk. Like others have said, it was kind of silly walking before actually finishing, but fun for family to get to attend the ceremony, and I walked with a bunch of my friends, which was also fun. Degree was conferred in August.