practicum

[psydstudent2020]

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[psydstudent2020]

also, how much do internship sites look at the practicum site you're at when you apply? I'm asking bc i plan on trying to work at a prison my third year, but was told internship sites don't look too much at the last one since you apply in the middle of the year...

 

[erg923]

I'm currently on my first prac at the VA. yesterday my supervisor called me into his office to say that the two cases i presented that day were "outstanding" and he kept repeating "i wish you could stay". i told him i wanted other experiences and he said it again. i agreed to an elective practicum. when i said this he said "can we make this definitive?" while i am thrilled to continue there, i am worried this additional work won't even make me competitive for internship since I've already been there a whole year. my goal for internship is to either be placed in a prison, some kind of forensic assessment site, or a hospital. I'm not sure if I'm overthinking this or not.

Its your career, not his/hers.

 

[erg923]

also, how much do internship sites look at the practicum site you're at when you apply? I'm asking bc i plan on trying to work at a prison my third year, but was told internship sites don't look too much at the last one since you apply in the middle of the year...

Breadth of clinical training is always an important factor when looking at internship apps.

 

[psych.meout]

Breadth of clinical training is always an important factor when looking at internship apps.

Does duration matter as well? Would internship application reviewers want to see you have a certain minimum amount of time at each site, e.g. a semester, 4-6 months, etc.?

 

[FirstYearPsyD]

Breadth of clinical training is always an important factor when looking at internship apps.

I've heard that too, is diversity among my practicum sites more important than crafting a narrative that shows why I want to work at a specific internship site? I don't understand how to integrate the two.


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[smalltownpsych]

I've heard that too, is diversity among my practicum sites more important than crafting a narrative that shows why I want to work at a specific internship site? I don't understand how to integrate the two.


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It's not that complicated. Variety of settings with a variety of populations while leaning toward what you are thinking about doing. During internship interviews you will talk about practicum experiences that directly relate to the site and the skills that you want to continue to develop while also discussing aspects of practicum experience that you didn't experience as much of but want the opportunity to fill in those gaps. For a rough example, I had adult outpatient experience and adolescent inpatient experience and I matched at a primarily adult inpatient site.

 

[ClinicalABA]

Back when I was at an APA approved internship site, our selection decisions were based on the following, in general order of importance:

1. Worked with a mentor who previously sent us successful students, with a good recommendation from this mentor. This usually went beyond a letter of rec- a good mentor would make sure we knew of this student well before application time, such as by introducing us at conferences. Also- good mentors generally don't let unqualified/unprepared students get to the application phase.

2. Applicant's training and career goals in line with what we could provide (if we couldn't get you where you wanted to go, it wouldn't be that nice for us to accept you, would it?)

3. Relevant clinical work with a relevant population (to the major rotation) with a likely ability to function in a minor rotation, with good references from said clinical work. The minor rotation thing could be a big deal at times, particularly when ranking strong candidates.

4. Research and presentation in relevant clinical area

-at this point, we typically had more than enough applicants to fill our slots-

5. Relevant clinical work with a different population

7. Grades...maybe? For most applicants, this was taken care of by #1-4 above. Basically, if you got through 4 years in a good graduate lab, with good refs and some pubs or solid presentations, we didn't really look at grades, assuming that stuff was between you and your mentor. If it got down to us looking at your GPA, you were probably a questionable, low ranked applicant. I don't remember GPA ever being a big factor.

8. Crap totally unrelated to your ability to succeed at the internship, but some faculty couldn't ignore or counteract with logical, informed decision making. These are things like physical appearance, clothing worn to interview, nervousness at interview, etc. We had a decent, well educated faculty who understood the impacts of such factors on decision making, as well as the need for an active process to remove such biases, but they would occasionally sneak through.

 

[Psychdocta44]

@ClinicalABA

What a great list!

In terms of your number 1 criterion, though: doesn't that violate the APPIC rule of an internship program ranking an applicant higher due to having a personal connection to them?
Not saying that it doesn't happen all the time, but isn't it technically taboo?

 

[Ollie123]

@ClinicalABA

What a great list!

In terms of your number 1 criterion, though: doesn't that violate the APPIC rule of an internship program ranking an applicant higher due to having a personal connection to them?
Not saying that it doesn't happen all the time, but isn't it technically taboo?

Can you link to something in the policy that says that? I've never heard of it before. There are rules and norms regarding nepotism and those sorts of "personal connections" in many settings, but I have never heard of anything remotely implying that factoring in something like previous successful trainees from a site or relationships with individual letter writers can't factor in. If they exist, it's a stupid rule - I'd wager those are likely to be among the most valid predictors of success!

 

[Justanothergrad]

Why in the world would favoring students from people who you trust because of their reputation, past experience, etc be against APPIC guidance? That's probably the best indicator of what a student will be like. Past behavior, future behavior, etc.

 

[ClinicalABA]

@ClinicalABA

What a great list!

In terms of your number 1 criterion, though: doesn't that violate the APPIC rule of an internship program ranking an applicant higher due to having a personal connection to them?
Not saying that it doesn't happen all the time, but isn't it technically taboo?

I'm with the last few posters in that I don't know of any such rule (beyond things like nepotism). There were no personal relationships- only professional and academic. However, it has been 10+ since I was at a place with an APPIC internship, so maybe things have changed. I can't imagine there would be anything improper about basing decisions on the recomendations of trusted graduate faculty who felt certain enough about the students' abilities to "market" them to potential internship sites.