Pre-doc Internship Advice Desperately Needed!

[Psychmeout]

Hi Everyone,

I am new to this site. However, I have been reading many of the discussion forums and have noticed that many of you have a wealth of information regarding programs, internships, etc. With that said, I am hoping that I can receive some advice from you about internship programs.

I am trying to decide on my ranking list. I am highly interested in receiving training in Neuropsychology and I applied to Neuropsych tracks within medical schools, VA's and state hospitals. I like the state hospital setting because there is a huge need for clinical psychologists who understand psychiatric neuropsych and they provide forensic training (another interest of mine). However, I am equally attracted to the medical schools and VA's given that they seem to provide more opportunity for research (which is important component for me to have in my training program).

So my question is........Are state hospitals considered "lower tiered" compared to the VA and medical school settings? And if so, how low?
I want my career to combine both research and clinical work. I tend to believe that if you are too research focused, you lose sight of the clinical application and vice versa.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Best of luck to all of you through this process (it is exhausting!)

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[edieb]

Hey, I sent you a private message about this

 

[docma]

It sounds like you were most drawn to the state hospital sites and are now second-guessing your preferences due to some anxiety about status/prestige. My own conviction (as a TD) is that you should look for a pre-doc that is an attractive learning community for you for this important capstone year. State hospitals offer you the chance to try-out forensics and neuropsych before you make a more narrow committment in a post-doc speciality. If you don't get enough research opportunity, you still hold open the option to seek more of that post-doc. The advice about rank your preferences really is sound. The fates of the match might wind you up at a VA or med school anyway, but you will have followed your intuition which is an important clinical tool too.

 

[Psychmeout]

Thank you docma This is really great advice. I am going to go with my initial interest and forget about prestige.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I'm currently mulling over a similar decision, I may post about it later. For the moment I need some dinner and relaxation.

-t