- Joined
- Apr 14, 2013
- Messages
- 13
- Reaction score
- 8
empathiosis, I appreciate your presence on these threads! Lightbulb, good for you for matching 🙂
go on with your bad self! 🙂How many sites you applied to (and how many were APA accredited)
I applied to 20 APA accredited university counseling centers. I did not limit myself geographically and more than half of the sites would be considered very competitive.
How many interviews you received
I received 19 interviews
If you matched or not and to what type of site
I matched to a pretty sweet university counseling center 🙂
What type of sites you were applying to (research-focused, neuro, peds, etc)
I was obviously looking for a UCC but only interested in working at a place that had a diverse student body, offered supervision of practicum students, and had a track record of previous interns finding work at a UCC.
Other info that you think might be relevant to your outcome(s)
My application was okay but I'm no all star. I had an average amount of contact hours, worked at a variety of settings, and had a handful of presentation but no pubs (one conditionally accepted to a flagship journal). Additionally, I think my letters of rec were pretty sharp. While interviewing, some sites commented on what my references had said about me.
So why did I get so many interviews? I can't be certain but I think my genuine interest in multiculturalism and being White played a big role. I talked a lot about work with diverse populations and wrestling with my own privileged identities in most of the essays. I found that UCC's either really valued multiculturalism at it's core or at least valued it on the surface presumably because that's the direction of the field. Obviously my interests line up well for sites that are deeply committed multiculturalism but I'm also a "safe" candidate for sites that value multiculturalism on the surface. Meaning, I can talk about privilege and oppression but I'm a white heterosexual male so it's not as intimidating when I do it - as opposed to someone with oppressed identities. This feeling was further supported when sites would commend me for my passion in social justice/multiculturalism but I would look around at who was working there and see people that looked just like me. Kind of incongruent.
So while hard work certainly explains some of my success, I'm not discounting privilege as a contributor.
On paper, I had strong clinical training sites - a CMHC, a VAMC and BMed training at a nationally-recognized teaching hospital. However, with the prestige of the hospital site came a high "no-show" and cancellation rate. This negatively affected my intervention hours and likely affected my number of interviews.