Question re: Choosing Externships (Neuropsychology)

[InYourHead]

---

Members don't see this ad.

So I am in the process of choosing a placement for my externship next year. Here's what I know: I want to study neuropsychology.

Basically I am trying to decide between two sites that both appear to offer excellent training. One site is at a lesser known "hidden gem" children's hospital and would offer a wide variety of experiences and diagnoses. The supervisor seems extremely busy but training appears to be a huge part of his philosophy, and he encourages students to participate in all aspects of his work (report writing, research, feedback, etc.)

The other site is affiliated with a nationally-respected hospital. It is a one diagnosis clinic, which is exactly what I am interested in studying. From what I have heard of the supervisors, they are very eager to train full-time externs and would offer sound supervision.

Here is the dilemma: Do I pursue the opportunity to become introduced to a wide variety of diagnoses now (and save the more specific site until next year- if I am so fortunate), or do I go ahead to follow the more specific route knowing that is what I ultimately want to do? If it were a simple answer, I know I would do the latter. However, the ultimate goal is obviously to prepare myself to be a competitive internship applicant, so I feel like some strategy will be involved here.

Any help/tips/suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[SpiceyT]

Is this for diagnostic or therapy extern year?

 

[AcronymAllergy]

It's a tough question, as the ideal situation would be to do both. You want experience in a variety of settings seeing a variety of patient populations and conditions, but at the same time, some exposure to the type of setting/population/condition you'd like to work with long-term would be nice.

What have your experiences looked like up to this point? And what are the chances site #2 will let you participate in all aspects of the evaluation (particularly report writing) like site #1?

If you have a decent breadth of experience already, I'd say go for site #2. But if this is your first practicum, and there's little-to-no chance you'll be able to work at a site next year that provides breadth, I'd probably say go for site #1. But that's just me.

 

[InYourHead]

It's a tough question, as the ideal situation would be to do both. You want experience in a variety of settings seeing a variety of patient populations and conditions, but at the same time, some exposure to the type of setting/population/condition you'd like to work with long-term would be nice.

What have your experiences looked like up to this point? And what are the chances site #2 will let you participate in all aspects of the evaluation (particularly report writing) like site #1?

If you have a decent breadth of experience already, I'd say go for site #2. But if this is your first practicum, and there's little-to-no chance you'll be able to work at a site next year that provides breadth, I'd probably say go for site #1. But that's just me.

My experiences thus far have been pretty standard, mostly therapy and psychoeducational testing. This would be my first neuro experience. I believe site #2 will let me do report writing and other facets of the evaluation as well. I just spoke to a professor who said this is a no-brainer: get wide exposure first, then narrow next year (which would be 4th year). In a way, it's a win-win, but it also stinks knowing that the specific site is out there and I'd be passing it up this year.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

My experiences thus far have been pretty standard, mostly therapy and psychoeducational testing. This would be my first neuro experience. I believe site #2 will let me do report writing and other facets of the evaluation as well. I just spoke to a professor who said this is a no-brainer: get wide exposure first, then narrow next year (which would be 4th year). In a way, it's a win-win, but it also stinks knowing that the specific site is out there and I'd be passing it up this year.

Sounds like the decision is essentially made, then. And for what it's worth, based on what I've heard/been told, what your professor has said is dead on. Particularly at the grad school level, given a choice between significant breadth or significant depth of training, I'd choose breadth every time.

Basically, the breadth helps set the groundwork for the development of depth during internship and, especially, postdoc. Heck, I'm preparing to (hopefully) start a postdoc this fall, and I'm still not fully sure in what area(s) I'd like to specialize.

 

[neuronic]

An important question to ask yourself is if you want to do pediatric neuropsychology? Unless you really want a child/peds internship, a rotation in adult neuropsych will likely make you a stronger applicant to sites.

However, the most important thing that will prepare you for a neuropsych internship is being able to conceptualize cases, administer an appropriate battery, and write a concise report. With that said, make sure the rotation will allow close supervision (e.g., you may use them as a letter of rec writer), and also independence (e.g., so you can submite a sample report that you do not write with another student).

 

[InYourHead]

An important question to ask yourself is if you want to do pediatric neuropsychology? Unless you really want a child/peds internship, a rotation in adult neuropsych will likely make you a stronger applicant to sites.

This is a really good point actually. At this point, I do want to pursue pediatric neuropsychology. At least for 3rd year, that's all I will focus on. Next year I'll re-evaluate and see if I want a new experience with adults. Do you think it's better to have both children and adult externships if I know I want to work exclusively with kids?