supervisor

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justcallmepsych4life

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Is this person going to have some bearing on your future career outside this experience? Besides making these comments, has she actually undermined you in supervision or with a client because of your age?

I'd probably make a mental note and move on without much concern. Supervisors are not immune to a lack of professionalism. It's unfortunate and I am sorry you are made to feel that way, but it sounds like she may be similarly crass with other students.
 
Weird, I was 23 when I first started seeing patients. Never much of a problem from what I can recall. In the year after me, we had a 21 year old in the grad program (grad HS early, only took 3 years to get through undergrad). Is this a supervisor outside of your program? I'd just raise the issue with your faculty mentor and keep an eye on it. Probably won't be an issue, but always good to leave a documented paper trail.
 
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Is this person going to have some bearing on your future career outside this experience? Besides making these comments, has she actually undermined you in supervision or with a client because of your age?

I'd probably make a mental note and move on without much concern. Supervisors are not immune to a lack of professionalism. It's unfortunate and I am sorry you are made to feel that way, but it sounds like she may be similarly crass with other students.
I was hoping for a letter of rec for internship, so I'm afraid my age could taint it.
 
I was hoping for a letter of rec for internship, so I'm afraid my age could taint it.
That's probably not a person you want a letter from.
Practically, presuming you're presenting all the info fairly, I doubt a conversation with the SV would go anywhere helpful to you. If they are making weird passive aggressive comments about the immaturity of a client due to the client's age, the SV probably has a lot of their own stuff going on that wouldn't make a conversation with them useful, and probably is more likely to just cause headaches for you.
 
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Luckily, you will have many other supervisors in grad school from which to get letters from. Honestly, the hard part should be choosing which people to get letters from rather than worrying about letters from any one person.
 
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They told us two out of the three letters need to be from practicum supervisors, and yeah I could try to get one from my supervisor for next year, but I will have known them for a month or two...
 
We start asking for letters in the summer and apply in the fall.

As in, next fall? If you're that close to internship, I would assume you've had 4+ supervisors between different sites/clinics by that time. How many practica do you do at your program before internship?
 
It's not uncommon to have supervisors for the fall of your application year write letters of reference.
 
Yeah, it sounds like your supervisor is a bit of a jerk, but it might also be a good learning opportunity. You need to be aware of your stimulus value when it comes to working with patients
As in, next fall? If you're that close to internship, I would assume you've had 4+ supervisors between different sites/clinics by that time. How many practica do you do at your program before internship?
Yeah, if OP doesn't have that many practicum supervisors by now, I'd wonders about the quality and diversity of their clinical training and whether they might be rushing through their grad program like they did their earlier education.
 
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Yeah, if OP doesn't have that many practicum supervisors by now, I'd wonders about the quality and diversity of their clinical training and whether they might be rushing through their grad program like they did their earlier education.

I don't think we know enough about the OP to make assumptions about how he/she approached their training. This makes us no better than the supervisor.
 
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I don't think we know enough about the OP to make assumptions about how he/she approached their training. This makes us no better than the supervisor.

Notice how I used the operative word "if," but let's take a look at what they posted anyways.

They told us two out of the three letters need to be from practicum supervisors, and yeah I could try to get one from my supervisor for next year, but I will have known them for a month or two...
According to OP, two out of three recommendations should be from practicum supervisors and their only option besides the supervisor from the OP is from a supervisor next year. This implies that they have only had two supervisors so far, including the one in the OP, and will only have a third to choose from when they are applying for internship in a year. This also sounds like they will only have two practicum sites by this summer, unless they have the same supervisor at multiple sites. I don't know about everyone else, but two sites and two supervisors doesn't sound like enough in terms of breadth, depth, and diversity of training. That's about half, give or take, what people at my program usually have by the time they apply for internship and we have a 100% match rate.

If OP is applying for internship next year, they are likely in their third or fourth year in their program. If they have only had two practicum sites thus far, that seems fine for a third-year, but this would again make me question how extensive their clinical training has been and if they are ready for internship or if they are rushing things. If they are a fourth-year and have only had two sites and/or supervisors so far, I'd have different, but no less important, concerns.
 
It's nice you are concerned. No indication of that from the OP on this issue- the question was about supervisor conflict, not internship readiness.

Anyways, seems like the original post is gone. Probably in their best interest.
 
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It's nice you are concerned. No indication of that from the OP on this issue- the question was about supervisor conflict, not internship readiness.

Anyways, seems like the original post is gone. Probably in their best interest.
Except that I pointed out a subsequent post by the OP where they explicitly said that their overall concern was about letters of recommendation for internship and worrying that they would not have a suitable replacement if they didn't use a recommendation from the supervisor in their OP.
I was hoping for a letter of rec for internship, so I'm afraid my age could taint it.
They told us two out of the three letters need to be from practicum supervisors, and yeah I could try to get one from my supervisor for next year, but I will have known them for a month or two...
 
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Well, if they only have 2 prac sites by the time internship apps roll around, only having 2 pracs on their CV is a much bigger problem than a tepid LOR.
Exactly. The issues with their current supervisor seems relatively minor compared to have so few pracs. I'm curious how many F2F hours they have and what populations they have worked with
 
This is a standard university-based PSYD program. We have four years of classes and fifth year is for internship. Therefore, when we apply to internships, we are JUST STARTING our third (and final) practicum. Hence why I said I will only know that supervisor for a month or two if I did ask them for a letter.
 
1st year - just classes
2nd year - classes and practicum
3rd year - classes and practicum
(begin writing cover letters and essays for internships over the summer and send these in the fall)
4th year - classes and practicum (most stop once they get an internship acceptance)
5th year - internship

I am currently in my third year. I have completed all my comps and proposed dissertation.
 
I know. I was saying I don't have a choice but to ask THIS supervisor for a letter.

Not really. You are saying that prior to internship apps, you will have completed 2 practica and be currently on one other. A good letter from someone you've known for a couple of months is better than a tepid letter from someone you've known a year.
 
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It sounds like you're worried about the situation and having to ask someone you barely know for a rec letter, which might feel a bit awkward, but is okay to do. I didn't see the original issue before it was deleted, but if you're pretty sure your rec from the problem supervisor would be worse than one from a sup who barely knows you, get a letter from the latter, anyway. If 2/3 letters are glowing and 1 is positive but not as strong, you can still get interviews. It'd be more concerning if you suspected there'd be something negative in any of the letters, so go with the safest route based on your appraisal of the situation.
 
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