Tips for internship competitiveness?

[clinicalpsych03]

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Hi all! I'm currently in my first year of a Clinical Psych PsyD program at a university in the Midwest. I was just informed by someone who just applied for internship that getting into internship sites on the East Coast (where I'm from and am desperate to get back to) are incredibly competitive and difficult to get into. In hindsight, this makes sense, but I never thought about it until now. So, knowing that I've only just begun my program and have ample opportunity to build my application over the next three years - can you please provide any tips as to how to build a competitive application for internship? How many clinical hours should I have and how should those be broken up (i.e. assessment versus therapy), what research experiences should I have, and any other positions I should take on or experiences I should have? Should my practicum positions be focused on a particular population, or should I aim for a more well-rounded experience?
In terms of research, my program requires us to present at a conference at least once, I am beginning my dissertation (hopefully!) this semester with the plan to have it finished and defended before I leave for internship, and I am trying to get research I conducted before entering the doctoral program published this year.
I chose my current university instead of a wonderful but incredibly expensive PsyD program in New York because of the funding opportunities here, and I'm wondering if I shot myself in the foot making that decision, especially seeing that the internship sites I want have all matched with students from that university.
I would appreciate any and all advice you have for me! Thanks everyone!

 

[WisNeuro]

Your clinical hours and split between intervention and assessment will depend on what you want to specialize in. The answer to most of your questions depends heavily on what exactly you want to do and what type of internship you want to get into. Fit is the most important factor. It's usually pretty clear to see who wanted to get into our internship purely based on geography, and those applications usually got slotted into the bottom of the pile. All about fit.

 

[LM02]

I agree that it is a tricky question to try to answer without knowing more about the kind of site you would like to land in for internship. Plus, if you are just now in your first year, it's completely fair to say that you don't know quite yet!

BUT if you do have an idea, you can always look up certain sites of interest on the APPIC Directory to get a sense of their hours requirements. That would give you at least a general sense of what you should be aiming for, hours-wise. Most sites will provide a minimum requirement for consideration at their program - I'd aim for something that is not the bare minimum, but I also wouldn't over-correct and aim for a ton more than is required. Sites are honest about what they expect of incoming interns, and I'd trust what they tell you!

APPIC

membership.appic.org

Of course there are other considerations, but again that would be driven by the kind of site you are aiming for. For an academic medical center with a more acute care focus, you might want to consider finding opportunities in grad school that take you out of the outpatient clinic in your department and expose you to higher acuity cases and settings. If you are interested in college counseling, it would be wise to get experience in that realm, etc.

 

[BuckeyeLove]

This might sound harsh and/or blunt. Do not limit yourself geographically. You can get through a year. Especially if it’s between an APA site that matches your training needs and interest and a unaccredited site in the NE just to be back home earlier.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I second everything that's been said. A lot of what can make you competitive depends on what you want to do and what potential specialty area(s) you might have/want. If you're interested in neuropsychology, for example, you're probably going to have more assessment than intervention hours. But there are probably some general truths:

• Have a diversity of clinical (assessment and intervention) experiences, including a diversity of settings, a diversity of populations, and a diversity of conditions treated/assessed
• Get some research productivity, ideally publications; this makes your application much stronger, and IMO, it makes you a better consumer of research, as I'm of the school of thought that doing it yourself gives you a much deeper understanding of it
• Do your best to get quality supervision (and enough of it); for example, when I was reviewing applications in the past, I always had questions about trainees who had a very high number of assessment or intervention hours but did not have supervision hours to match
• For certain specialties, like neuropsych, having relevant coursework is important; regardless, do well enough in your coursework to not raise red flags (i.e., earn mostly As; the occasional B is fine)
• When it comes time for internship, apply broadly in a geographic sense, while still making sure you're a good fit with the programs; it's fine to want to get back to a certain region of the country (I was the same way), but you don't want to only be applying in that region

 

[Justanothergrad]

1.https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jclp.23194. This is one of several, but its a recent one. Read it. Lmk if questions.

2. Attend d12 webinars in fall for prep. They do then every year amd will talk about this. The ecp section is free.

 

[Sanman]

Internships in major east coast cities are competitive. This is true no matter what program you attend. If you do well and have relevant clinical experience and you will likely do fine in placing somewhere. This is assuming you are not geographically restricting yourself to only a few sites.

That said, think hard about your career. I did internship in NYC after attending a program elsewhere. I found the experience lacking and would have been better off in my career picking a more supportive internship program. You can always go back when you are done. Much easier to do at that point.

 

[smalltownpsych]

I always suggest getting as much experience with severe clinical presentations or populations as possible during practicums. Another important thing is to make sure that there are solid assessment opportunities. Many of the posters on here that seem to have concerns relate to not having administered enough comprehensive assessments because of site limitations. My first year practicum had no assessment and if I didn’t get a lot of good opportunities later, I might have been in trouble and first year, I didn’t even know that. Of course, I wasn’t really ready to conduct good assessments that first placement so it all kind of made sense to get that experience a little later.

 

[LM02]

I just remembered this resource, put forward from APCS about a year or so ago. They said they are going to do a "part 2" at some point, so hopefully that is forthcoming.

OSF

osf.io

 

[clinicalpsych03]

Thank you everyone for your replies - the information is incredibly helpful and has given me a lot to think about!

I'm interested in working with adolescents and young adults, which I think is a bit where my issue lies because that straddles both child and adult psychology, and I don't know if I should be prioritizing one over the other in my research and practicum choices. My primary clinical area of interest is anxiety disorders, particularly GAD, but I'm also interested (and have previous experience) in other things (health psychology and suicidality). In terms of internship site, I would be happy to work in a hospital or medical center, private practice, or college counseling center.

I worry about getting experience that would provide me with a good "fit" for certain internships because I feel like my interests are too all over the place. I also am unsure what will make for a good fit with many internship sites that don't work with particular populations or specific disorders. For example, what would make someone a good fit for a college counseling center, outside of having experience in working with college students?

Overall my concern is that my application will seem inconsistent or scattered instead of having a clear direction towards a particular population or disorder that would fit well with an internship site.

In terms of geography, I was under the impression (and correct me if I'm wrong!) that your internship generally tends to lead to a job in that same area, hence why I'm worried about an internship site being in a geographical location that I want to settle down in. My program guide emphasized that fact, but that could also be completely inaccurate.

 

[Justanothergrad]

It can. It might. It doesnt have to. Whatever.

 

[oliversacks4thewin]

Thank you everyone for your replies - the information is incredibly helpful and has given me a lot to think about!

I'm interested in working with adolescents and young adults, which I think is a bit where my issue lies because that straddles both child and adult psychology, and I don't know if I should be prioritizing one over the other in my research and practicum choices. My primary clinical area of interest is anxiety disorders, particularly GAD, but I'm also interested (and have previous experience) in other things (health psychology and suicidality). In terms of internship site, I would be happy to work in a hospital or medical center, private practice, or college counseling center.

I worry about getting experience that would provide me with a good "fit" for certain internships because I feel like my interests are too all over the place. I also am unsure what will make for a good fit with many internship sites that don't work with particular populations or specific disorders. For example, what would make someone a good fit for a college counseling center, outside of having experience in working with college students?

Overall my concern is that my application will seem inconsistent or scattered instead of having a clear direction towards a particular population or disorder that would fit well with an internship site.

In terms of geography, I was under the impression (and correct me if I'm wrong!) that your internship generally tends to lead to a job in that same area, hence why I'm worried about an internship site being in a geographical location that I want to settle down in. My program guide emphasized that fact, but that could also be completely inaccurate.

I am a health psychologist, who specializes in child and adolescent populations and am part of our training program for our academic medical center. I will tell you that it is not unusual for any of the providers or trainees in our department to work with adolescents into emerging adulthood, as psychology often is involved in specific multidisciplinary clinics that focus on supporting adolescent's transition from pediatric hospitals to adult levels of care.

Having said all of that, and with no intent to scare you, these internship spots tend to be extremely competitive. I review and interview the applicants and it is shocking to see how high the bar sometimes can be for even getting a foot in the door. Everyone and their dog thinks it would be interesting to go spend their internship working with sick kids at the hospital, so we get a shockingly high volume of applicants for very limited spots. A quick check of the APPIC sites for academic pediatric settings will confirm.

What we, as a training program, always encourage for applicants to consider is to really ensure that you are getting plenty of child and adolescent specific hours. Hospital based training carries even more weight, if you can get it. Publications and presentations always go a long way too; as we are often left splitting hairs, on what makes candidate A just slightly better than candidate B. More focused research on health related overlaps between psych and clear physical health correlates are what we tend to look for. Service work and genuine means of demonstrating specific interest in health overlaps are also highly sought after.

Regarding geography, I wouldn't get too bogged down on how this funnels into a career. I did my internship on one side of the country, my fellowship on a completely opposite side, and now work in a totally separate state, removed from either of these. Good training reflects in your CV and will allow you to pursue a career wherever you would like.

 

[Sanman]

Thank you everyone for your replies - the information is incredibly helpful and has given me a lot to think about!

I'm interested in working with adolescents and young adults, which I think is a bit where my issue lies because that straddles both child and adult psychology, and I don't know if I should be prioritizing one over the other in my research and practicum choices. My primary clinical area of interest is anxiety disorders, particularly GAD, but I'm also interested (and have previous experience) in other things (health psychology and suicidality). In terms of internship site, I would be happy to work in a hospital or medical center, private practice, or college counseling center.

I worry about getting experience that would provide me with a good "fit" for certain internships because I feel like my interests are too all over the place. I also am unsure what will make for a good fit with many internship sites that don't work with particular populations or specific disorders. For example, what would make someone a good fit for a college counseling center, outside of having experience in working with college students?

Overall my concern is that my application will seem inconsistent or scattered instead of having a clear direction towards a particular population or disorder that would fit well with an internship site.

In terms of geography, I was under the impression (and correct me if I'm wrong!) that your internship generally tends to lead to a job in that same area, hence why I'm worried about an internship site being in a geographical location that I want to settle down in. My program guide emphasized that fact, but that could also be completely inaccurate.

The east coast can mean anything from rural Maine, to NYC, to Florida.

Hospital jobs, counseling centers, and private practice are all very different settings.

If you want to land a spot at an AMC in the northeast (Boston Children's, CHOP, etc.), it will be very competitive.

College counseling centers less so as the pay is much lower.

Private practice runs the gamut.


As for experiences, I would work backwards from your goal. For example, College counseling centers probably would not mind if you were well trained in suicide prevention, substance abuse, and eating disorders. ADHD and LD assessment may be helpful as accommodations often become an issue.

AMCs may be more focused on medical disorders and eating disorders and less so on substance abuse.

As for internship leading to a local job, that depends on the job and the internship. Large college counseling center needing to fill a spot may have a job. You go to Boston Childrens and get trained in pediatric transplant assessment, well there is one job and your supervisor has it. You will probably need to move if you want to do that.

 

[OneNeuroDoctor]

When I applied back in 2012, there was a severe shortage of internships, whereas now a number of sites do not fill slots and some internship sites eventually close. Back in 2012, we were advised to apply nationwide knowing we may get matched at an undesirable site. With more sites in 2026, my guess is you may have better probability of matching closer to where you live in 2026 than how it was in 2012. Like others have advised, it will just be one year of your life, and many have made it through that year.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

When I applied back in 2012, there was a severe shortage of internships, whereas now a number of sites do not fill slots and some internship sites eventually close. Back in 2012, we were advised to apply nationwide knowing we may get matched at an undesirable site. With more sites in 2026, my guess is you may have better probability of matching closer to where you live in 2026 than how it was in 2012. Like others have advised, it will just be one year of your life, and many have made it through that year.

It's actually started to swing back toward a bit more of an unbalance, per the latest Phase I statistics (Match Statistics - 2026 - Phase I), although the early 2010's were still worse. Looking at 2012 specifically, 74% matched and 26% didn't, whereas in 2026, 81% matched and 19% didn't.

In 2012, 2% (46 of 2361) of accredited spots went unfilled and 21% (176 of 829) unaccredited spots when unfilled. In 2026, 8% of accredited spots (307 of 3680) and 52% (149 of 289) spots went unfilled. So in both years, the vast majority of accredited spots were filled, but there are more accredited spots available in Phase II for this year than there were in 2012.

Looking a bit more closely at accredited positions to applications, in 2012, there were 2361 total APA- or CPA-accredited positions, and 3190 total positions, relative to 4009 applicants who submitted rank order lists (so enough accredited positions for just under 59% of applicants).

In 2026, there were more accredited (3680) and total (3969) internship positions, but also more applicants submitting rank order lists (4358). Still a much better ratio, though, with enough accredited positions for about 84% of applicants.

To give APA some credit, this probably has at least something to do with their efforts to make the accreditation process a bit faster, and to creating the "accredited, on contingency" status, given the notable increase in the ratio of accredited to non-accredited sites from 2012 to 2026.

But overall, it's not surplus of sites it was even a few years ago. I imagine much of this relates to the current funding, training, higher education, and economic environments.

Allllll that said, applying broadly and to a reasonable number of sites is still a good idea.

 

[OneNeuroDoctor]

It's actually started to swing back toward a bit more of an unbalance, per the latest Phase I statistics (Match Statistics - 2026 - Phase I), although the early 2010's were still worse. Looking at 2012 specifically, 74% matched and 26% didn't, whereas in 2026, 81% matched and 19% didn't.

In 2012, 2% (46 of 2361) of accredited spots went unfilled and 21% (176 of 829) unaccredited spots when unfilled. In 2026, 8% of accredited spots (307 of 3680) and 52% (149 of 289) spots went unfilled. So in both years, the vast majority of accredited spots were filled, but there are more accredited spots available in Phase II for this year than there were in 2012.

Looking a bit more closely at accredited positions to applications, in 2012, there were 2361 total APA- or CPA-accredited positions, and 3190 total positions, relative to 4009 applicants who submitted rank order lists (so enough accredited positions for just under 59% of applicants).

In 2026, there were more accredited (3680) and total (3969) internship positions, but also more applicants submitting rank order lists (4358). Still a much better ratio, though, with enough accredited positions for about 84% of applicants.

To give APA some credit, this probably has at least something to do with their efforts to make the accreditation process a bit faster, and to creating the "accredited, on contingency" status, given the notable increase in the ratio of accredited to non-accredited sites from 2012 to 2026.

But overall, it's not surplus of sites it was even a few years ago. I imagine much of this relates to the current funding, training, higher education, and economic environments.

Allllll that said, applying broadly and to a reasonable number of sites is still a good idea.

I checked the Match Statistics today and see 4-5 years ago unmatched statistics was down to 4 percent range. My group in 2012 was the highest unmatched percent. I was matched to an APA accredited site in rural area where they had 3 slots, but only had 8 applicants that year. They were unable to keep it going and closed their internship in 2018 as they weren’t having interns match so they changed those to MS level positions.

Sites are unable to continue unless they have interns match every year and have some continue for post doc. Many states have severe shortage of psychologist now and they are filling these positions with MS level Clinicians.

I have continued working in rural underserved areas where they have doctoral and MS level internships and rarely do the interns stay for post docs. This year they had 1 match in phase 1 so they will see if they have a match in phase 2. The site has some thirty MS level clinicians but only 2 Psychologist and 1 post doc now. Even with the HRSA loan forgiveness options it seems interns move to jobs in urban areas rather than stay in rural areas, so the agency has more MS level Clinicians where it is common for them to have online MS degrees.