Training Models for Pre-Doctoral Internship Question

[jadezomb]

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Hi guys,

I know that the topic of training models has been touched on in previous threads, but I thought it might be useful to have more information in one place. Sorry if this has already been done!

I am hoping that someone could clarify some of the differences between the training models for internship sites. Do Scientist-Practitioner training models prefer their applicants to have strong research backgrounds? As a PsyD student with a strong clinical focus, I have been planning on applying to mostly Practitioner-Scholar models. Any others to consider?

Thank you 🙂

 

[G Costanza]

Maybe others will disagree, but I've noticed that doctoral programs seem to take those labels more seriously than internship sites. I've also seen internships self-describe as "experiential" and "developmental". I think most apa sites are going to have a clinical focus as 1/4 of your hours will need to be contact. That being said, I've heard horror stories of interns working 60 hours/week with about 35 of those hours being with clients. Maybe I'm lazy or actually take self care seriously but that seems excessive for a training site.

 

[Quiche]

I applied for internship last cycle and I found it most helpful not to focus on what label the site selected for their training model, but how they interpreted that label. I had many sites ascribe to the scientist-practitioner model, but had very little emphasis on research during the internship year. They were more so interested in the applicant's ability to use/experience with evidence-based models of therapy and placed value on using research to fuel practice. I'd say don't rule a site out based on their specific "model" of training, but look at how they describe the experiences you'll have and the expectations they have for interns. Best of luck!

 

[0000001]

I had some questions about this as well... I will be attending a PsyD program, but still will be active in research. I am hoping to match with a top ranking Neuropsych internship, but most of the programs I am looking at ascribe to the "clinical science" or "scientist-practicioner" models of training. Does anyone know if I will have a chance at these? I am already taking an extra year and hope to have plenty of npsych assessments and diverse practicum experiences. I will be as productive as I can be with research, but I'm not sure I will have nearly as many publications as someone coming from a very research heavy program.

Some of the internships I'm looking at are:

UIC
UChicago
RushU
Brown
Boston Consortium

I will be applying to many more, of course. This is just a short list of some of the programs I am looking at.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

If you have a small handful of publications, you'll likely at least be generally competitive. As another poster mentioned, in general, the scientist-practitioner monicker isn't always applied in the same way or with the same stringency across internship sites as it is with grad programs. They'll want to see some productivity, though, and programs like Brown, UCLA, and the like are probably going to expect significantly above-average productivity. I know a few folks who went to Brown, for example, and they probably had in the 5-10 pubs range (although I could inadvertently be low-balling them).

At the same time, I'm sure there are folks at each of those programs who've had interviews with 1 or 2 pubs, assuming the fit was solid and other aspects of the application were strong.

Unfortunately, though, some of the research-heavier internships may view PsyD applicants with some skepticism, particularly depending on the grad program. So that may be a hurdle you'll need to overcome at some sites, although I'd doubt it's insurmountable just about anywhere.

 

[cara susanna]

I had some questions about this as well... I will be attending a PsyD program, but still will be active in research. I am hoping to match with a top ranking Neuropsych internship, but most of the programs I am looking at ascribe to the "clinical science" or "scientist-practicioner" models of training. Does anyone know if I will have a chance at these? I am already taking an extra year and hope to have plenty of npsych assessments and diverse practicum experiences. I will be as productive as I can be with research, but I'm not sure I will have nearly as many publications as someone coming from a very research heavy program.

Some of the internships I'm looking at are:

UIC
UChicago
RushU
Brown
Boston Consortium

I will be applying to many more, of course. This is just a short list of some of the programs I am looking at.

Unfortunately, some of those sites may not even look at PsyD applicants. It depends on the site. You can look at the APPIC directory to see if they look at PsyD applications and, if so, how many PsyD interns they've taken in the past.

Also, I applied to Brown with five pubs and didn't get an interview. Just FYI.