VA Internship Competitiveness

[leylablue]

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Hi! I’m looking for some advice on how to increase my competitiveness for internship over the next year. I’m currently a 4th-year student planning to apply for internship next fall, primarily to generalist tracks at VA sites. I plan to apply broadly and expect to have approximately 570–580 intervention hours and around 150 assessment hours by the time I apply. About 160 of the intervention hours and 20 of the assessment hours will come from my current VA placement, with the remainder coming from a community care setting. I am not really sure how many hours I will get during 5th year before apps are due.

Do you think these hours and experiences would make me competitive for VA internships? If not, are there things you would recommend doing over the next year to strengthen my application?

By the time I apply, I expect to have two VA experiences on my CV from my 4th and 5th years of training. This year I am in a BHIP placement, and I’m hoping to secure an inpatient practicum opportunity at a VA for my 5th year.

Thank you for any guidance you might have!

 

[AcronymAllergy]

You should be able to find some other threads via search from the relatively recent past about internship competitiveness, some of which may specifically speak to VA internships. That said, it seems like you're on the right track. The prior VA experience will definitely be a plus. Just try to get in whatever additional hours you can, and if you don't have any publications and/or presentations, do what you can to get some of those on your CV between now and when you apply.