What should I be doing as a 1st year grad student to be competitive for neuro internships?

[npsychhopeful]

I'm probably getting ahead of myself, but I also know neuro internships are extremely competitive. I'm a first-year student at a university-based PsyD program (not Rutgers/Baylor, but probably around the group below that). I'm currently doing neuro assessments and writing integrated reports in one of the school's clinics. I'm involved in some research, but trying to get involved in more. What else should I be doing in my first year and in general to make myself competitive for neuro track internships? How challenging is it to get a neuropsych post-doc if I did a general internship with a neuro rotation?

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[WisNeuro]

As a first year, you should probably just be getting into your foundational classes and getting a good start on your first research/masters project. That's about it, really. Most of the neuro specific stuff comes later. We generally like to see people who are good psychologists first, and good neuropsychologists second as it relates to early grad school training. Hard to say about the postdoc, it really depends on where you apply, what school you come from, and where you did your practica.

 

[psych.meout]

I'm probably getting ahead of myself, but I also know neuro internships are extremely competitive. I'm a first-year student at a university-based PsyD program (not Rutgers/Baylor, but probably around the group below that). I'm currently doing neuro assessments and writing integrated reports in one of the school's clinics. I'm involved in some research, but trying to get involved in more. What else should I be doing in my first year and in general to make myself competitive for neuro track internships? How challenging is it to get a neuropsych post-doc if I did a general internship with a neuro rotation?

Wait, you're in your first semester of grad school and they're already having you doing neuropsych assessments and writing integrated reports in the school's clinic?

What is the training like that they're already having you doing practica with less than 2.5 months in the program?

Every program where I have ever interviewed restricts first year students from doing practica until the second year, after they have completed the core assessment and intervention courses.

 

[WisNeuro]

Wait, you're in your first semester of grad school and they're already having you doing neuropsych assessments and writing integrated reports in the school's clinic?

What is the training like that they're already having you doing practica with less than 2.5 months in the program?

Every program where I have ever interviewed restricts first year students from doing practica until the second year, after they have completed the core assessment and intervention courses.

It's problematic. As a rule, we don't like some programs that start out people immediately. IME it leads to a lot of bad habits that take a lot of time to train people out of. There are certain programs that I will not accept students from anymore due to these problems and early supervisors writing letters that do not match up at all with the student's actual level of competence.

 

[PsyDr]

Go to conferences.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

1. Get solid foundational training as a clinical psychologist.
2. Take some classes like neuroanatomy.
3. Secure good mentorship in neuropsych assessment later in training (3rd/4th yrs).
4. Publish and present at conferences.

 

[npsychhopeful]

Wait, you're in your first semester of grad school and they're already having you doing neuropsych assessments and writing integrated reports in the school's clinic?

What is the training like that they're already having you doing practica with less than 2.5 months in the program?

Every program where I have ever interviewed restricts first year students from doing practica until the second year, after they have completed the core assessment and intervention courses.

Without giving too much info of what program I'm in, it's a specialty clinic that deals with a pretty niche population. In general it's 2nd-4th years, but I had a good amount of neuro experience coming in and it was part of my funding.

 

[chicandtoughness]

Wait, you're in your first semester of grad school and they're already having you doing neuropsych assessments and writing integrated reports in the school's clinic? What is the training like that they're already having you doing practica with less than 2.5 months in the program?

Not OP, but there are some programs that offer "advanced standing" for individuals with a (clinical, obviously) masters degree that allows you to bypass some of the core courses and start on practica sooner. Not sure if this is OP's case.

 

[psych.meout]

Without giving too much info of what program I'm in, it's a specialty clinic that deals with a pretty niche population. In general it's 2nd-4th years, but I had a good amount of neuro experience coming in and it was part of my funding.

I have a lot of neuro and general assessment experience as well, but that didn't advance me straight to practica in my first year. Despite all my experience, the program still has rules and a reputation to maintain and they don't want to endanger them by unleashing onto the world someone they haven't actually trained, didactically and experientially.

This is doubly true of something much more specialized like neuropsych assessment. Maybe if they just have you doing psychometry work it would be fine, but that's not really growing you as a student and clinician like interpretation, integrated reports, and case conceptualization would.

Maybe I'm just more conservative and skeptical about these things, but I honestly would not want to attend any program that would advance students this far without getting the foundational training in assessment and intervention first.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

My program (which is traditionally graded as more research-heavy) also started students in practica during their first year. It's not particularly common across programs, but it happens. It was more psychoed than neuropsych early on, though. The latter took a couple years to fully get into.

Agree with everything WisNeuro, PSYDR, and T4C said regarding what to do doing. It's becoming more common for folks who go on to neuro postdocs to complete neuro-focused internships, but it's still certainly the case that some people complete generalist internships. If you have solid neuro experience in grad school and at least a rotation or two on internship (as well as perhaps a few pubs in the field), that's usually sufficient.

 

[WisNeuro]

Tagging onto what AA said, it is more common to have students get their feet wet with psychoed testing in grad programs. We see that more often in apps. Our program started that in year 2. Heavy neuro stuff early on, though, that gets some scrutiny when we review apps.

 

[psych.meout]

Tagging onto what AA said, it is more common to have students get their feet wet with psychoed testing in grad programs. We see that more often in apps. Our program started that in year 2. Heavy neuro stuff early on, though, that gets some scrutiny when we review apps.

Can you talk more about this "scrutiny?"

 

[WisNeuro]

Can you talk more about this "scrutiny?"

If they get an interview, I am much more likely to ask about details of what they were doing when. How much training they had in things like test admin, psychometrics, and such. I may do some quizzing about things on the spot. Like I said, I don't want to train out bad habits that shouldn't be there.

 

[psych.meout]

If they get an interview, I am much more likely to ask about details of what they were doing when. How much training they had in things like test admin, psychometrics, and such. I may do some quizzing about things on the spot. Like I said, I don't want to train out bad habits that shouldn't be there.

So, it's not necessarily a hard and fast rule about tossing out applications with early neuro experiences, but just more and different questions during the interview stage, correct?

 

[WisNeuro]

So, it's not necessarily a hard and fast rule about tossing out applications with early neuro experiences, but just more and different questions during the interview stage, correct?

Correct. Not a hard and fast rule. There are some programs on the "Do not invite" list, but that is because of several, consistent problems observed with students from those programs.