Applying for a Scientist-Practitioner Psychology Internship

Alice Frye,
Emory University
(With thanks to others in the Emory University applicant class of 1999-2000: Jennifer Kleinman, Erin McClure, Elena Monarch & Bonnie Moscovitch. And special thanks to our DCT: Dr. Sherryl Goodman.)

Table of Contents

1. Getting Started
2. Program Information
3. Letters of Recommendation
4. The Universal APPIC Application
5. Pulling it All Together
6. The Interview
7. Ranking/What to do Last

Introduction

The following is a guide based on the experiences of students applying for clinical psychology internship from the Department of Psychology at Emory University, during the year 1999-2000. Because that department follows a ‘Scientist/Practitioner’ training model, the suggestions and experiences described below might not be applicable in every regard to students applying from different types of programs, such as counseling psychology, school psychology, and Psy-D programs. However, many of the comments made in the document may indeed be helpful to any student applying to any sort of psychology internship. In addition to this caveat, the requirements for the internship application process do change from program to program and from year to year, so be sure to check with your DCT if you are uncertain if the details described in this document still apply.

I. Getting started

How much is this process going to cost?

You might as well be prepared up front for the fact that applying for internships is not cheap. Your APPIC (Association of Psychology Program Internship Centers) match number costs $90. Sites sometimes request a 10 or 15 dollar application fee to cover the cost of processing your application, or they may ask you to send multiple copies of your application, which can also cost 10 or 15 dollars. Mailing costs for regular mail can cost about 3 dollars per application, while it may be as much as 15 dollars per application if you wait until the last moment and have to use express mail services, or choose to use these services in order to ensure safe delivery.

Traveling to interviews will also cost money, depending on the location of the sites you visit. It helps to try and schedule multiple interviews in one location, but this is not always possible. Other costs could include hotels and rental cars if you travel to a site out of town. APPIC does offer various travel deals to help keep costs down. Don’t forget food. Sites often schedule lunch during the interview day, but that does not mean that they will pay for the lunch! You may also end up having to pay to park your rental car. Interview clothes or shoes may be another expense (though its not recommended to buy new shoes just before an interview!). This year students at Emory spent up to $3000 on costs directly related to the application process.

Cost Saving Tips:

Keep mailing costs down by getting your applications finished early so you will feel comfortable about sending them through the regular mail. For an extra 75 cents the U.S. postal service will provide you with a tracking number that you can check by phoning a 1-800 number to see when your package arrives—this is probably cheaper than the long distance call you may make to a site (over and over again) to see when it gets there. Order your university transcripts early to avoid having rush orders which can add $10-$20 to the price. You may be able to use your department’s copy of the APPIC Directory (described below) rather than buying it yourself.

Apply to sites where you have lots of friends so you will have a free place to stay for the interview (kidding). You can keep hotel costs down by looking on the web or in the yellow pages for national hotel chains such as Days Inn or Super 8. The web can help you figure out where hotels are located with respect to your interview site, identify hotel rates, and indicate if there are free hotel-airport shuttles, or free hotel-institution shuttles. If you are traveling by car, you may be able to save on hotel by staying a few miles away and driving to your site (though you would want to check on the site parking situation and associated costs). When calling hotels ALWAYS ask if they have a student or institution discount--many do. It may only be $5/night, but it adds up. The experience of some applicants indicates that sites won’t always send you the cheapest list of hotels, so don’t assume that you can’t find something cheaper that would also be conveniently located. On the other hand, it is also probably good to check with the internship site and make sure that the inexpensive hotel where you are staying isn’t located in an unsafe area of town.

If you are doing a lot of plane travel, the web is your best bet. Begin by looking at the APPIC web site (www.appic.org) for travel discounts to see their special offers for internship applicants. There are numerous cheap-deals web sites you can use to buy plane tickets. The more in advance you schedule your flights, the more you can save. Also don’t forget student travel organizations such as Council Travel for last minute domestic flight bargains for students--including graduate students. Don’t hesitate to call the airlines and ask them if there is any way they can help you maximize your savings if you are making several flights. Some of them offer deals if you are buying multiple tickets at once.

Your match number:

Go to the APPIC website (www.appic.org) and follow the instructions for registering for a match ID number. The form for the 2000-2001 year is online under ‘match registration’. Complete the application and return it as soon as possible. There IS a deadline for doing this and that information is available on the APPIC website. You can wait until the deadline if you want, but actually it makes things a lot easier to get your number right away so you can put your match ID number on the APPIC form as you begin filling it out. After you fill in your application you will receive a "match ID" number from National Matching Services, along with information and the rules governing the match process. The match number goes on all of your applications. While you are at the APPIC website subscribe to APPIC match news. This is a helpful list-serve that keeps you informed of various guidelines and statistics throughout the process.

The APPIC Directory:

The Association of Psychology Program Internship Centers (APPIC) On-Line Directory is the first place to look to find basic characteristics of internship programs: addresses and phone numbers, who is the current DCT, deadlines for applications, start-dates, stipends, populations served, and basic rotations, and whether the program uses the APPIC universal application or some other application.

What does an application consist of?

Most programs use the Universal APPIC Application for Psychology Internships (AAPI), which can be easily downloaded from the web by going to the APPIC website. This form currently includes 4 essays (described below), and a detailed breakdown of therapy and testing hours. Some programs ask for additional materials as part of the application, which may include other essay questions, or copies of old therapy or testing reports (with identifying information removed). Programs typically request official graduate and sometimes undergraduate transcripts, a CV, and letters of recommendation. Some programs do not use the AAPI at all.

When to start?

It is a good idea to download the application and begin drafting your essays as soon as the new version of the AAPI is available (usually in June). It is recommended that you have final drafts of your essays available by September 1st, for review by your advisor.

How to write the essays?

Before beginning your essays you may find it helpful to draft a statement of your career goals and objectives. It is helpful to get feedback from your advisor on this and on the formal essay drafts as well. Let your advisor know you are working on the essays, and what your time line is.

At the time of this writing there are four essays, each with a maximum length of 500 words each. One of these essays is the ‘match question’ (see below) and you will need to wait until you have program information to write that. The others, however, can be written well in advance. It is always possible that APPIC will change the length or the content of the essay questions, but even if that happens you may be able to cut and paste portions of the old essays into the new ones.

The biographical statement: This is a professional biography that gives you a chance to tell about your academic/clinical career so far, and where you intend it to go in the future. It is not intended to be just a narrative version of your CV. Try to paint a cohesive picture of HOW you ended up where you are now and where you intend to go next. Things to consider might be intellectual opportunities or events (such as research projects you were involved in, coursework that was especially compelling or relevant, volunteer work) that influenced your thinking and your conceptualization of your career path.

The match question: This will differ for each program you are applying to and you will need the program information to write it. Presumably each program you will apply to has qualities that you think match well with your training and research experience and interests to date, and will help you build on what you already have, to help you attain the career goal or objective you stated. You may have interests and experience across several different domains, so it is possible that different programs may still be a good match for you. On the other hand it is also possible that you are very focused in your interests, and only specific types of programs will match well.

You do not have to be an expert in a given area or areas to match with a program or program rotations. It is important, however, to be able to document some evidence of a historic interest in that area and an intention to pursue that area in the future. For example, you don’t need to be an expert in child treatment to apply to child therapy programs or tracks. Students who have moderate or little child therapy experience can match successfully to child programs. One way to document your interests when you have little clinical experience in an area is to refer to your research experience and interests. For example, you may not have much child therapy experience, but it may be that your whole research agenda concerns child psychopathology, and that you have worked with children often as research participants. Remember, if you are interested in a site APPLY. Don’t rule yourself out, let the sites decide.

In writing the match question try to express your enthusiasm for the program and program rotations clearly. Let them know what you find attractive about their site, and what you hope to gain from working with them. Make the case that your interest in their program is a culmination of interests you have been working towards for a while, but avoid presenting yourself as rigid. Don’t give the impression that you would be dissatisfied unless you got each and every rotation you desired, and don’t leave them thinking that you are not open to new learning experiences.

The diversity statement: "Please describe your experience and training in work with diverse populations. Please include in your discussion the way an awareness of multicultural / diversity issues influences your clinical practice and case conceptualization." This statement is self-explanatory. You might consider referring to experiences with diverse populations outside your clinical work, including your personal experiences or other work and research experiences you may have had. Just link those experiences back to the way you work with diverse populations clinically.

The research statement: The way this essay question is phrased, it almost sounds sort of optional, but its not. The kinds of programs scientist/practitioner students tend to apply to are likely to be very interested in our research interests, and a cohesive statement of your research program, and how you feel it dovetails with your clinical interests, can be an important part of your application. Some programs have research requirements as part of their rotations, and some have protected time for research. The research statement also lets them know that your research time will be as productive for you as your clinical rotations.

II. Program Information

When should I start getting it?

Anytime. Check to see if your department has a file of old program brochures. You can start looking at those any time to get an idea of what some programs may offer (though programs may change somewhat from year to year). You can also look at the APPIC Directory on the web, or in an old APPIC Directory to get a sketch of some programs, and an idea of what is available across the country. You might begin writing to programs for brochures as early as the beginning of August. Check first to see if there is a website for the program. Keep in mind also that programs may not have their brochures ready when you request them, and may not send them out until as late as October (or sometimes not at all!). Many programs also have their complete brochures and applications available from the web now.

How do I request information?

Look in the APPIC Directory FIRST. Some programs want you to phone for a brochure. Some specifically do not want that. Some want you to email for a brochure. Some want a letter by regular mail. Some are on the web and can be downloaded that way. Some are only available through the web. Some sites can be very picky about only being contacted in the way that they request, so be sure to find out what their preference is and adhere to that.

A basic letter (or email) requesting a brochure is fine: e.g. "Dear XXX (name and title of DCT), I am interested in applying to your program. Could you please send materials to this address." Remember that each contact with a program is significant. Make sure your letters don’t have any typos or grammatical errors, and never be short or snippy on the phone if you are calling for a brochure or anything else. The process CAN be frustrating, but don’t communicate that frustration to the program...save it to share with your friends!

How do I choose which programs brochures to request?

To begin with, find out if your department has any restrictions about whether you can only apply to APA accredited or non-accredited programs, clinical, counseling, school psychology, or other types of programs. Check the APPIC Directory to see if the site meets your department requirements.

The APPIC Directory and the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology Directory of clinical Psychology Internships (SCIPPI) can help to you decide which programs to pursue. The APPIC tells you what populations a program serves, what rotations are available, and any restrictions the program may have that might rule you out such as citizenship or number of hours. The SCIPPI does not include all programs, but check it anyway to see if those you are considering are in it. It has not been revised recently and it is recommended that you check their website for any information on revisions (www.sscp.psych.ndsu.nodak.edu/). The SCIPPI will tell you how committed a program is to research, whether there is protected research time, and how highly a program rates experience in things like projective testing. There is also a guide from the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy (AABT): Directory of Psychology Internships: Programs Offering Behavioral Training. So, for example, if you are only interested in a program that offers a neuropsychological rotation, check the APPIC to make sure that a neuropsych rotation is offered before requesting a brochure. If you want a program with protected research time, check the SCIPPI to see if a program is listed and what its approach to research is. If you want to get some idea of whether a program uses behavior therapies, check the AABT.

Word of mouth is also very helpful in suggesting which programs to pursue. Ask your advisor, ask other faculty and students, find out if your department has a list of where previous students have gone for their internships. Contact them and find out how it was.

You may also have geographical restrictions which dictate which APPIC member programs you will examine from the start. That is a realistic problem. Try to be as open minded as you can, however. The program that is perfect for you could be someplace you never thought of.

Finally, when you receive or download the site information make certain that the application deadline in the APPIC Guide is the same as the deadline the site lists. Sites have been known to change their deadlines to as much as two weeks earlier than the date they listed in the APPIC directory.

So I have written my essays and requested or downloaded site information, now what do I do?

Make sure you have met all of your department’s requirements for leaving, such as proposing your dissertation, completing coursework, or whatever your department requires. Find out if your department has deadlines by which you must complete these things in order to be eligible to apply for internship. In any case the sooner you can do these things the better off you will be.

Work with your advisor to decide who to solicit letters of recommendation from (more on that below). Many programs only request 3 letters, but getting 5 including the one from your DCT is probably a safer bet in case some are lost in the mail or you have referees that don’t get to it in time. Do ask your letter writers well in advance.

Start looking through the brochures you have from the web and the old brochures to find out about how sites want you to organize your transcripts and letters of recommendation. This is tedious but important since sites can be very picky about whether they want everything sent "in one package" versus recommendation letters sent separately by each letter writer, or whether they want transcripts sent individually from the registrar of your university. Some brochures are unclear and you may have to contact the site to find out. You can save yourself a lot of money and worry by ordering your transcripts well in advance. Assume that your university WILL have problems fulfilling your request and WILL NOT be able to process it in 2 or 3 business days as they claim to do.

I have my program information, how do I choose?

The most important thing is to read all program information carefully and determine if the site can really meet your training needs. Ask your advisor or other faculty for information or advice about sites you are considering. Consider the following: Are there enough rotations that will be of interest to you? What kind of research support does the site offer? Does the site support your orientation? What sort of didactic training does the site provide? What sort of populations does the site service? How committed is the site to training interns? What sort of approach the does site have regarding things like empirically validated treatments? It may also be helpful to carefully read the faculty biographies and lists of publications that many sites provide. This may give you some idea of the active interests of the people you could end up working with.

Again, it can also be helpful to contact former students who were interns at a site and ask them how a site really was. Some sites really ARE just how they appear in the brochure, and some may not be. Keep in mind that since the time site information has been published or updated faculty research interests may have changed, or faculty may have moved on to a different site.

Another consideration is whether some sites might be better for you than others as a jumping off point for your career. In that regard you might consider if there are post-doc opportunities at the site, or affiliated settings. Are there core or affiliated faculty who might be able to help you get that long sought after academic job? Remember that internship is not the end goal of graduate training. The internship can also provide a great springboard for the next phase of training or the start of your career.

This is also a good stage at which to contact a site with questions if you are interested. Don’t make questions up. But if you are interested in a particular faculty person or area of training at a site, or just want to know more than the information they have provided, give them a call or email. This sort of preliminary contact can be helpful determining which sites to apply to and how to rank them. Remember that for the most part DCTs and faculty WANT to hear from you. They WANT to talk to people who share their interests. But again, and throughout the process, only make contact when you have real questions to be answered, don’t contact a site just so they will "know who you are". DCTs and other faculty are likely to recognize that as a waste of time and may find it annoying.

How many should I apply to?

According to APPIC Chair Nadine Kaslow, Ph.D., a recent study looked at how the number of programs ranked affected applicants chances of matching. Listing fewer than 8 sites on the match form significantly reduced the chance of a match. Listing more than 12 did not significantly increase chances of a match.

III. Letters of recommendation

Who should I get them from?

One letter will always come from the DCT, and one should come from your advisor. Your advisor may be able to help you decide whom else to ask. It is important to get letters from people who know your clinical and research skills well and appreciate your skills. It is ideal to have letters from clinical supervisors who know both your clinical and research skills. This isn’t always possible and you may end up with a mix of clinical and non-clinical letters, however, they should be more weighted towards the clinical.

What should I provide?

If people agree to write a letter for you, they might ask for any of the following: your AAPI autobiographical statement or other essays, a list of clients you saw while they supervised you and any special issues that came up with those clients, a list of ways they know you professionally (supervisor, instructor, research preceptor...etc.), and paper work such as reports that you completed while under their supervision. It will help to streamline the process if you ask your letter writers what they would like you to provide, and pull it together for them quickly. The DCT will have a more specific list of material s/he needs from you and will tell you about that.

How do I physically get the letters to the sites?

Your department will have special ways of handling this. Ask in advance what the procedures are to make sure you get everything taken care of by the site application deadlines. In addition to this you will need to know which letters must be signed, sealed and returned to you to include in the packets you are sending to sites, and which letters must be sent directly to the site. This information is in the site brochures, or you can contact the sites to find this out. You may especially want to do that if a site has been tardy in sending out the brochure, but you are quite sure you will be applying there.

IV. The Universal APPIC Application

The AAPI includes essay questions and also includes detailed sections about the number of clinical hours you have accrued. Figuring out hours can be somewhat time consuming.

AAPI form questions:

What is my department training model?

Your DCT will know this, if you do not know.

Should I list any graduate school or teaching fellowships I got under honors received?

Sure.

What is a practicum hour?

A practicum hour is time you spent on therapy or testing cases that was sanctioned by your doctoral program (that is, you received course credit for it). These hours are currently divided into 1) therapy hours (actual time in therapy with someone); 2) support hours (time you spent conceptualizing a case, writing about it, listening to tapes; 3) other practicum experience--here you include testing, assessment AND scoring and report writing that accompanies testing and assessment, you also include your teaching time here; 4) Supervision experience--include your supervision hours here (most of your supervision hours will fall under group supervision), and don’t forget to include the supervision hours you accrued during staff meeting when people presented and discussed specific cases (staff meetings that were only didactic and did not include a case presentation cannot be included here). If you received your masters degree at another institution, ask your director of training if you can include those practicum hours in your total hours count.

What about outside experiences?

If you have therapy or testing experience but did not receive course credit for it through your department or program, check as mentioned above with your DCT. If you can’t include it as a practicum hour, you can include it under "other experiences" (currently item #8 in section 3 of the AAPI form). Include it just as you would any other clinical experience, with the number of therapy, testing and supervision hours, and the breakdown of the types of clients you saw, and the number of hours you saw them for.

V. Pulling it all together

Creating the package:

Once you have completed your essays--including the match question, filled out the AAPI and double-checked your hours, gotten your letters (or had them sent), and transcripts (or had them sent), and other supporting material such as CV’s, reports or extra essays, then you are ready to send out your application. It’s better if you try not to wait until the last minute to mail it out. Figure you will need at least a couple of hours to physically compile each application, more if a program requests multiple copies of application--which is not unusual (some ask for 6 or 7 copies!). Try to avoid doing this at 4:45 in the afternoon the day before the application is due. Figure that there WILL be printer jams, and computer problems and that there will be a long line at the copy shop. Also you can save yourself a ton of money in overnight mailing costs if you try to complete and mail your application a week or so in advance.

What if there is a problem getting all my materials there in time, should I give up?

If there is a problem getting your materials to a site on time, don’t conclude that means they will throw your application in the wastepaper basket. Call the site and let them know that there is a problem--for instance if your transcripts were lost in the mail. The site may agree to grant you a couple of extra days. Certainly don’t PLAN on getting extra days from a site. They might also tell you that they will refuse your application if it is not there on time! But don’t assume that if something goes terribly wrong and it is going to be a day or two late you shouldn’t bother sending it at all. Call or email the site and find out if there is any leeway.

What to do after you mail in all your applications?

Catch up on all the work and rest you have missed for the previous 2 or 3 months! You may call your site to see if they have received your application, unless the site specifically requests that you not do this, and in any case its best to wait about 7 days after you mail the application.

VI. The Interview

How soon will I hear from a site if I have an interview?

It varies enormously across sites and may even vary within sites. Some people may hear from a site within days of sending in their applications, others may not hear from the same site for 6 or 8 weeks-though they may also receive interview invitations. Don’t conclude that if you don’t hear from sites at the same time as everyone else that you are being rejected. Sites often tell you in the brochure when they will be contacting you, and they do seem to generally follow that. Waiting to hear is tiresome, but there is really no option. If quite a bit of time has passed (4 weeks or more) and you have heard nothing, you might try calling the site to check, but be prepared to hear either good or bad news over the phone.

What if I have received an invitation to interview in a city where I have applied to multiple sites and I want to try to schedule multiple interviews in 1 trip?

If you have an interview scheduled at one site in say, Chicago, and are waiting to hear from other sites before you reserve your airplane and hotel, you might call the sites you are waiting to hear from and explain your situation to them. If they can’t tell you whether you will receive an interview, they may be able to tell you when you can expect to hear.

What are interviews like?

They vary quite a bit. Some sites use the interview as a chance to get to know you, some see the interview as your opportunity to find out about them. Some sites may be very warm and fuzzy, some may be businesslike and professional, and some may seem like they are putting you through some stress-related experiment. Interviews are sometimes a group process, so you may be hanging out with your "competitors" for some or most of the day. Meeting with people from other programs can actually be a lot of fun and very interesting, and applicants in general are friendly and gracious with each other.

As to the actual interview, it is probably best to be prepared to answer and ask a lot of questions. Read the site brochure carefully before your interview. If you know in advance who you will be talking to, you should run a quick lit search on that person to find out more about his or her work. Last minute changes in schedules or personnel, however, seem to be the norm. Be prepared to talk about both your clinical and research experience. See if your department has a list of old interview questions for you to look at in preparation. Don’t be surprised or put off if the people you end up interviewing with 1) have nothing in common with you or the rotations you are interested in and 2) have not read your application at all. If you really wanted to speak with someone at a site and didn’t get a chance to do so, don’t be afraid to ask if there is a chance of getting squeezed in or maybe getting a phone interview with that person.

Should I send thank you notes to the site after the interview?

Generally speaking that is not necessary, however thanking the site for making the time to meet with you is also appropriate. If someone at the site really did go out of their way to help you out or do you a service in some way, then by all means thank them. Just be sure that you do not violate the APPIC rules of sharing information about how you are ranking the site, or soliciting information about how they are ranking you.

Should I contact a site after the interview to let them know I am still interested?

You can ask a site during the interview if they want you to contact them afterwards to indicate that you are still interested, or if lack of contact will have no bearing at all on their ranking of you. Certainly if you have REAL questions about a site then you should contact them. It is probably better to avoid fabricating questions or reasons for contact, however, as a pretext for contacting the site after the interview.

Will sites let me know if I am no longer under consideration after the interview?

This seems to vary according to site. You can ask during the interview if you would be informed in the event that you were no longer under consideration.

What should I wear?

Wear something professional and comfortable (but not slobby). Or as one applicant said: "don’t wear what would make you feel MOST comfortable, wear what will make you feel MOST confident". Break those shoes in before you go on interviews! Sometimes your interview day may involve a lot of walking if you are wandering around a large campus or consortium site. Wearing a suit seems to be the most common thing, though a jacket with trousers or skirt is also seen frequently. Trousers for women are fine and people who went on interviews in the 1999-2000 year reported they were very common. The temperature or precipitation at a site may be different from what you are used to, so be prepared for that as well with regard to taking boots, hats, gloves or scarves—or leaving them at home.

VII. Ranking/what to do last

What about ranking my sites?

The APPIC website provides an extensive discussion of the ranking process, and the importance of ranking honestly, we won’t add to that here. If you aren’t sure whether to rank a given site at all, the question to ask is: "would I rather wait another year to go on internship or would I rather do my internship at X site?"

What do I do after finishing my interviews and turning in my rankings?

Admittedly it is a very long 2 or 3 weeks between sending in your rankings and logging on to the APPIC site to find out how you did. But try again to catch up on your work and sleep. Assume things will turn out fine. If you are feeling nervous you can prepare for the clearing house process (where sites and applicants who did not match during the match process divvy up the remaining spots), but keep in mind that is unlikely to be necessary. Celebrate being done with your applications.

I am still anxious, and want to prepare for the clearinghouse, what should I do?

First, calm down! Now, go to the APPIC website and follow their instructions for registering for the clearinghouse. Those who do not match will be notified on the Friday before Match Monday of their non-matched status. This will allow those non-matched individuals to prepare for the clearinghouse. It is recommended that you contact your DCT immediately to discuss your strategy for taking advantage of the clearinghouse. Internship sites will not know if they have filled their class until Monday morning. The clearinghouse begins at 11 a.m. EST on match day, emails and post-only mailings of available spots are sent to people who have signed up for the clearinghouse listserv. You simply read the emails, see if it sounds good to you, and contact the site as suggested. After the initial email each internship site may handle the process of contact differently. Make sure you have extra electronic and printed copies of a completed application, CV, and completed transcripts on hand to provide to a site via fax, email, or overnight mail. Make sure that your department staff know when match day is so they will be able to get recommendation letters printed and signed for you on short notice. Let your references know in case they want to make themselves available to sign letters or take phone calls on short notice.

Now, good luck!

This article first appeared in the Fall 2000 Edition of the APAGS Newsletter, Vol. 12(3)