Would-be interns hopeful about ?matchmaker? selection system

New system could eliminate pitfalls of the old process.

By Jamie Chamberlin
Monitor staff

Each year during the internship application season, a significant number of student applicants and training sites end up violating rules and elevating anxiety and stress levels with tortured strategizing for advantage in getting their number-one pick.

But no more?or so the Association of Psychology Postdoctural and Internship Centers (APPIC) hopes. That?s because the 1998?99 selection process will rely on a new system, designed to more fairly, and efficiently, match applicants with training programs.

The system, called the Matching Program, is an orderly way to match training sites and applicants based on the preferences of each, said Greg Keilin, PhD, chair of APPIC?s Match Committee. A staff psychologist at the Counseling and Mental Health Center at the University of Texas at Austin, Keilin explained the new system to students at a session at APA?s 1998 Annual Convention in San Francisco.

The Matching Program is designed to prevent applicants from hoarding multiple offers, or sites making offers to candidates who are not their first choice because they believe they are more likely to accept an offer.

National Matching Services, Inc., (NMS), a company that specializes in developing and operating matching programs for competitive recruitment, will operate the system on behalf of APPIC.

Here is how the matching system works: First, a student registers with NMS and receives a match identification number and password. The registration deadline for students is Dec. 1, but Keilin recommended that students register sooner because they will need to place their number on their internship applications. Then students proceed with the internship application and interview process as usual. Once students complete their interviews, they should rank their sites according to their preferences. These lists, known as a Rank Order List, should be submitted to NMS no later than Feb. 3. During this time, internship sites will also develop a Rank Order List of their preferred candidates, ranking their favorite candidate first as well.

Keilin emphasized that students should rank their sites based on their true preferences, without consideration for where a site might rank them. Any other strategy will hurt rather than help the student, said Keilin.

Once all the lists are in, the computer will start making 'matches.' The computer starts with a student?s number-one choice and will try everything it can to get that student into that slot if that site has placed the student on its Rank Order List.

The same goes for each training site?the computer tries to get the site?s first choice candidate and will move down only if a student did not select the site. Only if that site has no slots available or if the site did not place that student on its list will the computer move down to a student?s second choice and repeat the process. The process is carried out until each applicant has been matched to the most preferred site possible.

'The computer advocates for everybody at the same time,' said Keilin. 'No one will be penalized in order for someone else to get a better slot.'

On Feb. 22, NMS will release the match results. Students and sites can call or fax NMS to find out whether and where they were placed, or they can log on to the NMS web site.

Keilin strongly advised students not to try to develop a strategy to beat the system. The only strategy that will work with this new system is honesty, he said.

'Where you really want to go should be your first choice,' said Keilin. The new system will also include benefits for couples seeking internships at the same time, said Keilin. Couples will be able to submit coordinated Rank Order Lists and have the option of requesting placement at the same agency or within the same geographical area, he said.

For more information on NMS or the APPIC Matching Program, contact APPIC?s web site at www.appic.org, or the NMS web site at www.natmatch.com/psychint. To request registration information, contact NMS at 595 Bay St., Suite 301, Box 29, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5G, 2C2, (416) 977-3431, e-mail.