Applying

  • The following are the minimum requirements an applicant must fulfill to be considered for an internship in the Consortium:

    1. The applicant must be actively enrolled in an academic program leading to a doctoral degree in professional psychology or have completed a doctoral degree in a non-professional field of psychology and be certified by an appropriate official as being enrolled in an organized re-specialization program requiring the completion of the equivalent of pre-internship training in professional psychology.
    2. If in the United States, the academic program must be housed in a regionally accredited, degree-granting institution. If in Canada, the institution must be publicly recognized as a member in good standing by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada.
    3. Applicants must be enrolled in an APA or CPA accredited graduate program. The applicant must have completed at least three years of graduate academic work in a program meeting the requirements described above.
    4. The applicant must have a minimum of 550 Total Intervention and Assessment Hours as defined by the AAPI. This training must be of such a nature and amount as to provide the applicant with the experience needed to have a reasonable opportunity to succeed in the placement for which the applicant is being considered.  Given the breadth of training opportunities available, the breakdown between assessment and intervention hours varies across the training tracks.  Applicants should read the description of each track carefully to determine the minimum number of assessment and intervention hours. As a general rule, applicants with at least 400 Intervention hours and at least 150 Assessment hours will meet the requirements for every track. 
    5. The applicant must be certified by the program’s Director of Clinical Training as being ready for internship.
    6. The applicant must pass a criminal background check. This will be performed after match day. Match results and selection decisions are contingent on passing the background check. No prospective intern has ever been refused employment as a result of the background check, but it is a possibility. Several have had difficulty, in all cases because of past legal problems they chose not to reveal during the application process.

    Please review the descriptions of the Tracks which you are most interested in for additional criteria specific requirements.

  • Application

    The Internship’s application and selection process are in accordance with the policies and procedures developed by the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC), including participation in the Match.  All applicants must register for the Match using the online registration system on the Match website at www.natmatch.com/psychint.   Applications must be submitted via the APPIC online application system.  Completed internship applications are due in November each year; this year the due date will be November 1, 2024.  All application materials must be submitted and received by us on or before this date. 

    All application elements (#1-6 below) should be submitted using the AAPI Online system. Follow all instructions accompanying the AAPI Online to either enter your information directly, or upload your documents (#1-3). We encourage all CVs to be uploaded as Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat files. 

    Please note that, due to the high volume of e-mails sent during the application season, you will not receive a confirmation e-mail from us that your application materials have been received. You can check on the AAPI Online system if your application is complete and if your DCT and letter writers have completed their parts (#5-6). We will notify you by email on or before December 13th of your interview status. 

     

    Application Requirements List

    1. Cover letter: In a separate line above the body of your cover letter please list  the Major Study Areas (tracks) that you are applying to.  You may apply to more than one track. The tracks are listed below along with the accompanying match numbers. Do not rank order your choices. Your cover letter should indicate how these choices fit with your training interests and goals.  The match numbers for the four Major Study Areas (tracks) are as follows:

    • Autism and Lifespan Development: 1 (NMS # 245411)
    • General Adult Psychology: 1 (NMS #: 245412)
    • Child & Adolescent Psychology: 1 (NMS #: 245414)
    • Adult- Psychosis Emphasis Track: 1 (NMS #: 245420)
    • Forensic Psychology: 1 (NMS # 245413)

    2. All elements of the AAPI Online general application.

    3. Curriculum Vita.

    4. Transcripts of graduate work. The transcripts should cover all post baccalaureate course work. You should mail one official copy of all graduate transcripts to the AAPI Online application address at:

    AAPI Online Transcription Department
    PO Box 9117
    Watertown, MA 02471

    5. Verification of AAPI by your doctoral program through the DCT Portal of the AAPI Online System.

    6. Submit at least three and no more than four letters of recommendation from faculty members or practicum supervisors who know your clinical as well as your research work well. At least one must be from an academic faculty member, and at least one from a clinical supervisor. Letter writers should upload an electronic copy to the Reference Portal of the AAPI Online system.

    Selection Process and Interviews

    Representatives from the internship will review the completed applications looking for applicants whose interests and training objectives are compatible with the training experiences of each Major Study Area.

    After screening the application materials, the Internship faculty will contact, by phone, letter or e-mail, applicants to be invited for interviews. It is the faculty’s intention to inform all applicants of their interview status by December 12th, 2024. If you are strongly interested in our program, and have not received an invitation for an interview, you may contact by phone or email the designated contact person for the site in which you are the most interested and request information about your status.

    The Internship has established the following interview dates for this year:

    Wednesday December 4th, 2024
    Wednesday December 11, 2024
    Friday December 13, 2024

    Depending upon your expressed interests you may be invited to interview for more than one track, in which case we will work to arrange the interviews within the same two day period and schedule them so they do not conflict. You are welcome to interview for more than one track, as long as you are genuinely interested in each as a potential primary placement.  Be aware that choosing to interview for more than one Primary Placement may require an overnight stay depending upon the scheduling discussed above. If you are interested in an interview at only one Primary Placement, faculty may choose, at their discretion, to schedule the interview on a date different from those listed. If you cannot be here on any of the scheduled dates, you may be able to arrange an interview on an individual basis with the area in which you are interested; however, the faculty cannot guarantee to be available at other times.

    A personal or phone interview is not a required part of the application process; however, an interview is beneficial in that it brings you to the attention of the Internship faculty and provides you with more information about the Internship’s program than can be gleaned from this website alone. A review of our selection process showed that since the computer match has been in effect, only two applicants who did not interview in person were on the ranked lists submitted by the Internship to National Matching Services. Those applicants initially scheduled interviews but subsequently withdrew for pressing personal reasons.

    Secondary Placement selection takes place after the beginning of the internship year and plays no role in decisions about acceptance as an intern. During the first week of the internship, interns are provided an orientation to the Internship, including all available secondary placement training experiences. Secondary placement assignments are made by the Internship Director after a careful consideration of the intern’s expressed preferences, the intern’s overall training needs and objectives as developed jointly by the intern and faculty, and the availability of supervisory resources and workload.

    The VUIMC-IPP is a member of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) and adheres to the Association’s policies (which may be found on the web at www.appic.org) regarding internship offers and acceptances. It is our intention to be in full compliance with both the letter and the spirit of the APPIC policy. The Internship will abide by the APPIC policy that no person involved with the internship will solicit, accept or use any ranking-related information from any intern applicant.

    Each Primary Placement, or track, is listed in the match as a program within the internship and has a separate match number. In ranking your choices for the match, you are encouraged to include more than one Primary Placement on the ordered list you submit to National Matching Services if that is a true reflection of your interests. If you have indicated an interest in more than one Primary Placement, and more than one Primary Placement believes you would fit well with their program, you may be included on more than one of the rank order lists the Internship program sends to NMS.