Policies and Procedures Governing Intern Selection

The training program abides by APPIC Match Policies found at http://www.appic.org/Match/Match-Policies

Applicants for internship are required to complete the AAPI application from AAPIC available at http://www.appic.org/AAPI . As part of the AAPI, applicants are required to submit three letters of recommendation, and current curriculum vitae. Completed applications are due on or before the deadline specified on the Internship website and in the APPIC Directory.

When applications are received, a team of staff and interns review each application for such information as quality of letters of recommendation, practicum and other relevant experience, GPA, dissertation progress, responses to supplemental questions, training goals detailed in cover letters and personal statements, and overall match. Reviewers complete An Intern Applicant Data Sheet on each applicant to streamline and standardize the process of application review (See APPENDIX G, p. 282: Intern Applicant Data Sheet).

After individual review, a meeting of the reviewers is held to discuss each applicant and decisions are made regarding which of the applicants will be invited for an interview. Applicants who are not invited for an interview are no longer under consideration and will be sent notification advising them of this. Notifications are made by December 15 as is specified in the APPIC Directory.

 Applicants remaining under consideration are notified via email and offered an opportunity to interview. They are given the option to come to Virginia Tech on one of four days during early January. While an on-site interview is preferred, it is recognized that there may be circumstances that prohibit an applicant from visiting. In those cases, applicants may be offered a phone interview. Phone interviews also occur in early January.

Phone interview and on-site interview questions follow a standard format. On-site, each applicant meets briefly in rotation with small teams of interviewers as well as with the Training Director. For telephone interviews, small teams of interviewers participate in a conference call.

Following the interviews, applicants are again evaluated independently by staff and interns and individual rankings submitted by each reviewer for compilation. A subsequent meeting of all reviewers is held to discuss their evaluations of each applicant. At this meeting a decision is made concerning whether an applicant remains under consideration or is dropped from consideration. For the applicants that remain under consideration, a final rank order is determined by consensus of reviewers. The Training Program participates in the National Matching process and the rankings are submitted electronically to NMS by the prescribed deadline.