APA Accredited Internship in Clinical and Counseling Psychology

Applicant Evaluation of Recruitment

1. How did you learn about our internship program?

• APPIC Directory.

• APPIC Website.

• Online search.

• Current interns

• Previous Cook Counseling Center interns.

• Cook Counseling Center Internship Website.

2. What do you see as the strengths of our training program?

• Collegial atmosphere.

• Very friendly staff.

•  An interesting, friendly, diverse group of professionals.

• Good supervision.

• Expertise / opportunities in Sport Psychology.

• Beautiful building; nice facilities.

• The technology: cameras in therapy and group rooms that allow for observation.

• Beautiful landscape.

• Creativity and flexibility

• Possibility of working closely with Health Center and doing co-joint groups with Health Center.

• Interactive community setting.

• No career counseling.

• Great faculty.

• Diverse theoretical orientations of staff.

• Dedication to training.

• Generalized experience.

• Comprehensive training.

• Extreme attention to internship training.

• Diverse training opportunities at a college setting.

• Opportunity to supervise other counselors.

• Opportunity to teach Alcohol Education group.

• Opportunities to function in many different roles.

• Opportunities in individual, group and couple therapy.

• Teaching opportunity.

• Matching research interests.

• The apparent openness of posting evaluations from other applicants.
   

3.  What do you see as the weaknesses of our training program?

• Low stipend (It was low enough to almost defer me from applying).

• Lack of opportunities in Career Development.

• Do not offer external placements for more rounded experience.

• Location.

• Multiculturalism.

• Limited client population.

• Limited opportunities to work with diverse populations.

• Concerned about living in Blacksburg.

• Concerned about spouse being able to get employment in such a remote area.

4. Does our web site provide adequate information regarding our program? Please explain.

• Very thorough.

• Yes, however, some of the info was out of date, like the opportunity to earn extra money with the Alcohol Education class

• Excellent website.

• Website is excellent. It is up to date, informative and user friendly

• Your website was one of the better sites.

• Detailed thorough and helpful.

• Great website. Very good information.

• It sends the message that time and effort are invested in the program.

• Wonderful site. Very informative. Especially enjoyed past intern interviewees' comments.

• For the most part, but I was unclear about the program's stance on clinical vs. counseling psychology.

5. (If applicable) Did the telephone interview provide you adequate opportunity to demonstrate  your strengths and unique abilities? Please explain.

• Yes. I felt the questions were good and I had the opportunity to address my interests and questions.

• No. I believe that I could have better represented myself in person.

• Yes. Detailed, thorough and helpful.

• Yes, I thought so.

6. Given a choice, would you prefer an on site interview or do you believe a telephone interview format is adequate?

• Prefer on site.

• Definitely on site.

• Prefer on site to telephone - you get a much better feel for the program and the faculty.

• I prefer on site because I could see the facility and meet the people. I find I can better choose between sites I've seen.

• Telephone is adequate.

• Telephone interviews are preferable. They are really more fair.

7. Based on your review of our materials and interactions with our staff how well do you believe our program meets the needs of individually and culturally diverse groups?

• Seems okay. Could be better in terms of more info for culturally diverse or more attention to promoting diversity.

• It could be stronger. External rotations with other populations would be helpful.

• So-so.

• Average. Demographics of the area aren't very diverse, but you do the best you can.

• Given the lack of diversity of the student population I believe it is as good as you can do.

• It sounds as if the population of clients is fairly homogeneous in regard to age and culture. If this is representative of VA Tech, then your program meets these needs well.

• Yes.

• Does a great job of meeting training needs.

• Very well.

• I feel your site is sensitive to culturally diverse individuals and provides adequate training in recognizing these needs.

8. Other comments are welcome about any aspect of the Cook Counseling Center intern recruitment process:

• Group lunch with current interns was too large to be helpful. Otherwise, structure of on site interviews was ideal.

• You guys were on the ball with notification of interviews

• Lunch with interns was great

• Increase the stipend and you will have an extremely competitive program.

• Excellent program. If it wasn't for location, I would have ranked your site # 1.

• Please post more pictures of the center and more demographics regarding clients who come to the counseling center

• Current interns should not be in the position of evaluating and rating candidates. They will be gone next year and don't have any contact with future interns.

• I thought the interviews were too short and structured for me to get the information I wanted from your staff.

• I was turned off at the lunch with interns when I became aware that they were involved in the decision process.

• I had concerns because I had "heard" that the staff preferred clinical trainees over counseling psych trainees.

• I had a wonderful day there - the staff was great. The interview format helped me learn a lot and meet many people all at the same time.

• Although the interview was stressful it was very fair and gives the applicant a chance to get a feel for the entire staff. I think it really is to the benefit of the applicant to meet so many of the staff and answer a wide range of questions.

• Actually, it was a little too laid back for me. I'm sure many people prefer that, and that's what the "fit" is all about. I didn't feel there was that much enthusiasm about the process.

• I really enjoyed the interview process at VT. The staff and current interns were great to meet and provided a setting that was positive and relaxed. It was one of the most enjoyable places to interview.