APA Accredited Internship in Clinical and Counseling Psychology

Thomas E. Cook Counseling Center

Pre-doctoral Internship Program

Virginia Tech

I appreciate you taking a few minutes to complete the following evaluation of your experience with our program during the recent internship interview.  Please  return the form in the enclosed stamped addressed  envelope at your earliest  convenience.  As you know, we post this information  on our web site and your comments are a valuable resource for future intern applicants.  Thank you for your assistance and all the best in your career endeavors.

Cathye Griffin Betzel, Psy.D.
Director of Training

Disclaimer: The survey responses below are presented with very little editorial intervention (other than the occasional spelling correction!). Keep in mind that these are subjective impressions and that some comments may present information that appears to conflict with each other.  If you have particular questions after reading the comments, please refer to the "official" material on the website for clarification or feel free to contact me if needed at  cbetzel@vt.edu

1.  How did you learn about our internship program? 

• APPIC website directory

• I learned about your program through the APPIC on-line directory and your website.

• Online - APPIC website and VA Tech website.

• APPIC

• From the Director of Training at GSPP, Dr. Horne-Moyer

• Online through APPIC website.

• Via APPIC Directory

• APPIC / Previous intern class at my program.

• APPIC search engine

• APPIC website

• Through APPIC’s Directory

• APPIC Search
   

2.  Does our website provide adequate information regarding our program?  Please explain.

• Yes

• Your website is extremely thorough. I felt I had a great understanding of your program based on the information provided there.

• Yes, I found it very helpful - made it difficult to generate questions.

• Yes, very good info on all aspects of program.

• Yes, it offers information regarding each specific component and then provides specific details for each component.

• Yes, the website is helpful and provides all of the necessary info.

• Yes - very thorough and user friendly

• Yes

• Yes, more than adequate regarding details of the program. Nothing surprised me or felt like it was lacking during the interview.

• Yes, the survey responses are particularly helpful.

• Yes-I had few questions to ask. More about the technology available onsite would be welcome (Paperless notes, etc.)

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

• Diversity of training experiences, emphasis on interns as colleagues.

• Strengths of your program include your training seminars, the summer consultation rotation, and your emphasis on supervision.

• Wonderfully diverse and warm staff.

• Variety of external rotations.

• It offers a variety of training experiences (outreach, teaching AE class, group and individual Tx)

• Willingness to help interns get the experiences they are looking for.

• Very well rounded, multidisciplinary training program.

• Diverse training opportunities.

• Options to interact with other services on campus; good central location on campus; technically advanced.

• Multidisciplinary staff/many young professionals there

• Collegial support and warmth; strong supervision and genuine open-door policy; diverse specialization opportunities; emphasis on targeting cultural diversity in work.

• Staff background, interests, perspectives. Technology. Opportunities to pursue outside interests.
   

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

•  I would like to have seen more teaching opportunities.

• The location.

• No health insurance.

• Location-small town so not much to do and could be hard to relocate family member who needs to find a job.

• N/A-lack of multi-cultural opportunities.

• Low stipend, lack of benefits

• Large case loads, staff difficulties, required research.

• I wasn’t excited about seeing clients bi-weekly. I had concerns that the caseload would be large, but supervision wouldn’t make up for it.

• Remote location/small town.

• Not necessarily a weakness, but for myself, financial considerations were a primary reason I couldn’t rank this site higher.

 5.  Please comment on your level of satisfaction with the onsite or telephone interview experience.  Please specify type of interview.

•  Onsite interview was thorough and enjoyable.

• I participated in an onsite interview and it was a great experience. It was very well-organized and I felt that I was really able to get a sense for what it would be like to intern at your site.

• Onsite - I  found it very enjoyable and only minimally intimidating.

• Onsite, very satisfied with experience.

• Very thorough interview. Staff was very welcoming and friendly and it was very informative to meet so many staff members.

• Interview was very informational and low-key enough to be enjoyable.

• Onsite - excellent format, very satisfied with the experience

• On site - Felt disjointed

• Onsite - staff wasn’t seen interacting together. I questioned the cohesiveness and collegial relationships between staff. Interns were less engaged and enthusiastic as I had experienced in many other places.

• I was highly satisfied with my onsite interview experience. The staff and interns did a fantastic job of presenting site information; answering questions, and fostering a low-stress experience. I left feeling like enthusiastic and warm inside.

• Less personable feel than I might have liked during the interview, which made me wonder if it would be a good fit for me.

• Telephone interview - very positive. One of my most enjoyable interview experiences.

 6.  Do you support informing applicants when they are no longer under consideration in the interview process?  Please explain. 

• Yes. It helps to clarify remaining ranking options.

• Yes, this is very helpful for planning.

• Yes, I support it - I wish all sites did that (so interviewees do not waste a ranking).

• Yes, it helps keep applicants informed and aware of when they are still being considered.

• Yes. It is very helpful to know when making ranking decisions.

• Yes, I’d rather know I match or don’t match and knowing if I was ranked would help.

• Yes, helps when ranking sites, to know whether or not you are still under consideration.

• Yes - reduces stress.

• Yes, it’s reassuring if you are still under consideration and it’s not misleading a person if they are not under consideration.

• Yes. It provides them with accurate and up-to-date info regarding their status, which is helpful for ranking.

• Absolutely! Really helps qualm applicant fears/anxiety knowing status one way or the other.

• Yes - for myself a lot of time went into the deliberation of where to rank sites. Knowing one is not under consideration would prevent any wasted time for applicants.

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

• From what I have seen, your program appears to make a strong effort to meet the needs of diverse applicants.

• I think it would meet the needs quite well.

• Very well, very culturally sensitive.

• Very well-diverse staff and seminars offered on diversity.

• I could see this is a challenge but I was confident that staff would do everything possible.

• Staff was exceptionally diverse - however I didn’t get a feel for how the program would meet the needs of others.

• Very well.

• Very well. I think by virtue of the campus and town, there is somewhat limited diversity relative to other campuses, but VA Tech seems to do a great job of outreach to extend services to these populations.

• I believe the program itself (staff, training components, etc.) is fine - the only concern might be a less diverse student body.
   

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

• Lunch with interns was very nice and helpful. Staff helped to relax the applicants with calm, polite attitudes which was very nice.