Tag Archives: graduate school

The Graduate Student Guide to Getting Your S**t Together

MPj04440980000[1]This is it: the time when it seems like every professor, every research conference, every supervisor has come together to plot how to make these last few weeks a mad fury of papers, projects, sweat, and tears for us graduate students.

In the midst of this chaos, it is all too easy to let certain things – the less pressing papers, the cleanliness of our apartments, our mental well-being- slip by the wayside. In an effort to alleviate some of that relentless pressure, I present tips for the graduate student to keep their s**t together.

  • Make a to-do list and put everything on there. The most empowering to-do lists are those which are a combination of tasks you hope to get done (write that report, make that call) and those you will get done anyway unless some catastrophic event occurs (i.e., see that patient, go to that class). With a to-do list like this, you check off more things and get a better picture of how amazingly productive you are, and that can be all the fuel you need to get more of the things done.
  • Break down your bigger tasks. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is a dissertation – when planning out your tasks don’t simply write in ‘dissertation’ but small, tangible goals that can be accomplished in 1-2 hour blocks (e.g., ‘write intro paragraph’; ‘find depression measure’; ‘draft Table 1’).
  • Five minutes can be a damn good start to some things. We all know what the hardest part of a task is…. Getting started. Whether it is the first draft of an abstract, writing a few emails, or starting the blog post you keep meaning to do, using small bouts of time productively can really add up.

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International Students and the Internship Process

International_Flags_GlobePsychology graduate students face unique struggles compared to graduate students in other fields, as we are expected to be self-reflective, engage in self-care, and also examine our ability to work with others while making sure that we dedicate most of our time to work. The balance often becomes a very tricky process to negotiate. International students in graduate psychology programs experience additional barriers in comparison to their domestic counterparts, as they have to navigate local and national policies, immigration requirements, paperwork, and experiences of discrimination, on top of academic requirements. Further, it is not unusual for international students to feel isolated, especially in smaller programs where the international student community is scarce. In addition to cultural adjustment and a possible language barrier, international students also have to plan a timeline carefully to ensure they are up to date on immigration documentation. One of the most stressful experiences for international students in clinical, counseling, and school psychology programs is applying for the clinical internship. International students face unique challenges in this process, including a reduced number of sites that accept individuals without US citizenship or permanent residency.

The following video focuses specifically on the internship application process for international students, and provides insights and advice from international students who have successfully navigated this process. APAGS and APAGS-CARED have developed this short video to help international students feel more comfortable applying to their doctoral internship.

Some international students that have been through this process have provided the following advice:

• Ensure that there is enough time to plan for documentation of legal status
• Be resilient
• Be persistent
• Find mentorship from other international students
• Develop a close relationship with DCTs (Directors of Clinical Training)

Please check out the video below of interviews with international students who successfully matched on internship. The video was developed through a collaboration of APAGS and APAGS-CARED, and was edited by Nathanael Castro.

Match Day 2018: The Forecast is Looking Good!

As your APAGS Chair, I wanted to reach you on one of the most important days of the year for the psychology training community. The 2018 Match Day is upon us, and the forecast is looking good for students. We continue to make advances toward resolving the internship crisis, and we are always excited to see students progressing in their training. For those that did not match, we continue to be your ally in this struggle, and aim to support you through our advocacy efforts to ensure everyone has access to the training opportunities they deserve.

Let’s Talk Data

Here is today’s APPIC data about applicants seeking a 2018 internship:

  • 3,779 applicants participated in the Match, of which 3,727 were from accredited programs. A smaller student pool is likely because APPIC is now using stricter accreditation requirements for doctoral programs that send students into the Match.
  • 3,163 applicants matched in Phase I: An 88% overall match rate.
  • 85% of applicants who matched got one of their top three choices.
  • This is the first time there were fewer applicants than internship positions available (i.e., 3,906 positions available), which is a promising trend for future internship cohorts. For the 432 students that remain unmatched, 457 APA/CPA-accredited internship positions remain open. 

Although many students are celebrating the opportunities that await them on internships, many today remain unmatched, and we hope that the number of APA/CPA-accredited sites available in Phase II provides ample opportunity to secure a quality training experience this summer. We also hope that the 184 students who did not submit a rank list or withdrew their applications for reasons related to site availability advocate for their best outcomes and fare well.

I know that the pains of not matching can be personally burdensome, and the uncertainty about the coming year can be equally as draining. Be reassured that, just as there are terrific training opportunities available in Phase II, there are many terrific applicants that sites will be ecstatic to recruit. I know many high-quality, well-trained colleagues who matched in Phase II to terrific training opportunities, and I wish you all the best of luck as you continue the application process for this cycle.

Change is on the Rise

The internship crisis has improved over the years, and many more stakeholders are beginning to call it an imbalance. In its advocacy efforts, the APAGS Committee is always mindful of the training opportunities available to students. In our 2013-2018 Strategic Plan, we aimed for an APA/CPA-accredited internship for every student from an APA/CPA-accredited program. We are close to reaching that goal.

My belief is that greater emphasis will need to be placed on specialty training opportunities in the coming years. The substantial increase in APA/CPA-accredited internships has helped to resolve the internship crisis, but many students miss out on specialty training opportunities when they match to sites that are not the best fit for their training goals. Certain fields such as school psychology have fewer APA/CPA-accredited programs. Although many sites offer neuropsychological training at the internship level, when applicants fail to match to a site with such training opportunities, they become less competitive when securing postdocs within that specialty. Rehabilitation, health, forensic, and more — specialty tracks and training opportunities at the internship level are becoming increasingly prevalent, and we as a field should be aware that the crisis is about both supply and fit.

Our Advocacy Efforts

For those in the student community concerned about advocacy, the APAGS Committee has been actively working with the internship crisis at the forefront of our minds. Our past advocacy efforts have pushed for a $3 million internship stimulus package approved by the APA Council of Representatives, which  has been highly successful in the development of new training sites. Medicaid reimbursement for internship services has also helped to secure funding for additional training sites. We also produced an informative video and resource page on the internship crisis to spread awareness of the impact that not matching has on the lives of students. The APAGS Committee continues to focus on graduate and internship training opportunities for our constituents. If you have any perspectives on additional advocacy efforts, we are always appreciative of your input. Contact your APAGS Committee officers for additional information. Further, if you would like to have a place at the table, we encourage all APAGS members to consider applying for positions on the APAGS Committee.  Students of all backgrounds, subfields, and interests are encouraged to apply. These positions are the most effective way to advocate for your student peers within APA, as we strive for the highest quality training experience for all psychology graduate students.

Sincerely,

Justin E. Karr, M.Sc.

2018 APAGS Chair

How well are psychology programs addressing diversity training? National survey reveals results

The American Psychological Association of Graduate Students (APAGS) Committee on the Advancement of Racial and Ethnic Diversity (CARED) and Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity (CSOGD) recently finalized a mixed-methods study that explored the impact of diversity on the program and training experiences of APAGS members. Graduate students from programs across the United States, shared their perspectives on diversity and inclusion issues in their clinical and research training, courses, mentorship, and everyday interactions in their programs. The accompanying infographic presents a snapshot of some of the most relevant findings. The final page  provides some additional resources in addition to specific recommendations provided by students for how to improve programs’ diversity training and better support students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds. For more information on the study, contact J. L. Stewart.  Please also view the full results and tables.

APAGS Diversity Infographic_Page_1APAGS Diversity Infographic_Page_2

 

APAGS Diversity Infographic_Page_3APAGS Diversity Infographic

Editor’s Note: This infographic was developed by the following APAGS members (listed alphabetically): Klaus Eickhoff Cavalhieri, Lincoln Hill, Kiet Huynh, J. L. Stewart, Joelle Taknint, and María D. Vázquez.

 

Research can be fun, I promise: A guide to getting undergraduates involved in research

We all remember how overwhelming our first few years of our undergraduate studies were. Psychology may have been our major, but there was so much information being presented in introductory courses, it was hard to know exactly what that word really meant. What did psychologists actually do all day? I know when I was a sophomore, I still thought that all psychologists were basically Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs– sneaking into storage units late at night to explore a killer’s wares, examining dead bodies for clues to how they reached their demise, having intimate and revealing conversations with a serial killer through 4-inch Plexiglas. Such action-oriented images defined psychology for me. It pushed any ideas of sitting behind a desk, performing scientific experiments and analyzing data, to the very back of my mind.

Luckily, I had a bunch of very patient, but very direct, mentors who introduced me to the value of research. And I am not talking about just the “oh, now I have another line to put on my CV” sort of value. We all can remember the first time we found a significant effect size with data we had personally collected and pored over every detail of. There comes a shining moment when you realize that you have added something to the field of psychology! My mentors taught me that all the hand-wringing that came before that moment was worth it, and soon “researcher” became a part of my definition of a psychologist.

Now, I am on the other side, working as the graduate assistant for an undergraduate research program. Graduate students have a unique connection with undergraduates in our department – although, like faculty, we are older and more experienced, it is often easier for the undergraduates to connect with us. We are also still in the weeds of academia, often closer in age, and spend a lot of time focused in on the same areas. So for the undergraduates in our lab, in the classes we teach, or just at department events, we can become a major mentoring voice. In essence, we have a choice – we can simply go about our expected duties, or we can push ourselves a little farther. We can reach out to undergraduate students to introduce them to the world of psychological science.

Of course, that isn’t always easy. Undergraduates face a lot of obstacles in regards to research, and no, it isn’t just the obstacle of eating so much ramen that they cannot get into the lab. Undergrads often avoid research because:

  1. “Research” does not fit into their schema of “psychologist”.

Teaching these students, who may think of psychology a solely consisting of clinical work (or, in my case, forensic clinical work) how research can fit into the picture is invaluable. Speak to your undergrads about your work, and connect it directly to clinical experience. Bring current research into the classroom. Discuss with students your own experiences of doing both hands on work with clients and future-oriented work with science. Eventually, the connection will click.

2. They think that they do not know enough and will make too many mistakes

Undergraduate students (and graduate students as well, honestly) may become stuck in the paradoxical loop that they do not want to attempt anything new for fear that they will not do it perfectly the first time, or that they will disappoint their superiors. As a student who has certainly made mistakes yourself (likely in the recent past!), you can be the one to break that infinite circle of passivity. Talk about your own mistakes, even if you are not directly prompted. Use them as teaching moments for that specific task, but also as a general teaching moment that no one is ever perfect. Mistakes often lead to the most valuable teaching experiences. And as for not knowing enough, remind them –  research is for exactly that purpose, when we don’t know enough, we seek out the answer. You are learning as you go along, and this field is all about jumping in and get your hands dirty. The earlier you do it, the more you will learn.

3. It is an ambiguous concept.

Lots of what we learn in undergraduate psychology is concrete; problems are described and solutions presented. In research, you have to identify the problems, or areas of uncertainty, and hypothesize solutions. Simply coming up with these two things – a research problem and a hypothesis – can be arduous enough. And it becomes even more difficult when we realize that even the most well-thought out hypotheses do not always work out.

Encourage undergraduates to draw on what they already know, and then to take a risk. Research requires taking a dip into the unknown, which is inherently risky because it is uncharted territory. Being walked through the less-defined steps for the first time can prove to be a very helpful experience. Ask undergrads to act as research assistants for your projects, and have them do more than just data collecting. Introduce them to how you came up with the research question, the IRB approval process, show them the write-up. If possible, invite them to come to conferences with you so that they can get a taste of it (and get some free vendor pens). Be the guide for the first leg of this uncharted journey, but then step back once the journey has begun. The students will realize that their risk can reap reward.

4. They do not know how to ask for guidance

Often, even if an undergraduate student is ready to integrate research into their life and jump into a pool of potential mistakes and ambiguity, they may not know how to ask for help. As graduate students, you can be an enormously helpful resource. Be inviting to undergraduates that want to come to your labs. Encourage undergraduates in your classes to speak with you after class if they are interested in research, and be willing (or knowledgeable about other labs where you can refer them) to refer them based on their topic of interest.

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Today’s undergraduates will be our future lab partners, classmates, and eventual colleagues. It is important that we begin to build their foundation of science from the very beginning – science is an integral part of moving psychology from the past into the present, to make treatments more effective, and to make lives better. After all, Clarice Starling may have had all of the action sequences, but she may have never solved the case of Buffalo Bill without the scientists identifying the moth.

Editor’s Note: Fallon Kane is a clinical psychology doctoral candidate at the Derner School of Psychology. Her research focuses on personality pathology and interpersonal relationships, and personality change with age.