Psychology Internship

Admission Policy

The Internship requires the AAPI online application, three letters of reference, graduate transcripts, a cover letter, and typically applicants submit their curriculum vita.

Internship Admissions, Support, and Initial Placement Data (PDF document)

Each year the internship program receives many more completed applications than the number of available intern positions. (We typically have four interns and receive thirty times as many applications as there are positions available). The majority of candidates are highly qualified, both in terms of academic performance and letters of recommendation, and it is often very difficult to differentiate the candidates on these bases alone. Consequently, our criteria for selection must examine other variables.

One factor to which we pay close attention is whether the training experiences that we provide are consistent with the needs and interests of the candidate, insofar as those needs and interests are expressed in the application. If it is clear to us that the nature or quantity of certain experiences that a candidate seeks are unlikely to be provided at the UMass Chan Medical School/Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital, we inform the candidate of this and suggest that training needs would be better met at a different facility. Frequently this decision is not based on the candidates' qualifications, but rather on their stated professional goals and needs.

Secondly, we believe that peer-group learning is an important aspect of the internship training experience. Moreover, it appears that this learning experience is maximized to the extent that the interns in a given year come from very different professional backgrounds and represent widely divergent theoretical orientations. The training program at the UMass Chan Medical School/Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital is not committed to a single theoretical position. We believe that the issues in clinical psychology can be conceptualized from different theoretical stances, and that the interns benefit from having their ideas examined and evaluated from frameworks other than their own. This evaluation process and dialogue are as important from other interns as from supervisors. Thus, we attempt to select a heterogeneous intern group.

Thirdly, we especially welcome applications from minority group members. While the law of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts expressly prohibits asking for such information, those candidates who wish to provide this information will enable us to be consistent with valuable affirmative action policies.