Do sites always rank applicants that they interviewed or have there been situations where they decided not to rank someone after interviewing them? If so, how common is that?
Hi everyone. Since this is my first post, I want to start by sending out some good vibes and wish you all luck as we all go through this difficult professional hurdle. I have never gone through the match before, so I am speaking from what I've learned from friends/fellow students who have gone through the match ahead of me.
Regarding sites not ranking applicants that they interviewed, I know that this does happen. I don't think APPIC has released any data on this, so it is hard to say how often it occurs. Over the last four years, I can think of one person in my graduate program that this happened to. He knew it happened because he ranked every site he interviewed at, the site did not rank him, he ended up not matching in Phase I, AND that site had one open slot after Phase I . I know from prior experience this person was very anxious and awkward during interviews. I think that in general when sites decide to interview a person, they think that person looks good on paper. Otherwise why take the time to interview them? If a site decides not to rank someone, then something significant enough came up during the interview that was a major red flag. Maybe the person gave the impression that they wouldn't be a good fit for the program, that they would not be receptive to training, or that they had a bad attitude.
Every year, the training directors from the APA-approved internship sites in my area do a panel where they talk about the major faux pas/mistakes that applicants make on interviews. Things like being rude to support staff or fellow applicants, saying things like "well I
guess I could survive living in this area for one year," or showing a lack of enthusiasm in the internship program they are interviewing at are things that could definitely result in a person not being ranked by a site. Regarding anxiety, I think the vast majority of training directors get that we are anxious during this process, so some anxiety is to be expected. However, if someone is significantly more anxious than the norm, then interviewers may start to worry about their clinical skills. At the end of the day, training directors are also trying to picture whether they can work with you every day for the next year and whether you would be able to work with their clients/patients. I think if you can avoid doing the above things and show them you are a real person who is genuinely interested/excited about the opportunities the internship has, that site will rank you. If you have been in a graduate program for 4-5 years, you should've already had to interview at other grad schools and practicum sites before getting to this point, so finding a way to manage that anxiety so that it doesn't get out of hand is also important.
