PhD/PsyD Academic Probation for a Missed Deadline: Effects on Internship

[BleLes]

What are people's thoughts about how internship sites view applicants with an academic probation related strictly to missing a research submission deadline? Specifically, defending the master's thesis seven months late. The academic probation period has ended and the student is in good standing but concerned given that APPI requires disclosure of training program probations. Also, does anyone know if internship sites filter out applicants by whether they have incurred a probation? Thanks!!

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[erg923]

What are people's thoughts about how internship sites view applicants with an academic probation related strictly to missing a research submission deadline? Specifically, defending the master's thesis seven months late. The academic probation period has ended and the student is in good standing but concerned given that APPI requires disclosure of training program probations. Also, does anyone know if internship sites filter out applicants by whether they have incurred a probation? Thanks!!

My thought is that it will definitely effect your competitiveness and may even eliminate you at some sites. I'm not sure there is a way for you to know in advance which ones, however.

 

[OneNeuroDoctor]

It depends on the reason for the academic probation. For example, having dual relationships with practicum client is more of a problem than failing your first attempt at comprehensive exams. Once you are off of academic probation it is taken off your transcript or record. Needing extra time to finish your thesis is a non issue and probably not even on your transcript. Talk to your clinical training director as they may not report this on their report on APPI.

Internship selection committees often have screening criteria based on selection criteria and some may view academic probation as exclusionary criteria for their site. That being said, a number of students have used academic probation to motivate themselves and either stayed or transferred to other programs and advanced to professional psychologists.

 

[MCParent]

My thought is that it will definitely effect your competitiveness and may even eliminate you at some sites. I'm not sure there is a way for you to know in advance which ones, however.

Really? I don't think it's a big deal for "the student" so long as he or she had no other problems. Academic probations for milestone stuff sometimes kick in automatically after a certain period of time regardless of things like data collection delays.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

If they missed multiple milestones I'd be concerned, but one time for one (albeit major) thing...not as much. I'd view it as less serious in most cases than bad judgment (dual relationship example was spot on).

 

[erg923]

Really? I don't think it's a big deal for "the student" so long as he or she had no other problems. Academic probations for milestone stuff sometimes kick in automatically after a certain period of time regardless of things like data collection delays.

Yes. For some sites i would have almost no doubt, given the volume and caliber of competition.

 

[WisNeuro]

If the rest of your application looks pretty good, not too much of a hit. If there are various other red flags, this will have more weight to it. I've seen this in my apps a handful of times for internship. A few candidates had well above average apps so we looked past it. Another few were merely average and that got them shoved to the bottom quarter of the rankings.

 

[Ollie123]

Likely a ding, but probably not too big a deal in the grand scheme of things if the person is now off it. It certainly could impact some sites, but no application is perfect and a million other things could have a similar effect. With timelines in particular, people vary tremendously in whether or not they view it as important. The old guard (particularly on the academic side) tends to think the increased emphasis on timelines and getting students in and out quickly is silly. Whenever we expressed concerns about wanting to get finished, one of my advisors invariably mentioned the norm was 7-8 and 10 was not unheard of during his grad school days (he got out in 6 and apparently caught a lot of flak for it).

That said - I assume the person has checked with their department that they need to reveal this information? I know my department had an "unofficial-this-is-not-probation-but-it-could-be-soon" status that was utilized before people were put on "official" academic probation. The former did not need to be disclosed on things like internship apps and was usually used for things like timeline violations or other technical things, with the latter being reserved for serious issues (e.g. academic dishonesty, a student not getting their act together after being put on "unofficial" probation). Kind of gaming the system a bit, but its how things were done at my school. Wasn't relevant for me and I never even knew it was being done in that way until my DCT brought it up at an internship prep meeting.

 

[smalltownpsych]

Likely a ding, but probably not too big a deal in the grand scheme of things if the person is now off it. It certainly could impact some sites, but no application is perfect and a million other things could have a similar effect. With timelines in particular, people vary tremendously in whether or not they view it as important. The old guard (particularly on the academic side) tends to think the increased emphasis on timelines and getting students in and out quickly is silly. Whenever we expressed concerns about wanting to get finished, one of my advisors invariably mentioned the norm was 7-8 and 10 was not unheard of during his grad school days (he got out in 6 and apparently caught a lot of flak for it).

That said - I assume the person has checked with their department that they need to reveal this information? I know my department had an "unofficial-this-is-not-probation-but-it-could-be-soon" status that was utilized before people were put on "official" academic probation. The former did not need to be disclosed on things like internship apps and was usually used for things like timeline violations or other technical things, with the latter being reserved for serious issues (e.g. academic dishonesty, a student not getting their act together after being put on "unofficial" probation). Kind of gaming the system a bit, but its how things were done at my school. Wasn't relevant for me and I never even knew it was being done in that way until my DCT brought it up at an internship prep meeting.

Makes me think of...