2007 APPIC Match: Survey of Internship Applicants
Part 1: Summary of Survey Results
June 6, 2007
This page contains the first of two parts of the results from the survey of applicants who were registered for the 2007 APPIC Match.
This survey of applicants who were registered for the 2007 APPIC Match was conducted via the internet between February 26 and March 30, 2007. All 3,698 applicants who registered for the APPIC Match were sent an e-mail message (along with two reminder e-mails) about the availability of the survey at a specific internet address. A total of 2,656 internship applicants (72%) completed some or all of the survey.
Results of the survey are presented below. Missing data and "Not Applicable" responses were eliminated, and percentages do not necessarily total 100% due to rounding. Some survey items requested open-ended comments about the AAPI, APPIC Directory Online, the Match, etc. that are not reported below; however, these anonymous comments were reviewed by the appropriate APPIC Board and/or committee members who are responsible for each area.
Some of the more interesting findings from this survey include:
1. Approximately 78% of internship applicants in the 2007 Match
were female (see question 26). Questions 21-29 provide
additional demographic information.
2. Applicants submitted an average of 13.4 internship applications
(see question 12). The means reported by applicants in previous
years were:
2006 Match 12.9 applications
2005 Match 12.4 applications
2004 Match 12.4 applications
2003 Match 12.1 applications
2002 Match 13.1 applications
1999 Match 13.8 applications
3. Despite APPIC's instructions that applicants should use only
their true preferences when developing their Rank Order Lists,
5% of applicants reported doing otherwise (see question 18).
4. Eighteen percent of applicants reported completing an online
version of the AAPI for at least one site (see question 19),
up from fifteen percent in 2006.
5. The cost of participating in the selection process varied
dramatically across applicants. While the average applicant
spent $1,533 (median = $1,125, SD = $1,349), many applicants
spent considerably less while many spent considerably more
(see question 20).
6. Question 30 provides information about the ways in which
applicants may have perceived various forms of bias or
discrimination during the selection process.
7. Question 35 provides the median numbers of practicum hours
reported by applicants. APPIC recommends that applicants
interpret these numbers cautiously. Applicants should NOT
assume that the numbers of practicum hours reported are
necessary to successfully obtain an internship, as many
Training Directors have told us that they consider these
raw numbers to be one of the less important aspects of an
application.
8. Questions 37-39 provide information about applicants' time-
lines for completing their doctoral comprehensive /
qualifying / preliminary examinations and their
dissertations / doctoral research projects.
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1. Type of Doctoral Program
Clinical 2087 79 %
Counseling 358 13 %
School 121 5 %
Combined 66 2 %
Other 21 1 %
INTERPRETATION NOTE: A "combined" program could mean: (a) a doctoral
program that defines itself as a "combined" program (e.g., clinical-
school), or (b) an arrangement negotiated by a student in which he/she
integrates the curricula of two separate doctoral programs at his/her
school.
2. Degree Sought
Ph.D. 1534 58 %
Psy.D. 1105 42 %
Ed.D. 2 0 %
Other 11 0 %
3. Is your doctoral program APA- or CPA-accredited?
Yes 2451 93 %
No 193 7 %
4. Location of your doctoral Program
United States 2538 96%
Canada 86 3%
Other, please specify 13 0%
5. Is your program housed within a religiously-affiliated institution?
Yes 386 15 %
No 2247 85 %
6. Please select the training model of your DOCTORAL program (as you
specified on your AAPI):
Scientist-Practitioner 1339 51%
Practitioner-Scholar 949 36%
Practitioner 43 2%
Clinical Scientist 138 5%
Other, please specify 169 6%
7. Which of the following internship programs would be considered
acceptable to your doctoral program? Please check all that apply.
An accredited internship program 2609 99%
An APPIC-member internship program 1446 55%
that is NOT accredited
An internship program that is NOT 741 28%
accredited and NOT an APPIC member
An unpaid internship program 949 36%
8. Please check the item that applies to you (please respond even if
you withdrew from the Match or did not submit a Rank Order List):
This is my FIRST time 2456 93%
participating in the Match
This is my SECOND time 166 6%
participating in the Match
This is my THIRD time 12 0%
participating in the Match
Other 9 0%
9. Were you matched to an internship program by the APPIC Match?
(i.e., did your official notification from National Matching
Services [NMS] indicate that you were successfully matched to
an internship program?)
Yes 2087 79%
No 479 18%
Withdrew / No rankings submitted 82 3%
NOTE: These results suggest that unmatched applicants and
those who withdrew or didn't submit Rank Order Lists may
be underrepresented in this survey.
10a. The materials and instructions provided by National Matching
Services (NMS) were clear and comprehensive.
Strongly Agree 1564 59 %
Agree 911 34 %
Neutral 79 3 %
Disagree 41 2 %
Strongly Disagree 52 2 %
10b. The registration process with NMS went smoothly.
Strongly Agree 1802 68 %
Agree 680 26 %
Neutral 74 3 %
Disagree 31 1 %
Strongly Disagree 56 2 %
10c. The submission of my Rank Order List to NMS went smoothly.
Strongly Agree 1866 73 %
Agree 585 23 %
Neutral 39 2 %
Disagree 23 1 %
Strongly Disagree 50 2 %
10d. NMS was responsive to my questions and concerns
(choose "N/A" if you never contacted NMS).
Strongly Agree 307 56 %
Agree 158 29 %
Neutral 41 7 %
Disagree 22 4 %
Strongly Disagree 22 4 %
10e. I am satisfied with the Match result that I received from
the Matching Program.
Strongly Agree 1308 52 %
Agree 539 21 %
Neutral 165 7 %
Disagree 152 6 %
Strongly Disagree 370 15 %
10f. Overall, I am satisfied with the APPIC Matching Program.
Strongly Agree 922 35 %
Agree 844 32 %
Neutral 364 14 %
Disagree 258 10 %
Strongly Disagree 230 9 %
11a. In your judgment, did you experience any violation(s) of
APPIC Match Policies by any site?
Yes 213 8 %
No 2215 84 %
Unsure 219 8 %
NOTE: Results to this question from previous years:
YES NO UNSURE
2006 9% 83% 9%
2005 8% 85% 7%
2004 8% 86% 7%
2003 11% 77% 12%
2002 11% 78% 12%
2001 10% 76% 14%
2000 15% 74% 12%
1999 12% 77% 11%
It should be noted that Match Policy changes over the years
may have influenced responses to this item.
11b. Did you reveal any ranking information (e.g., "You are my
first choice") to any site?
Yes 17 1 %
No 2610 99 %
Unsure 19 1 %
11c. Did you experience inappropriate pressure from any site to
reveal your rankings?
Yes 75 3 %
No 2498 95 %
Unsure 66 3 %
11d. Did any site reveal ranking information to you (e.g., "You
are our first choice")?
Yes 62 2 %
No 2513 95 %
Unsure 62 2 %
12. To how many internship sites did you apply (i.e., how many
separate internship applications did you submit)?
Mean = 13.4 Median = 13
SD = 5.4 Mode = 15
13. Considering ALL of the sites to which you applied, how many
did NOT notify you of your interview status (e.g., received an
interview, no longer under consideration) on or before the
"interview notification date" listed in their APPIC Directory
information? For example, if all of your sites notified you
in a timely manner, choose "0".
Mean = 1.1 Median = 0
SD = 2.4 Mode = 0
NOTE: A total of 59.0% of applicants reported being properly
notified of their interview status by all sites to which
they applied.
14. How many interviews (telephone or on-site) were you offered?
Mean = 6.3 Median = 6
SD = 3.6 Mode = 6
15. How many programs did you include on your final Rank Order List
(i.e., how many program code numbers were listed)?
Mean = 6.9 Median = 6
SD = 4.5 Mode = 6
NOTE: Use caution when comparing these numbers with the results
from questions 12-14, since some sites used multiple program code
numbers.
16. What was the rank of the program that you were matched to?
(Please see the 2007 APPIC Match Statistics for this information)
17. Did you participate in the Match with another person as a
"couple" (i.e., by using special Match procedures to submit
pairs of rankings)?
Yes 33 1 %
No 2613 99 %
18. For the Match, applicants were instructed to construct their
Rank Order Lists based only on their TRUE preferences, and to
ignore such things as how they thought they were ranked by
programs, programs' popularity, number of positions offered
by programs, etc.
Did the Rank Order List that you submitted to NMS reflect ONLY
your TRUE preferences? (Please skip this question if you did
not submit a Rank Order List)
Yes 2454 95 %
No 127 5 %
19. How many sites asked you to complete an online version of the AAPI
(APPIC Application for Psychology Internships) via the internet?
For example, a site might have asked you to enter some information
from your AAPI into an online form. (Please do NOT include times
in which you sent your AAPI to a site as an e-mail attachment)
None 2155 82 %
1 site 290 11 %
2 sites 50 2 %
3 sites 24 1 %
4 sites 15 1 %
5 to 9 sites 28 1 %
10 sites or more 69 3 %
20. APPIC would like to know how much money you spent on various
aspects of the application and selection process.
APPLICATION COSTS involve preparing and submitting applications
to sites, and may include such items as obtaining official copies
of transcripts, printing, copying, regular and overnight mailing,
etc. TRAVEL COSTS may include such items as air or train fare,
car rental, taxi, gasoline, hotel, etc. OTHER COSTS may include
such items as your Match registration fee ($110 or $140),
clothing costs, phone calls, etc.
Please enter your BEST ESTIMATE of the dollar amount spent, digits
only, in each of the following areas (e.g., one hundred dollars
would be entered as simply 100):
TOTAL COSTS: Mean = $1533 SD = 1349
Median = $1125 Mode = 1100
APPLICATION COSTS: Mean = $ 218 SD = 179
Median = $ 200 Mode = 200
TRAVEL COSTS: Mean = $1149 SD = 1192
Median = $ 800 Mode = 2000
OTHER COSTS: Mean = $ 284 SD = 249
Median = $ 200 Mode = 200
NOTE: Mean total cost increased by $25 (1.7%) from 2006 to 2007
while median total cost increased by $5 (0.4%).
DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
21. What is your age?
Mean = 30.4 Median = 28
SD = 6.1 Mode = 27
Range = 22 to 61 N = 2654
22. How many dependent children are living with you?
None 2158 83%
1 250 10%
2 131 5%
3 38 1%
4 9 0%
5 2 0%
23. How many adult dependents are currently living with you, or for
whom you are responsible? (DO include other relatives or
individuals, i.e., mother, father, grandparent, ward. DO NOT
include an able-bodied spouse/partner).
None 2459 96%
1 90 4%
2 10 0%
3 2 0%
4 2 0%
24. What is your current marital or relationship status?
Married / Partnered 1460 56 %
Not Married or Partnered 1129 44 %
25. What is your country of citizenship?
U.S. 2354 91 %
Canada 121 5 %
Other 105 4 %
26. What is your gender?
Male 558 22 %
Female 2028 78 %
Other (e.g., trans, intersex) 2 0 %
27. What is your racial/ethnic identification? (Check all
that apply)
African-American / Black 174 7 %
American Indian / Alaskan Native 30 1 %
Asian / Pacific Islander 179 7 %
Hispanic / Latino 184 7 %
White (Non-Hispanic) 2017 78 %
Other 97 4 %
28. What is your sexual orientation?
Heterosexual 2394 93 %
Gay Male 47 2 %
Lesbian 57 2 %
Bisexual 77 3 %
Other 5 0 %
29. What types of disability(ies) do you have? Check all
that apply. (If none, please skip this question)
Blind / Visually Impaired 7 0 %
Deaf / Hard of Hearing 9 0 %
Physical / Orthopedic Disability 17 1 %
Learning Disability / Cognitive 34 1 %
Chronic Health Condition 70 3 %
Mental Illness 34 1 %
Other 17 1 %
NOTE: Percentages were calculated based on the entire
subject pool of 2,656 applicants.
30. If you believe that you have experienced some form of
discrimination during the selection process, please designate
the category(ies) for which this occurred (if you did not
experience discrimination, please skip this question).
NOTE: Results from this item should be interpreted cautiously.
In particular, some internship programs specifically prefer
applicants from certain types of doctoral programs or who
are pursuing certain types of degrees. Such preferences
are not necessarily "discrimination," even though it may have
been experienced as such by the applicant.
PERCEIVED DISCRIMINATION BASED ON SUB-GROUPS OF RESPONDENTS
(see below for interpretation note):
Perceived discrimination based on AGE:
Age <40: 43 of 2367 (2%)
Age >=40: 67 of 215 (31%)
(INTERPRETATION NOTE: 2% of respondents under age
40 and 31% of respondents ages 40 and over
reported perceiving discrimination based on age)
Perceived discrimination based on GENDER:
Male: 21 of 558 (4%)
Female: 51 of 2028 (3%)
Perceived discrimination based on RACE/ETHNICITY:
White (non-hispanic): 59 of 1866 (3%)
Non-white: 56 of 598 (9%)
Perceived discrimination based on SEXUAL ORIENTATION:
Heterosexual: 5 of 2394 (0%)
Non-Heterosexual: 14 of 181 (8%)
Perceived discrimination based on MARITAL STATUS:
Married or partnered: 29 of 1460 (2%)
Not married/partnered: 5 of 1129 (0%)
Perceived discrimination based on PARENTAL STATUS:
One or more dependent
children at home: 65 of 430 (15%)
No children at home: 5 of 2158 (0%)
Perceived discrimination based on TYPE OF DOCTORAL PROGRAM:
Clinical: 76 of 2087 (4%)
Counseling: 76 of 358 (21%)
School: 34 of 121 (28%)
Combined: 15 of 66 (23%)
Perceived discrimination based on TYPE OF DEGREE:
Ph.D. 13 of 1534 (1%)
Psy.D. 299 of 1105 (27%)
31. (Open-Ended Question)
32. Did you have any geographic restrictions on your internship
search that EITHER (a) reduced the number of sites to which
you applied, OR (b) kept you from applying to sites in which
you were interested?
Yes 1456 56 %
No 1122 44 %
33. IF YOU ANSWERED "YES" TO QUESTION 31: Which of the following
best describes the reason for your geographic restriction:
I could only apply in a particular 627 43 %
geographic area because of
significant family, financial,
and/or health considerations
I chose to restrict my search to 799 54 %
particular geographic area(s) due
to personal preference (e.g.,
preferred place to live, to be
near family or friends)
Other 49 3 %
34. IF YOU ANSWERED "YES" TO QUESTION 31: Which of the following
best describes your geographic restriction?
A single city or town, or within 482 33 %
a 100-mile radius of a city/town
State / Province 194 13 %
Region of the Country 619 42 %
Other 171 12 %
QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR AAPI
35. We would like to know the TOTAL NUMBER OF PRACTICUM HOURS that
you reported on your AAPI. This includes ALL of your practicum
hours, including doctoral hours and hours accrued in a terminal
masters program.
In Section 3, Item 4, "Summary of Practicum Hours," please look
in the right-most column, TOTAL COMPLETED HOURS, and enter the
hours listed for:
a. Intervention and Assessment: Median = 766 n = 2025
b. Support: Median = 699 n = 2014
c. Supervision: Median = 357 n = 2003
APPIC advises applicants to interpret these numbers cautiously.
Applicants should NOT assume that the numbers of practicum hours
listed above are necessary to successfully obtain an internship,
as many Training Directors have told us that they consider these
numbers to be one of the less important aspects of an application.
36. For each of the following populations, what was the total number
of supervised integrated psychological reports that you reported
on your AAPI? This information can be found in Section 4 of the
AAPI ("Test Administration"), item 3.
a. Adults Median = 8 n = 1803
b. Children / Adolescents Median = 8 n = 1551
NOTE: Respondents who designated completing zero reports or
left the item blank were excluded from the calculation (please
note that this is a change from last year's method of calculating
the results for this item). Only medians were reported, as means
and standard deviations were greatly affected by a few applicants
who reported an extremely large number of integrated reports.
37. Please designate when you completed (or intend to complete) your
doctoral comprehensive / qualifying / preliminary examinations:
Not applicable 59 3%
Prior to submitting internship applications 2061 91%
Prior to attending internship interviews 40 2%
Prior to the ranking deadline for the Match 19 1%
Prior to the beginning of internship 80 4%
During the internship year 6 0%
After the completion of internship 7 0%
38. Please designate when your proposal for your dissertation or
doctoral research project was or will be approved:
Not applicable 24 1%
Prior to submitting internship applications 1550 68%
Prior to attending internship interviews 157 7%
Prior to the ranking deadline for the Match 63 3%
Prior to the beginning of internship 441 19%
During the internship year 34 1%
After the completion of internship 6 0%
39. Please designate when the final defense for your dissertation
or doctoral research project occurred or will occur:
Not applicable 75 3%
Prior to submitting internship applications 82 4%
Prior to attending internship interviews 24 1%
Prior to the ranking deadline for the Match 6 0%
Prior to the beginning of internship 1030 45%
During the internship year 944 41%
After the completion of internship 119 5%
40. How many publications were listed on the Curriculum Vitae that
you submitted to internship sites? (Please estimate if you don't
know the exact number).
None 1031 46 %
1 343 15 %
2 248 11 %
3 193 9 %
4 144 6 %
5 to 9 248 11 %
10 to 14 45 2 %
15 to 19 6 0 %
20 or more 6 0 %
41. How many presentations were listed on the Curriculum Vitae that
you submitted to internship sites? (Please estimate if you don't
know the exact number).
None 550 24 %
1 197 9 %
2 232 10 %
3 184 8 %
4 159 7 %
5 to 9 519 23 %
10 to 14 232 10 %
15 to 19 108 5 %
20 or more 91 4 %