FOR APPLICANTS (AND DIRECTORS OF CLINICAL TRAINING)

Practicum hours accrual end date changed to October 1

As previously announced in 2022, the AAPI practicum hours accrual end date has been moved one month earlier to October 1, eliminating the need to estimate practicum hours through November 1. For the upcoming application cycle, this means that applicants will be asked to calculate practicum hours accrued through October 1, 2023.  Practicum hours accrued after October 1 will be included in the “Anticipated Practicum Hours” section.  Please click here for a detailed rationale for this date change.

 

NMS Match Number now required for application submission

Applicants will be required to enter their NMS Match Code Number into their AAPI in order to submit an internship application using the portal.  This means that all applicants must register for the APPIC Match, and obtain their five-digit NMS Match Code Number, prior to submitting their applications. In prior cycles, applicants could add their Match Code Number after submitting an application. 

 

Universal Number of Standardized Reference Forms (SRF)

Tracking how many SRFs (e.g., 2, 3, 3-4, etc.) to submit for each site has been burdensome for applicants. After conducting an analysis of the SRF requirements listed in APPIC member internship brochures, it was determined that the vast majority of sites require a minimum of three SRFs. Thus, effective this application cycle, three SRFs for each site will become the universal standard. Applicants are still able to input a different combination of three references for each site if they wish. Although applicants know they will need to submit three SRFs for each site, it is still recommended that they review the application requirements in each internship brochure to make sure there are not any site-specific requirements about the evaluators (e.g., two SRFs from clinical supervisors and one from their dissertation chair).  

 

Application due date

To reduce the burden on applicants, reference writers, and DCTs, all internship programs are now required to schedule their application deadlines on November 1 or later.  

 

Updated List of Assessment Instruments

Hundreds of assessment instruments were added to the child and adult assessment drop-down lists which will reduce the number of “other” instruments students will have to type into their AAPI.  Also, each assessment instrument is listed by its Acronym (e.g., WAIS-V) first and is searchable.

 

Non-Practicum clinical experience clarification

The word “work” from the Non-Practicum Clinical Work Experience” item was removed for clarity. This item is intended to capture all of an applicant’s non-practicum clinical experience including both VOLUNTEER and paid work positions.

 

FOR INTERNSHIP TRAINING DIRECTORS

Improved PDF format and length

The information in the PDF has been reorganized into a more readable format which has reduced the length by more than 50%.  For example, many of the sections, such as intervention and assessment hours, were converted into tables.

 

Practicum hours accrual end date change from 11/1 to 10/1

As described above in the For Applicants section, the AAPI practicum hours accrual end date has been moved up by one month to October 1 from November 1 in the current application year.  We respectfully ask that Internship Training Directors who set intervention and/or assessment hours minimums to consider adjusting them to reflect four less weeks of hours accrual (~25-40hrs) and update their APPIC Directory accordingly. Please click here for a detailed rationale for this date change.

 

Universal Number of Standardized Reference Forms (SRF)

As described above in the For Applicants section, effective this application cycle, three SRFs for each site will become the universal standard and the AAPI portal will not allow applicants to input less or more than three references. Training Directors are still able to list any specific requirements about the three SRFs for their site (e.g., two SRFs from clinical supervisors and one from their dissertation chair, three clinical supervisors, etc.).

 

Application due date

To reduce the burden on applicants, reference writers, and DCTs, all internship programs are now required to schedule their application deadlines on November 1 or later.  

 

Improved internship track label

In order to more easily find the internship track variable in the Outcomes (previously Admissions) dashboard, the data label was changed from "Internship Program Selection" to “Internship Track”.

 

Updated List of assessment instruments

Hundreds of assessment instruments were added to the child and adult instrument sections of the AAPIs which means that students will not type in as many “other” instruments.  Also, each assessment instrument is listed by the Acronym (e.g., WAIS-V) first.  This should make it easier to read the assessment sections of students’ AAPIs as there will be more consistency in how assessment tools are reported.

 

Admissions now called Outcomes portal

Although the portal Training Directors use to receive and review applications has a new name (Outcomes), the platform has not changed. Liaison International changed the name of their CRM platform to “Outcomes” as “Admissions” did not adequately capture its purpose for different user groups, including APPIC.

 

FOR DIRECTORS OF CLINICAL TRAINING

Floating student name on DCT Verification and DCT Submission pages

To help ensure that DCTs are entering the correct information for each student, there will be a floating header on the DCT Verification and DCT Submission screens making the student’s name visible no matter how far down they scroll on the page.

 

Revised Academic Standing DCT Verification item

To address the questions received about what constitutes a "complaint", this item was revised to clarify that "complaint" refers to formally filed complaints rather than informal complaints.

“Are any formal complaints currently pending against this student, or were any filed in the past and found to be legitimate?”

 

DCT Dashboard usability

In prior cycles, DCTs only had the capability to sort their students by first name which was a hassle. DCTs will now have the capability to sort the students listed in their dashboard by either first name or last name.

 

FOR RECOMMENDERS

Standardized Reference Form (SRF) Growth Areas clarification

Training directors reported greatly valuing the strengths and growth areas sections within the revised SRF last cycle. Some clarifying instructional text has been added for SRF writers within the growth area item to better specify the type of information that is most helpful to training directors: 

“As growth areas are expected for all trainees, "N/A" is not an acceptable response. Also, Training Directors would most appreciate learning about trainees' specific competency growth areas (E.g., Jamie is working on balancing their tendency to focus more on validation than change) rather than on experience deficits (e.g., Jamie could benefit from more experience in substance use treatment) which are already evident in other parts of the application."

 

Standardized Reference Form (SRF) reminders to save progress

To help prevent recommenders from losing data if they get timed out without saving, a reminder to save their work has been added to the SRF mid-way.

Please direct any questions about these AAPI enhancements to Dr. Kimberly Hill at aapicoordinator@appic.org.