School, counseling psychology doctoral students receive internship matches
The Mary Frances Early College of Education’s school psychology and counseling psychology programs are celebrating another year of successful student internship placements.
This year, both the school psychology and counseling psychology programs reached a 100% match rate with doctoral students set to receive critical work experience in a range of areas and settings, including counseling centers, medical schools, federal prisons, hospitals and more.
All students in these programs are encouraged to apply to internships through the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Center (APPIC), which facilitates a two-phase internship matching program to place psychology doctoral students in highly competitive internships across the country.
“Due to the rigor of our academic and clinical training program, UGA school psychology doctoral students have successfully matched and obtained placements in prestigious internship sites despite the limited number of positions available nationally for students from school psychology programs,” said Chitra Pidaparti, clinical assistant professor in the department of educational psychology.
In total, 17 students—seven in school psychology and 10 in counseling psychology—received internships through APPIC’s program, with all students in the latter program receiving matches during the first phase. This year’s placements include:
- Nebraska Internship Consortium
- University of Tennessee Health Science Center
- Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital
- Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District
- Pittsburg Psychology Internship Consortium
- S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners
- Kaiser Permanente
- North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System
- Multicultural Psychology Internship Program
- Medical College of Wisconsin
- Columbia VA Health Care System
- University of Florida Health Science Center
Of these, 49% of all applicants obtained their first choice, 72% received one of their top two choices and 85% received one of their top three choices. A total of 225 students from doctoral school psychology programs accredited by the American Psychological Association applied and 87% of them matched with an APPIC internship program.
“Our program’s success in matching all of our students is a testament to our outstanding students who have persevered and worked hard during their doctoral studies at UGA,” said Rosemary Phelps, professor and director of clinical training in the department of counseling and human development services.
“These internship placements also indicate our high-quality counseling psychology doctoral program and faculty. The diversity of sites and populations with which students will be working also indicates the outstanding preparation they have received along with the breadth and depth of training they receive while in the program.”