12/17 Interview at Hospitals & Clinics of Minnesota

Internship Site: Hospitals & Clinics of Minnesota

Major Rotations: Pediatric Psychology/Neuropsychology

Special Stuff: Work in Hemotology/Oncology; Ability to choose amount of time spent in therapy, assessment & consultation; Awesome compentency grid that tells us exactly what specific skills we need to develop; 3-4 hours a week working in a community placement.

Downsides: Focus on billable hours; Might work on own as only intern; May be decreasing amount of time in community placements.

I arrived in Minneapolis the day before the interview and met up with a former student from my program at University of Toledo who was letting me stay at his place. While waiting for him to get out of work I stopped at the Mall of America for an hour and a half. That place is HUMONGOUS, and was totally overwhelming, especially two weeks before Christmas. I couldn't get any meaningful pics from the interview so my pictures this time are from the mall!

For dinner we met up with another former student from the program. It was so nice to see people from UT - we really are so supportive and helpful to each other, it feels like seeing family in some ways.

My interview was from 8:30 until 1:00 pm. I was dropped off early by my friend from the University of Toledo who is living in Minneapolis. The other three candidates showed up very early as well so all four of us sat in the lobby and conversed. It's really fun meeting people on internship interviews because for the most part they are really nice and supportive. There's a small sense of competitiveness of course but we're all going through the same hell so we focus more on helping each other!

Anyway, we first met with the internship director who gave us a quick overview of the program and then we met individually with four different faculty members for a half hour each. The faculty at Children's are exceptionally nice and welcoming. This was an even more conversational interview than the one at Michigan. I really felt on my game also. Children's Minnesota has two locations: one in downtown Minneapolis and one in St. Paul. There will be 3 interns; one in St. Paul and one in Minneapolis. I interviewed at St. Paul and was a little disappointed that I didn't get the chance to see the Minneapolis campus. I also don't really want to be the only intern at a site.

One of the girls at the interview was leaving right after the interview to go to the airport, as I was. We shared a cab to the airport and she told me that she was going to be interviewing at the Children's Hospital in DC. I said she could stay with me if she wanted, and then we're both going to interview in Philadelphia two days after so we'll probably drive there together. It's so nice to have someone to go with to interviews. Last year I made my parents go to several of them. Just finding your way around is exhausting in itself although I'm used to not knowing where I'm going by now! lol

Now I get a break for a few weeks before heading out to Miami!