1/22 University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center

Internship Site: University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (Oklahoma City, OK)

Major Rotations: Child & Pediatric Psychology
Special Stuff: Individualized Education Program, Extensive primary care work, Child Abuse & Neglect work, Oncology, brand new buildings/facilities. 
Downsides: Huge department, Interns don't have a lot of contact, Neuropsych opportunities are available but not a major focus. 

It was fun to go to my interview at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC) because, as most of you know, my brother attends the OU main campus and I was able to stay with him. My poor brother had to wait four hours for my plane to arrive as it was diverted to Wichita, Kansas when there was a hailstorm over OK City. It was probably one of the scariest flights I've had! 

I spent Thursday mostly with my brother and even attended one of the classes he is taking, a developmental psychology class which I have actually taught before. It was interesting to sit in on the class though and see how someone else teaches it. 

My interview was on Friday and consisted of eight (technically nine), but EIGHT 45 minutes individual interviews. It was definitely a gauntlet! This interview was different as there was only myself and one other candidate interviewing that day and we never had contact with each other. It made me feel sort of special in a way! The program at OUHSC is pretty much designed for interns to create their own schedule using any combination of rotations and programs. This schedule can change as the year goes on as well. In general, the year is split up into three semesters (4 months each) in which an intern has one major rotation (25 hours a week) and one minor rotation (15 hours a week). This is totally awesome except when you start looking at all of the opportunities it becomes very daunting. 

For example, pediatric psychology is a major rotation, but within pediatric psychology there are tons and tons of programs and you can make up any combination of those programs to create the ped psych major rotation. It's a little difficult to describe actually but it's an overwhelming task. Some of the activities that interested me included a consultation-liaison program that provides consultation to physicians in the hospital when they have patients with psych needs, a hematology/oncology program, the primary care clinics, and the Fostering Hope Clinic (primary care for children in foster care). In addition, OUHSC has a cool program called the Interdisciplinary Training Program on Child Abuse and Neglect which is a training course for students in different disciplines to be leaders in the field of child maltreatment. This course would be great for my advocacy/public policy interests. 

The buildings on the campus were beautiful and looked brand new. It was pretty impressive. One interesting thing happened after my first interview which was in the VA building on campus. The faculty member was supposed to help me find my next interview spot but no one in the VA building was familiar with the child building, which is where I was going next. It took a good 25 minutes to figure out where I was supposed to be. This is one problem I see with the program is that it is HUGE. There are 42 faculty members!  I can see it being easy to get lost within such a large department. My final interview was with the director of training and I asked him if I got a prize for making it to the end of the day. He said yes and gave me candy :)

The pictures for this entry were taken with my cell phone so they are not as close up as I would like. Anyway, it gives you an idea.