An Internship Application Story

Thanks to all you kind ladies who wondered where I was! Things are *much* better now that the lights are back on! ;)

Before I tell you how the interviews went, I need to go back to early December to fill you in on the application process. At the end of November/beginning of December, my classmates were starting to hear from sites they had applied to. They were getting rejection letters, but also some invitations to interview. I had nothing. The days crept by- I started to get rejections, but no interviews. There came a point where I was one of only a few who still had no interviews. My school is very small and junior-high-ish in some ways, and people were talking about me. One such comment was "Tessa doesn't have any interviews? I thought she was smart." You get the picture: it was not a fun time.

I am a decent applicant, but I had a few things against me: I am from a Psy.D. program, not Ph.D.; I am doing my academic work in 3 years rather than 4-5 which gives me less client contact hours; and my concentration area (integrated healthcare) is new. This means that I will have no problem finding a job, but that there are few internship sites set up for IHC. All in all, a very frustrating process.

Since I was about 16, God has been dealing with me on the matter of patience. For the record, I *do* have more of it now than I did then. A tiny bit more. I began to realize that this was one of those "dealing with" times. While unhappy about my situation, I soon felt peace about it as I realized that God would provide something for me even if it meant going straight to the dreaded Clearinghouse process to get it (Clearinghouse is when unmatched interns-to-be and unmatched sites try to find each other. It is unpleasant at best.).

On December 11th, I read an email that said that a local site (a hospital) had just been accepted for the 2007-2008 year. The next day I called around like a mad woman trying to locate the director of training. I finally got ahold of him, and he told me to email him my application materials. For most sites, you were to find out by December 15th if you would get an interview. This site would let me know on the 20th one way or another.

On December 15th, I still did not have any interviews. I was saddened by this, but once again felt God's peace. My friend H. and I went on our mini trip and got home on Saturday night. I checked my email on Sunday and found that a site in Iowa had offered me an interview!! I could not believe it!! Then, on the 20th, I was also offered the local interview!!

I was amazed at God's provision. Moreover, I was amazed at how things worked out even though they seemed to be very last minute. This patience stuff really works. ;)