Getting the Internship You Want:

How to write APPIC essays that get you noticed . . . without completely losing your sanity

Dr. John T. Carlsen

Your Internship Coach

Book I:

What Makes an Autobiographical Statement Really Work?

Copyright 2008, 2011 John T. Carlsen, Psy.D. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

EXCEPT FOR USE IN A REVIEW, THE REPRODUCTION OR USE OF THIS WORK IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY ELECTRONIC, MECHANICAL, OR OTHER MEANS, NOW KNOWN OR HEREAFTER INVENTED, INCLUDING PHOTOCOPYING, RECORDING, AND IN ANY INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM IS FORBIDDEN WITHOUT THE WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE WRITER AND PUBLISHER

PRODUCED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

FOR ORDERING INFORMATION, CONTACT: John T. Carlsen, Psy.D. (773) 975-4297 DrCarlsen@PDI-online.com www.PDI-online.com

Chapter 1: What Makes an Autobiographical Statement R eally Work? The secret to writing an effective autobiographical statement is actually quite simple: You need to say enough about yourself to spark your readers interest, but not so much that they can make a selection decision about you simply based on a few pieces of paper. This means you need to make such a strong - and memorable - impression that you stand out from your competition and make them want to learn more about you in person, ideally by offering you an interview. Without the benefit of first meeting you in person, they must rely exclusively on the power of your written words. So, these words have to perform their task especially well. The key to capturing your readers interest right away consists of giving them something delicious to know about you - right away - while you still have their attention. As a writer, you probably have your readers full attention for only the first few seconds - especially if they are plowing through something as daunting as a stack of internship applications. You thus cannot afford to squander this priceless opportunity by filling your first few sentences with irrelevant junk. If you want to keep your readers attention until your final sentence, you must give them some genuine satisfaction and fulfillment - right from the start. Unfortunately, most applicants take the safe and boring route. Having procrastinated until the last possible minute, they have to scramble to fill the page with something, anything, just to make sure they get their applications into the mail before the deadlines. They start, predictably, by telling a sterile, chronological story of facts about themselves and their backgrounds: "I was born on ___ in the town of ____. I went to _____ high school and __________ college, where I majored in psychology." Then, while fighting of overwhelming pressure, they wonder why they become stuck, feel so flat about what they have said, and have no idea where to go with their writing. Make no mistake about it: If you start feeling bored while writing your essays, I can almost guarantee that your selection committees will want to head for the nearest couch within minutes of starting to read them. Ultimately, your opening sentences must perform their task especially well: They have to capture your readers interest and cultivate it until they have reached your final sentence. That is the central theme of this essay: I want you to find a way of engaging your readers immediately and holding on to their attention until you want to let it go.

Copyright 2008-11 by Dr. John T. Carlsen. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is strictly prohibited.

CHAPTER I: WHAT MAKES AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY R EALLY WORK ? Take just a moment to pause and think: Notice your reaction to my use of "delicious" in that earlier paragraph. The word - and its associations - are probably still lingering in your mind. My using it could have caught you off guard a little bit. You might, even, have found yourself wondering where I got the audacity to suggest using such a provocative word in the first place . . . especially in writing something so serious as internship applications. After all, who expects to read something "delicious" in an autobiographical essay about a training therapist? Isnt that a little too personal? Isnt it a bit provocative and, maybe even, inappropriate? Actually, your autobiographical essay is probably the best place to make such a strong first impression on your readers. Think about it: Psychologists, by nature, are curious about people. And, those on your selection committee are probably most curious about what you believe is important enough to say about yourself. So, they are very likely to turn to this essay before reading any other parts of your application. They can always look back at what you say about your training goals and your previous experience. But, in a profession where your self is your primary working tool, dont you think they want to know what you would say about it from your own perspective? And, what better place is there to do that thank in your autobiographical essay?

Its Not What Youve Done. . . . Its Who You Have Become Actually, I believe this first essay is one of the most important parts of your entire application packet. As I said earlier, this is true primarily because of your audience they are psychologists who are interested in what makes human beings tick and why. So, they will, naturally, want to know the same things about you. Remember, they are not primarily historians or business executives who want you to trace the chronology of your work history or prove what you can do already. Rather, they probably want to know how you became who you are now and what makes you an appealing applicant and a good fit for their training programs. When I review applications, the autobiography is generally the first essay I read. As a clinical supervisor, I do not care where this person trained or went to school, at least, not initially. I want to see who I am reading about and what this person believes about who he or she has become. Clinical psychology is a profession that relies heavily on using the Self as a therapeutic tool, so I want to see what that tool is made of internally and how I, as a supervisor, could work with this applicant to develop it.

Copyright 2008-11 by Dr. John T. Carlsen. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is strictly prohibited.

CHAPTER I: WHAT MAKES AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY R EALLY WORK ? More importantly, your personal story is one place where you face no real competition from other applicants. That is, while others might share similar educational backgrounds or training circumstances, no one has had - or been shaped by - exactly the same experiences as you have. So, this essay offers you numerous chances to highlight your distinctiveness with much less effort than you might have to use in other parts of your application, where you might worry about having as much practical experience as others have. Oh, and my use of that word, delicious? Being provocative is exactly what I intended. It caused you to finish this essay . . . and maybe even to consider offering me an interview so you can learn more about me.. So, was I right?

Copyright 2008-11 by Dr. John T. Carlsen. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is strictly prohibited.

Copyright 2008-11 by Dr. John T. Carlsen. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is strictly prohibited.

Chapter 2:
Develop a Strategic Mind Set

Never underestimate the power of the prim acy and recency effects, probably two of the first concepts you learned in Psychology 101: People tend to remember the first and last ideas they come across, better than anything else they read. So, you will certainly want to put your strongest, most compelling ideas at the beginning - and the end - of your writing. As my 7th grade speech teacher always said, Tell them what you are going to say; say it; and then tell them what youve said. Use a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. This strategy gives you three chances to regain your readers attention (knowing how quickly you will lose it to distractions) and, as a result, three chances to make the points you want them to remember. If I am right, I still have your attention...and have raised your curiosity about what else I might say. So, you are likely to keep reading, at least until I answer whatever questions still linger in your mind about what I meant. Of course, what I was referring to is the personal details that make you a real person to your readers, that will remind them of why they became psychologists who get to taste and savor - the quirkiness of human beings every day in their work. You might not even care what I meant by delicious; in fact, you probably wanted to keep wondering, at least until you could meet me in person and see for yourself. Yet, as I said, the term intrigued you enough so that you have continued to pay attention and tried to understand what I meant. I certainly do not mean to play games with you or suggest that you do so with selection committees. I simply want to emphasize the point that you need to show your real self in your essays, especially this one, and make a personal connection with your readers - not follow the academic writing practice of leaving yourself out of your writing as you would in articles or papers for your coursework. And, you must do it as soon as possible, to establish a strong personal tone. This approach will engage and keep their attention as well as provide you with the freedom you need to talk about yourself honestly. Some applicants worry a great deal about how personal they should get in their essays. If you are one of these people, I encourage you to read the following essay: How Personal is Too Personal?

How Personal is Too Personal?

Copyright 2008-11 by Dr. John T. Carlsen. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is strictly prohibited.

CHAPTER II: DEVELOP A STRATEGIC MINDSET Many applicants ask me how "personal" they should be in their application essays. As I stated earlier, usually this question arises out of their discomfort with changing (and challenging) tradition: They have been taught to take themselves out of their writing, especially papers and essays they write for classes, ever since high school or college. And, they are often held back by their advisors, who, themselves, have not figured out a satisfactory answer to this question. As a professional writer, I take a somewhat radical position on this issue (as illustrated above). That is, I believe that writers need to go out on a limb and reveal something a bit vulnerable in order to arouse their readers interest. So, I challenge applicants to say something provocative about themselves right from the beginning. They can always tone it down as their writing unfolds.

Balance Too Much Information with Just The Right Information Of course, your first priority is maintaining a strong boundary between too much information and professionally-relevant personal information. My professional rule of thumb is that internship applicants (and anyone else applying and interviewing for a professional position) should bring up the subject of only those personal experiences and individual characteristics that have become historical facts they can talk about objectively rather than something they continue to struggle with subjectively and emotionally For example, a gay, lesbian, or bisexual person who has fully integrated his/her sexuality and adopted a public persona as an "out" member of the community can comfortably share this information in describing his or her development. On the other hand, someone involved in the throes of the coming out process would have much more difficulty navigating these treacherous waters. Similarly, an applicant who is coming to terms with her identity as a woman, managing his role as a representative "straight white male" in a non-traditional profession, or exploring the meaning of his or her racial/ethnic identity on becoming a therapist needs to clarify the contributions of these individual differences to his or her emerging identity. And he or she needs to do so without overemphasizing them at the expense of his or her clinical background and training. In some cases, this information will enhance the applicants chances of matching with certain sites. In other cases, it might actually reduce or eliminate them. The same is true for applicants who might choose to discuss other facets of their personal or social backgrounds, spiritual/religious influences, or disability/ability
Copyright 2008-11 by Dr. John T. Carlsen. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is strictly prohibited.

CHAPTER II: DEVELOP A STRATEGIC MINDSET status as factors that influenced their professional development. Of course, it makes sense to address some of these personal realities that will be obvious once selection committees meet you in person, especially if they provide insight into how you have developed more empathy for clients who share this personal characteristic. For example, if you use a wheelchair, you might lose a wonderful opportunity to describe how you view the world that might educate and enlighten your readers while also providing a glimpse into your worldview. Ultimately, each writer must make this personal choice only after talking with a variety of people who know him or her well and are in positions where they can provide meaningful guidance to the applicant about how to handle these issues well. As you consider these choices, it is important to realize that you would probably not be happy training at a place where you would constantly feel uncomfortable or unwelcome, regardless of the quality of their training or professional reputation. Let me offer one word of caution about being more personal than you usually are in your writing: Take your biggest risks while writing rough drafts. Then, ask a variety of people - professors, supervisors, professionals, family members - to give you feedback about what you have said in these drafts and help you filter out anything that crosses appropriate professional or personal boundaries. Do not simply take this suggestion as a ultimate truth and risk your future by going overboard in making your essay too personal. Ultimately, this is a question of judgment that you cannot afford to make in isolation from people who know you well. Chart Your Own Path At the same time, do not simply rely on the feedback of your supervisors or academic advisors. Remember that they once applied for internship and might only pass along their own fears and ambivalence about being too personal. So, are probably no more comfortable taking risks than you are, and they might hold you back unnecessarily from using this very effective personal marketing strategy. Listen well and take what they say with a grain of salt. Just be sure to push the envelope a little, especially with this autobiographical essay, to make yourself stand out, and dont be afraid to do something you believe is in your best interest even if it goes against some of their advice. After all, this is your authentic presentation of who you are, so it needs most to fit your own priorities. In summary, take time to establish this solid foundation for your internship applications. Give yourself permission to write a compelling, polished
Copyright 2008-11 by Dr. John T. Carlsen. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is strictly prohibited.

CHAPTER II: DEVELOP A STRATEGIC MINDSET autobiographical statement. Shift your focus from obsessing about what you do not know or what skills you have not mastered to describing the fascinating person inside who wants to become a therapist. You will wind up creating a theme that you can use throughout the rest of your essays and your cover letters. Use your autobiographical essay to introduce yourself and connect more personally and emotionally with your readers. You will be amazed at how much it will free you up to integrate everything else you say about yourself in the rest of your application essays and your cover letter.

Uncover Your Own Deliciousness To illustrate this point further, the following principles will guide you as you search for similarly distinctive - and compelling - things to say about yourself: 1.Start with something thought-provoking, a sentence or two that captures your readers interest right away and holds it throughout your writing. The best way you can start working toward this goal is to think of something distinctive to say about yourself as an applicant (e.g., why you are becoming a therapist, what led you initially to consider a career in psychology, how you look at the world and your place in it, what kinds of contributions you want to make to the profession, etc.) that sets you apart from other applicants. Say it up front in such a way that you arouse your readers curiosity about you. For example, in my own applications for internship, I started my personal statement with the delicious declaration: "I was my familys therapist." Most mental health professionals, I believe, would want to meet someone who admits something so provocative right up front. And, I purposely evoked the controversial associations with the ethical questions about doing therapy with my own family members. As I told my story, however, I gradually provided illustrations of how my in-born gifts as a helper/healer interacted with the influences of my family as they molded and shaped my professional identity. Yet, all the while, my readers got to enjoy the other provocative - and even somewhat racy - connotations of my statement. Similarly, as you continue writing this essay, you can unfold your story in ways that sustain your readers interest and feed their curiosity. Give them something to think about and mull over as they get acquainted with you, preferably an image that captures who you are as a training therapist that distinguishes you from other applicants. Gradually, you can show them why you chose to say what you said and why you believe they needed to know it in considering you as a possible match for their training program. And, if you choose this image carefully, you can come up with something distinctive and intriguing enough to keep their attention throughout
Copyright 2008-11 by Dr. John T. Carlsen. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is strictly prohibited.

CHAPTER II: DEVELOP A STRATEGIC MINDSET the rest of your essays as well. 2. Say something even more specific about who you are now as a training professional and how you have become that person: What has shaped your development the most? Why are you becoming a psychologist? How long have you known that this is what you want/were meant to become? Did the world (your family or community) indirectly call you to pursue the vocation of becoming a therapist? If so, how did that happen? What qualities did they see in you that led them to encourage you in pursuing this profession? Was there a way in which you feel that you had no other choice but to become a psychologist? Did you choose psychology or did it choose you? Did you consider or pursue any other career interests along the way? What experiences have engaged you in the continuing struggle to sort out where - and whether - you belong in psychology? Any of these questions might help you zero in on something worth saying about yourself. In my own essay, after claiming that I was my familys therapist, I immediately moved to telling the story about how I believe I actually had no other choice but to become a therapist until I was old enough to start sorting out various career options myself. By that time, however, the inborn therapist was well-established inside me. My family had started relying on me from a young age to carry and express their collective emotions so very early in my life that I fulfilled this role unconsciously until I was old enough to set firmer boundaries. Along the way, I developed my natural gifts for listening and providing empathy, but I had to work hard at separating my own identity from the expectations of others. (If you would like to know more about how I accomplished this goal, please feel free to contact me with your questions.) 3. Remember clearly who your audience is and what they are interested in reading.. As you write your rough drafts and final editing, keep in mind that you are writing for psychologists and other mental health professionals, not business people or lawyers. Try to put yourself in their shoes as you edit your drafts. What are clinical psychologists primarily interested in? Individual differences and how they lead a person to interact with him- or herself and the external environment. Whether interpreting psychological test results or refining DSM diagnoses, psychologists want to formulate an understanding of what accounts for the these differences. So, you want to make sure that you describe something that makes you distinctive helps you to stand out from other psychology students. One effective way to accomplish this goal is to prepare for your autobiography as though you were the subject of a case study or intake assessment and organize your material using this
Copyright 2008-11 by Dr. John T. Carlsen. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is strictly prohibited.

CHAPTER II: DEVELOP A STRATEGIC MINDSET framework. This perspective enables you to become more objective about your background and zero in more clearly on the focus of what you want to say about yourself. Sample intake questions to stimulate your thinking include: Why are you applying for internship? Why now? What precipitating factors led to your decision to submit your applications at this time? Do you (the "client") have any previous history of interest in becoming a psychologist (comparable to history of previous treatment in an intake)? What family/developmental history factors might have led to this decision? For additional ideas, consult the intake forms you used at your practicum or in class assignments for presenting a case study. Ultimately, as you think through your answers, you will probably uncover much more interesting and relevant information to present and benefit from using a framework for organizing your thoughts that is familiar to your readers. 4. Counteract the tendency to sell yourself short by focusing only on external factors that shaped your professional identity or trying to be someone you are not. Avoid trying to prove how much better qualified you are than your fellow applicants. Equally important, avoid becoming lost in the collective beliefs and anxieties of your fellow applicants by spending too much time in the student lounge talking about the application process. One of the most common questions I hear among applicants is: "What is (internship site name) looking for in its ideal applicants?" This is kind of anxiety-provoking question that bounces around student lounges and practicum offices at this time of year. If you are like many of the applicants who keep asking one another this unanswerable question, you will stay equally trapped in their mind set throughout the application and interviewing processes. That is, you will spend the majority of your essay writing time trying to shape yourself to fit yourself into these imagined expectations rather than describing who you actually are and what you want from your training. Your goal is not, however, simply to be the most popular and most desirable applicant. And, it is not, getting an internship, any internship. Rather, your goal is to match with the training you need to become the professional you are capable of becom ing, not simply to jump through another hoop on your way to graduation.

Invite them Into Your World to Learn More About You Also, if you are like most budding therapists, you are already somewhat uncomfortable with talking about yourself publicly. As a result, you might feel embarrassed about your trumpeting your strengths and gifts. Instead, you are probably more comfortable simply disappearing into the background. My solution
Copyright 2008-11 by Dr. John T. Carlsen. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is strictly prohibited.

CHAPTER II: DEVELOP A STRATEGIC MINDSET to this dilemma, then, is suggesting that you start by telling your personal story, knowing that you can always edit out too personal details later. You might start by describing your personal, historical experiences from your heart. Flesh them out using more of your emotional reactions (i.e., how you feel about what happened) than thoughts. This approach invites your readers in to learn more about you in your private, personal space. Remember that you internship supervisors will spend a great deal of time in this personal space anyway, so you might as well get comfortable with inviting them in at the outset. Then, as you revise and polish your rough drafts, you can frame the stories in terms of your personal developmental milestones and begin to tone down some of the emotions by externalizing and conceptualizing them. In other words, you can move from the more subjective and personal to the more objective and descriptive. Remember that the experience of writing is very personal. So, your essays are an environment you can control by choosing what you want to include and what you want to leave out. Also, rather than having to trumpet your experience blatantly to stand out from your competition, you can simply introduce what you want to say about yourself. It will stand alone as part of your overall application package.

Copyright 2008-11 by Dr. John T. Carlsen. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is strictly prohibited.

CHAPTER II: DEVELOP A STRATEGIC MINDSET Method #1: The Story of You as a Natural-Born Therapist

Phase 1:

The Natural-Born Therapist Begins to Emerge into Your Consciousness

1.

What are your earliest memories of acting as a helper, a great listener,or a natural-born therapist?

2.

How old were you when you started acting in these roles?

3.

What did you do as a helper/healer?

Copyright 2008-11 by Dr. John T. Carlsen. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is strictly prohibited.

CHAPTER II: DEVELOP A STRATEGIC MINDSET

4.

Who did you help?

5.

How did the person or people benefit from your help?

6.

What were the motivations that led you to help this person or these people? Internal motivations:

External motivations:

Copyright 2008-11 by Dr. John T. Carlsen. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is strictly prohibited.

CHAPTER II: DEVELOP A STRATEGIC MINDSET

7.

How did you feel about helping this person or these people?

8.

How did this experience begin shaping your view of yourself, your role(s), and your emerging identity?

9.

What happened as a result of the help you provided this person or these people?

Copyright 2008-11 by Dr. John T. Carlsen. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is strictly prohibited.

CHAPTER II: DEVELOP A STRATEGIC MINDSET

10. How soon and how often did this person or these people return to ask for more help from you?

Phase 2:

The Natural-Born Therapist Recognizes That Some People Help Others as a Profession

1.

When did you first start thinking about becoming a psychologist?

2.

What did you imagine you would do as a psychologist?

Copyright 2008-11 by Dr. John T. Carlsen. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is strictly prohibited.

CHAPTER II: DEVELOP A STRATEGIC MINDSET 3. Who were your early psychologist role models (famous psychologists whose books you read or whom you saw on television, relatives, friends of your family, etc.)

4.

What captured your interest as you learned more about what psychologists do?

5.

How did people (teachers, family members, friends) respond to these early interests? Did they encourage you to pursue them or provide you with early learning experiences to test out your interests?

Copyright 2008-11 by Dr. John T. Carlsen. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is strictly prohibited.

Getting the Internship You W ant:

How to write APPIC essays that get you noticed . . . without completely losing your sanity

Get the full book (or the entire set) at:

The Internship Resource Center Store

Dr. John T. Carlsen Your Internship Coach

Book I: What Makes an Autobiographical Statement Really Work?

About the book Finally, for a generation of doctoral students who are dedicated to becoming highlycompetent psychologists but facing unprecedented competition for internship positions comes Getting the Internship You Want, Dr. John T. Carlsens proven approach to distinguishing yourself from your fellow applicants. A completely practical approach to marketing your qualifications that not only tells you what to do, but also shows you how to do it.