“THIS HAS BEEN THE WORST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE.” THE INTERNSHIP CRISIS AND ITS IMPACT ON STUDENTS Tyler C. Bradstreet, M.S., Mike C. Parent, Ph.D. – Texas Tech University Makenzie Wood, B.A., Eddy Ameen, Ph.D. – American Psychological Association, Jennifer L. Callahan, Ph.D. – University of North Texas Introduction Despite importance in training of psychologists, the internship process has been marked by a significant imbalance between number of applicants and available internship positions Although numerous authors have focused on legal or professional issues surrounding the internship crisis, there has been little attention on the impact of the internship crisis on doctoral students. The Crisis In the most recent match year (2014), there were 4335 applicants to internship who applied to a total of 3501 positions; enough for 81% of applicants. Only 2588 were accredited by the APA or CPA; enough APA/CPA internship spots for only 60% of applicants. The crisis has been described as the “single most important professional issue facing the field.” The Present Study Scholarship on the internship crisis not addressed the personal impact on students involved in the internship application process. The aim of the present study was to explore the concerns of internship applicants with the aim of using their voices to further scholarship and advocacy within and outside of professional associations, and to point toward problems and solutions as identified by the very persons currently in the midst of, and impacted by, the internship crisis. Method Participants were 1076 applicants for internship in 2011 who completed the qualitative item on the post-match survey administered by APPIC. The item was: "How has the current imbalance between applicants and positions affected you, personally and/or professionally? If you had the ear of the education and training community, what would you like to tell them about this issue? How has your life and the lives of others been affected? You may wish to share your own personal experiences, the impact on yourself, other students, and/or your academic program, suggestions for how to improve the situation, or other thoughts, feelings, and/or concerns." Results Through Grounded Theory, researchers sorted 64 open codes into 6 axial codes, grouped these into 3 clusters, found 2 emerging themes, and shaped these into theory to explain our data. Across participants, the crisis isn’t only seen as impacting one isolated area of their lives. Ultimately, the crisis looms over every aspect of professional training, from the very core of an applicant’s professional identity to the profession itself. Discussion Results reveal a negative reaction to the internship imbalance and the process of applying for internship in general. We present 4 themes: problems, solutions, issues of discrimination and bias, and the glimmering hope of resilience. Resiliency and Growth Some participants did report experiences of resiliency and growth. Some participants reported awareness of the crisis promoted strategic thinking about training (e.g., propose/complete dissertations prior to internship). Similarly, participants reported personal and professional growth as a result of the stress of internship applications. Participants reported support from family and faculty were assets during the stress of internship applications. Given the sense of sympathy among applicants, groups dedicated to mutual support could help applicants during this time. Faculty who are further temporally removed from their own training may do well to inform themselves about the present state of internship, to avoid perseverating from their own experiences with internship, which may not represent current experiences. Future Directions First, longitudinal work could explore different manifestations of stress and its impact on student learning and performance, as well as identify ways to help students cope with stress specific to the internship crisis. Second, students named many potential ways in which to reduce burden on applicants; this area might be further empirically explored to develop ways to minimize student stress and burden during applications. Third, resiliencies and opportunities for growth might be explored among applicants who did not match, to better help applicants maximize time between application cycles. Problems Applicants perceived crisis to be due to too few internships or too many applicants. Responsibility was placed on APA and other entities involved in training. Although APA has made efforts to combat the imbalance, respondents were unaware of these efforts or see them as inadequate. More named what too many applicants as the issue. This is not discussed as often as creation of more internship sites. Solutions Applicants reported need to better inform students about crisis as early as applying to doctoral programs. One method of addressing this is to require programs to post a statement about match rate within their disclosure data. Students expressed desire for applications to have reciprocal interaction; to obtain feedback from sites where they didn’t match. Participants overwhelmingly saw solution to crisis as reduction in number of applicants and increase in internships. By 2017, only students enrolled in accredited programs will be allowed to enter match. However, as only 212 of 2886 applicants (7%) to 2012 APPIC survey were from unaccredited programs, and 47% didn’t match, this step won’t resolve imbalance. Discrimination and Bias Applicants perceived discrimination/bias in application process. Two specific codes were identified; low SES, and non-accredited program. Low SES discrimination intersects with reports of financial strain for online application and interviews. Applicants suggested reductions in application fee, or movement to video-interviews. The most frequent code was discrimination- other, representing myriad factors, such as program type, physical ability status, and non-minority identities.