The internship will take place no earlier than the fourth year of the student's graduate clinical training. For students to apply to and accept an APA-approved internship, it is required that they will have (a) finished all required courses, (b) finished all required practica, (c) completed the qualifying research project, (d) passed the specialty exam, and (e) have an approved doctoral dissertation in the final stages of completion. Although the St. Louis area has excellent resources for quality practicum training, the availability of sufficient APA-approved internships for our students is limited. Also, there is stiff competition for these positions with three other APA-approved doctoral programs in the immediate area, as well as limited areas of specialty training offered by these facilities. These considerations generally mandate that students leave St. Louis to obtain this final aspect of their training. The internship must be completed successfully before the granting of the Ph.D. degree even though the defense of the dissertation may already have occurred.
Over the past five years, in spite of increasing competition for securing internship placements, our students have been very competitive in securing their first choice of locations on their first attempt. Following is a partial list of where students have been recently accepted.