Book I: Getting The Internship You Want: How to write APPIC essays that get you noticed . . . without completely losing your sanity (Essay 1: Your Autobiographical Statement)

Getting the Internship You

Want:

How to write APPICessays that get younoticed . . . withoutcompletely losing yoursanity

Dr. John T. CarlsenYour Internship Coach

Book I: What Makes an Autobiographical Statement

Really Work?

Copyright © 2008, 2011John T. Carlsen, Psy.D.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

EXCEPT FOR USE IN A REVIEW, THE REPRODUCTION OR USE OF THIS WORKIN 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 SYSTEMIS FORBIDDEN WITHOUT THE WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE WRITER ANDPUBLISHER

PRODUCED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

FOR ORDERING INFORMATION, CONTACT:

John T. Carlsen, Psy.D.(773) 975-4297

[email protected]

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

Chapter 1:

What Makes an Autobiographical Statement Really Work?

The secret to writing an effective autobiographical statement is actually quitesimple: You need to say enough about yourself to spark your readers’ interest, butnot so much that they can make a selection decision about you simply based on afew pieces of paper. This means you need to make such a strong - andmemorable - impression that you stand out from your competition and make themwant 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 thepower 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 themsomething delicious to know about you - right away - while you still have theirattention. As a writer, you probably have your readers full attention for only thefirst few seconds - especially if they are plowing through something as daunting asa stack of internship applications. You thus cannot afford to squander this pricelessopportunity by filling your first few sentences with irrelevant junk. If you want tokeep your readers’ attention until your final sentence, you must give them somegenuine satisfaction and fulfillment - right from the start.

Unfortunately, most applicants take the safe and boring route. Havingprocrastinated until the last possible minute, they have to scramble to fill the pagewith something, anything, just to make sure they get their applications into the mailbefore the deadlines. They start, predictably, by telling a sterile, chronologicalstory of facts about themselves and their backgrounds: "I was born on ___ in thetown of ____. I went to _____ high school and __________ college, where Imajored in psychology." Then, while fighting of overwhelming pressure, theywonder why they become stuck, feel so flat about what they have said, and haveno idea where to go with their writing. Make no mistake about it: If you startfeeling bored while writing your essays, I can almost guarantee that your selectioncommittees will want to head for the nearest couch within minutes of starting toread them.

Ultimately, your opening sentences must perform their task especially well: Theyhave to capture your readers’ interest and cultivate it until they have reached yourfinal sentence. That is the central theme of this essay: I want you to find a way ofengaging your readers immediately and holding on to their attention until you wantto let it go.

CHAPTER I: WHAT MAKES AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY REALLY 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 probablystill 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 tosuggest using such a provocative word in the first place . . . especially in writingsomething so “serious” as internship applications. After all, who expects to readsomething "delicious" in an autobiographical essay about a training therapist? Isn’tthat a little too personal? Isn’t it a bit provocative and, maybe even,inappropriate?

Actually, your autobiographical essay is probably the best place to make such astrong first impression on your readers. Think about it: Psychologists, by nature,are curious about people. And, those on your selection committee are probablymost 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 yourapplication. They can always look back at what you say about your training goalsand your previous experience. But, in a profession where your self is your primaryworking tool, don’t you think they want to know what you would say about it fromyour own perspective? And, what better place is there to do that thank in yourautobiographical essay?

It’s Not What You’ve Done. . . . It’s Who You Have Become

Actually, I believe this first essay is one of the most important parts of your entireapplication 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 andwhy. 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 thechronology of your work history or prove what you can do already. Rather, theyprobably want to know how you became who you are now and what makes you anappealing 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 personbelieves about who he or she has become. Clinical psychology is a profession thatrelies heavily on using the Self as a therapeutic tool, so I want to see what that toolis made of internally and how I, as a supervisor, could work with this applicant todevelop it.

CHAPTER I: WHAT MAKES AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY REALLY WORK?


More importantly, your personal story is one place where you face no realcompetition from other applicants. That is, while others might share similareducational backgrounds or training circumstances, no one has had - or beenshaped by - exactly the same experiences as you have. So, this essay offers younumerous chances to highlight your distinctiveness with much less effort than youmight have to use in other parts of your application, where you might worry abouthaving as much practical experience as others have.

Oh, and my use of that word, “delicious”? Being provocative is exactly what Iintended. It caused you to finish this essay . . . and maybe even to consideroffering me an interview so you can learn more about me.. So, was I right?



Chapter 2:

Develop a Strategic Mind Set

Never underestimate the power of the primacy and recency effects, probablytwo of the first concepts you learned in Psychology 101: People tend to rememberthe 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 thebeginning - and the end - of your writing. As my 7 grade speech teacher alwaysth

said, “Tell them what you are going to say; say it; and then tell them what you’vesaid.” Use a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. This strategy gives you threechances to regain your readers’ attention (knowing how quickly you will lose it todistractions) and, as a result, three chances to make the points you want them toremember.

If I am right, I still have your attention...and have raised your curiosity about whatelse I might say. So, you are likely to keep reading, at least until I answerwhatever questions still linger in your mind about what I meant. Of course, what Iwas referring to is the personal details that make you a real person to yourreaders, 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 noteven care what I meant by “delicious;” in fact, you probably wanted to keepwondering, at least until you could meet me in person and see for yourself. Yet, asI said, the term intrigued you enough so that you have continued to pay attentionand tried to understand what I meant.

I certainly do not mean to play games with you or suggest that you do so withselection committees. I simply want to emphasize the point that you need to showyour real self in your essays, especially this one, and make a personal connectionwith your readers - not follow the academic writing practice of leaving yourself outof your writing as you would in articles or papers for your coursework. And, youmust do it as soon as possible, to establish a strong personal tone. This approachwill engage and keep their attention as well as provide you with the freedom youneed to talk about yourself honestly.

Some applicants worry a great deal about how personal they should get in theiressays. If you are one of these people, I encourage you to read the followingessay: “How Personal is Too Personal?”

“How Personal is ‘Too Personal’?”

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 theirwriting, especially papers and essays they write for classes, ever since high schoolor college. And, they are often held back by their advisors, who, themselves, havenot figured out a satisfactory answer to this question.

As a professional writer, I take a somewhat radical position on this issue (asillustrated above). That is, I believe that writers need to go out on a limb and revealsomething a bit vulnerable in order to arouse their readers’ interest. So, I challengeapplicants 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 muchinformation” and professionally-relevant personal information. My professional ruleof thumb is that internship applicants (and anyone else applying and interviewingfor a professional position) should bring up the subject of only those personalexperiences and individual characteristics that have become historical facts they cantalk about objectively rather than something they continue to struggle withsubjectively and emotionally For example, a gay, lesbian, or bisexual person whohas fully integrated his/her sexuality and adopted a public persona as an "out"member of the community can comfortably share this information in describing hisor her development.

On the other hand, someone involved in the throes of the coming out processwould have much more difficulty navigating these treacherous waters. Similarly, anapplicant who is coming to terms with her identity as a woman, managing his roleas a representative "straight white male" in a non-traditional profession, orexploring the meaning of his or her racial/ethnic identity on becoming a therapistneeds to clarify the contributions of these individual differences to his or heremerging identity. And he or she needs to do so without overemphasizing them atthe expense of his or her clinical background and training.

In some cases, this information will enhance the applicant’s chances of matchingwith certain sites. In other cases, it might actually reduce or eliminate them. Thesame is true for applicants who might choose to discuss other facets of theirpersonal or social backgrounds, spiritual/religious influences, or disability/ability



status as factors that influenced their professional development. Of course, itmakes sense to address some of these personal realities that will be obvious onceselection committees meet you in person, especially if they provide insight into howyou have developed more empathy for clients who share this personalcharacteristic. For example, if you use a wheelchair, you might lose a wonderfulopportunity to describe how you view the world that might educate and enlightenyour readers while also providing a glimpse into your worldview.

Ultimately, each writer must make this personal choice only after talking with avariety of people who know him or her well and are in positions where they canprovide meaningful guidance to the applicant about how to handle these issueswell. As you consider these choices, it is important to realize that you wouldprobably not be happy training at a place where you would constantly feeluncomfortable or unwelcome, regardless of the quality of their training orprofessional reputation.

Let me offer one word of caution about being more personal than you usually are inyour writing: Take your biggest risks while writing rough drafts. Then, ask avariety of people - professors, supervisors, professionals, family members - to giveyou feedback about what you have said in these drafts and help you filter outanything that crosses appropriate professional or personal boundaries. Do notsimply take this suggestion as a ultimate truth and risk your future by goingoverboard in making your essay too personal. Ultimately, this is a question ofjudgment that you cannot afford to make in isolation from people who know youwell.

Chart Your Own Path

At the same time, do not simply rely on the feedback of your supervisors oracademic advisors. Remember that they once applied for internship and might onlypass along their own fears and ambivalence about being too personal. So, areprobably no more comfortable taking risks than you are, and they might hold youback 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 theenvelope a little, especially with this autobiographical essay, to make yourself standout, and don’t be afraid to do something you believe is in your best interest even ifit goes against some of their advice. After all, this is your authentic presentationof who you are, so it needs most to fit your own priorities.

In summary, take time to establish this solid foundation for your internshipapplications. Give yourself permission to write a compelling, polished



autobiographical statement. Shift your focus from obsessing about what you do notknow or what skills you have not mastered to describing the fascinating personinside who wants to become a therapist. You will wind up creating a theme thatyou can use throughout the rest of your essays and your cover letters. Use yourautobiographical essay to introduce yourself and connect more personally andemotionally with your readers. You will be amazed at how much it will free you upto integrate everything else you say about yourself in the rest of your applicationessays and your cover letter.

Uncover Your Own “Deliciousness”

To illustrate this point further, the following principles will guide you as you searchfor similarly distinctive - and compelling - things to say about yourself:

1.Start with something thought-provoking, a sentence or two that capturesyour readers’ interest right away and holds it throughout your writing. Thebest way you can start working toward this goal is to think of something distinctiveto say about yourself as an applicant (e.g., why you are becoming a therapist, whatled you initially to consider a career in psychology, how you look at the world andyour 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 thatyou arouse your readers’ curiosity about you. For example, in my own applicationsfor internship, I started my personal statement with the delicious declaration: "Iwas my family’s therapist." Most mental health professionals, I believe, would wantto meet someone who admits something so provocative right up front. And, Ipurposely evoked the controversial associations with the ethical questions aboutdoing therapy with my own family members. As I told my story, however, Igradually provided illustrations of how my in-born gifts as a helper/healer interactedwith the influences of my family as they molded and shaped my professionalidentity. Yet, all the while, my readers got to enjoy the other provocative - andeven somewhat racy - connotations of my statement.

Similarly, as you continue writing this essay, you can unfold your story in ways thatsustain your readers’ interest and feed their curiosity. Give them something tothink about and mull over as they get acquainted with you, preferably an imagethat captures who you are as a training therapist that distinguishes you from otherapplicants. Gradually, you can show them why you chose to say what you said andwhy you believe they needed to know it in considering you as a possible match fortheir training program. And, if you choose this image carefully, you can come upwith something distinctive and intriguing enough to keep their attention throughout



the rest of your essays as well.

2. Say something even more specific about who you are now as a trainingprofessional and how you have become that person: What has shaped yourdevelopment the most? Why are you becoming a psychologist? How long have youknown that this is what you want/were meant to become? Did the world (yourfamily or community) indirectly call you to pursue the vocation of becoming atherapist? If so, how did that happen? What qualities did they see in you that ledthem to encourage you in pursuing this profession? Was there a way in which youfeel that you had no other choice but to become a psychologist? Did you choosepsychology or did it choose you? Did you consider or pursue any other careerinterests along the way? What experiences have engaged you in the continuingstruggle to sort out where - and whether - you belong in psychology? Any of thesequestions might help you zero in on something worth saying about yourself.

In my own essay, after claiming that “I was my family’s therapist,” I immediatelymoved to telling the story about how I believe I actually had no other choice but tobecome a therapist until I was old enough to start sorting out various careeroptions myself. By that time, however, the inborn therapist was well-establishedinside me. My family had started relying on me from a young age to carry andexpress their collective emotions so very early in my life that I fulfilled this roleunconsciously until I was old enough to set firmer boundaries. Along the way, Ideveloped my natural gifts for listening and providing empathy, but I had to workhard at separating my own identity from the expectations of others. (If you wouldlike to know more about how I accomplished this goal, please feel free to contactme with your questions.)

3. Remember clearly who your audience is and what they are interestedin reading.. As you write your rough drafts and final editing, keep in mind thatyou are writing for psychologists and other mental health professionals, notbusiness people or lawyers. Try to put yourself in their shoes as you edit yourdrafts. What are clinical psychologists primarily interested in? Individual differencesand how they lead a person to interact with him- or herself and the externalenvironment. Whether interpreting psychological test results or refining DSMdiagnoses, psychologists want to formulate an understanding of what accounts forthe these differences.

So, you want to make sure that you describe something that makes you distinctivehelps you to stand out from other psychology students. One effective way toaccomplish this goal is to prepare for your autobiography as though you were thesubject of a case study or intake assessment and organize your material using this



framework. This perspective enables you to become more objective about yourbackground and zero in more clearly on the focus of what you want to say aboutyourself. Sample intake questions to stimulate your thinking include: Why are youapplying for internship? Why now? What “precipitating factors” led to yourdecision to submit your applications at this time? Do you (the "client") have anyprevious history of interest in becoming a psychologist (comparable to history ofprevious treatment in an intake)? What family/developmental history factors mighthave led to this decision? For additional ideas, consult the intake forms you used atyour practicum or in class assignments for presenting a case study. Ultimately, asyou think through your answers, you will probably uncover much more interestingand relevant information to present and benefit from using a framework fororganizing your thoughts that is familiar to your readers.

4. Counteract the tendency to sell yourself short by focusing only onexternal factors that shaped your professional identity or trying to besomeone you are not. Avoid trying to prove how much better qualified you arethan your fellow applicants. Equally important, avoid becoming lost in the collectivebeliefs and anxieties of your fellow applicants by spending too much time in thestudent lounge talking about the application process. One of the most commonquestions I hear among applicants is: "What is (internship site name) looking for inits ideal applicants?" This is kind of anxiety-provoking question that bouncesaround student lounges and practicum offices at this time of year.

If you are like many of the applicants who keep asking one another thisunanswerable question, you will stay equally trapped in their mind set throughoutthe application and interviewing processes. That is, you will spend the majority ofyour essay writing time trying to shape yourself to fit yourself into these imaginedexpectations rather than describing who you actually are and what you want fromyour 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 theprofessional you are capable of becoming, not simply to “jump through anotherhoop” 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 somewhatuncomfortable with talking about yourself publicly. As a result, you might feelembarrassed about your trumpeting your strengths and gifts. Instead, you areprobably more comfortable simply disappearing into the background. My solution



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 startby describing your personal, historical experiences from your heart. Flesh them outusing 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 dealof time in this personal space anyway, so you might as well get comfortable withinviting 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 andbegin to tone down some of the emotions by externalizing and conceptualizingthem. In other words, you can move from the more subjective and personal to themore objective and descriptive. Remember that the experience of writing is verypersonal. So, your essays are an environment you can control by choosing whatyou want to include and what you want to leave out. Also, rather than having totrumpet your experience blatantly to stand out from your competition, you cansimply introduce what you want to say about yourself. It will stand alone as part ofyour overall application package.



Method #1: The Story of You as a Natural-Born Therapist

Phase 1: The Natural-Born Therapist Begins to Emerge into YourConsciousness

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?



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:



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), andyour emerging identity?

9. What happened as a result of the help you provided this person or thesepeople?



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

Phase 2: The Natural-Born Therapist Recognizes That Some PeopleHelp 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?



3. Who were your early psychologist role models (famous psychologists whosebooks you read or whom you saw on television, relatives, friends of yourfamily, etc.)

4. What captured your interest as you learned more about what psychologistsdo?

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

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About the book

Finally, for a generation of doctoral students who are dedicated to becoming highly-competent psychologists but facing unprecedented competition for internshippositions comes “Getting the Internship You Want,” Dr. John T. Carlsen’s provenapproach to distinguishing yourself from your fellow applicants. A completelypractical approach to marketing your qualifications that not only tells you what todo, but also shows you how to do it.

Getting the Internship You Want:

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

Dr. John T. CarlsenYour Internship Coach

Book I: What Makes an AutobiographicalStatement Really Work?

http://www.pdi-online.com/IRC_store.htm

http://www.pdi-online.com/IRC_store.html



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Book I: Getting The Internship You Want: How to write APPIC essays that get you noticed . . . without completely losing your sanity (Essay 1: Your Autobiographical Statement)