This week was the "great & terrible" week of Match and Clearinghouse for the internship applicants. Within my role in Student Council I have been able to experience this both last year and this year. What I take from these experiences is that it is stressful, no matter how you slice it, simply stressful.
The basic idea here is that APPIC serves as the mediator between interns and internship sites. It is through APPIC that interns obtain application requirements and related information regarding the many sites available. When the time comes you apply by sending massive envelopes of internship application materials to each site you desire to apply to. Then if you are fortunate you are extended interviews to some of the sites. After interviews you rank the sites that extended interviews as they too rank those who interviewed. APPIC tabulates the rankings and then: POOF the Match has occurred. However, for one reason or another some interns will still be without a placement and some sites without an intern. This could be because the interns were not extended an interview or simply did not get ranked high by the sites they ranked high. Regardless, those without a placement then participate in Clearinghouse.
This is when all the sites without interns and all the interns without a site are directed by APPIC to begin emailing and calling each other to fill in the holes. A very stressful time, many choices must be made very quickly, not fun. Sometimes you land a good site, sometimes a bad one, and sometimes none at all.
Each year the Student Council assist the internship applicants during clearinghouse. This opportunity to assist and gain first-hand experience is of greater value than any other preparation for this process. I again have gained great insight as to how I plan to approach this capstone event of my time at Forest.
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