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The following policies will guide the 2010 APPIC Match and Clearinghouse.
Adherence to these policies is a condition of membership in APPIC and of participation in the APPIC Match and/or Clearinghouse.

1. These policies apply to all participants in the APPIC Match, including APPIC member internship programs, non-APPIC member internship programs, and student applicants.
   
   
   1. All participants shall abide by their agreements with APPIC for participation in the APPIC Match.
      
      
   2. Internship training directors must ensure that all people involved in recruiting or selecting interns understand and adhere to these policies.
      
      
   3. Directors of APPIC Subscriber programs and doctoral programs with students participating in the APPIC Match are requested to ensure that their students understand and adhere to these policies.
      
      
   4. Violations of APPIC Match Policies or Match Agreements by applicants or programs may result in sanctions by APPIC (e.g., being barred from future Matches) or legal action by other Match participants. In addition, violations by applicants may result in disciplinary action by the applicants' graduate and/or internship programs.
      
      
2. Internship programs must offer all of their internship positions through the APPIC Match.
   
   
3. Participants in the APPIC Match, including applicants and internship programs, may not communicate, solicit, accept, or use any ranking-related information prior to the release of the Match results.
   
   
   1. Internship programs must include the following statement on their web sites and in their brochures: "This internship site agrees to abide by the APPIC policy that no person at this training facility will solicit, accept, or use any ranking-related information from any intern applicant."
      
      
   2. Prior to the release of the APPIC Match results, internship programs may choose to inform applicants as to whether or not the applicants remain under consideration for admission (e.g., whether or not the applicants will be ranked) but may not communicate any other ranking information. The spirit of this item precludes any communication of rankings prior to the release of the APPIC Match results, however "veiled" or indirect such communication might be. However, sites and applicants are allowed to communicate about matters that do not involve the sharing of ranking information.
      
      
   3. Internship programs and applicants may never solicit information regarding applicants' and programs' rankings, even after the release of the Match results.
      
      
   4. Internship sites that offer more than one program in the APPIC Match (i.e., sites with more than one program code number) are expected to ask applicants to identify the site's programs to which they are applying. In addition, these sites may, for the sole purpose of arranging interviews, ask applicants to designate their preferences regarding the programs at the site for which they wish to be interviewed. These sites may request interview preference information only when it is essential for making interview arrangements, and such information may not be used for any other purpose in the selection process. Furthermore, these sites may not solicit any information about applicants' final rankings of programs. Sites requesting interview preferences must state clearly in their written materials that these preferences will be used for arranging interviews only and for no other purpose.
      
      
   5. Any ranking information that is communicated between applicants and internship programs, even though such communication is a violation of these policies, is non-binding and may be changed at any time prior to the Rank Order List submission deadline. The only binding rankings are the confidential Rank Order Lists that are submitted to the APPIC Match.
      
      
   6. Internship programs may choose to provide applicants with information about the size of the applicant pool.
      
      
   7. Internship programs that conduct on-site or telephone interviews must make a reasonable effort to notify every applicant who submits a complete set of application materials as to his/her interview status. Such notification must occur no later than the interview notification date that appears in the program's APPIC Directory Online listing and/or other publicity materials, and may be communicated via e-mail, telephone, regular mail (to be received no later than the interview notification date), or other means. Sites that conduct open houses to which all applicants are invited and conduct no other interviews are exempt from this requirement (this process should be clearly stated in the APPIC Directory Online and/or sites' publicity materials).
      
      
4. Results of the APPIC Match constitute binding agreements between applicants, internship programs, and APPIC that may not be reversed without APPIC's consent.
   
   
   1. Appointments of applicants to internship positions may be contingent upon the applicants satisfying certain eligibility requirements. Such eligibility requirements must be clearly specified in the internship programs' written materials and provided to applicants in advance of the APPIC Match.
      
      
   2. Internship training directors are encouraged to contact matched applicants by telephone as soon as possible after 11:00 am Eastern Standard Time on APPIC Match Day.
      
      
   3. It is not necessary for internship training directors to contact applicants with whom they have not been matched.
      
      
5. Internship training directors must put in writing their appointment agreements with matched applicants in letters postmarked no later than 72 hours following receipt of the APPIC Match results.
   
   
   1. Letters must be addressed to the applicants and must include confirmation of conditions of the appointment, such as stipend, fringe benefits, and the dates on which the internship begins and ends.
      
      
   2. Copies of these appointment letters must be sent simultaneously to applicants' academic training directors.
      
      
6. Internship programs that receive their APPIC Match results and have one or more positions left unfilled may then make other direct offers of admission (verbal or written) to applicants who remain unmatched or to applicants who did not participate in the Match. Applicants who receive their APPIC Match results and who remain unmatched may then receive other direct offers of admission.
   
   
   1. Failure to receive timely notification of the APPIC Match results, for any reason, does not constitute a release from the Match.
      
      
   2. Internship programs may not take any actions to fill open positions prior to 11:00 am Eastern Standard Time on APPIC Match Day. Applicants who remain unmatched, along with other individuals acting on their behalf (e.g., doctoral program faculty), may not contact internship programs about unfilled positions prior to 11:00 am Eastern Standard Time on APPIC Match Day.
      
      
   3. Prior to making offers to fill open positions, internship training directors must verify with applicants, to the best of their abilities, that the applicants have not previously been matched to other internship programs nor accepted other offers.
      
      
   4. Prior to making offers to fill open positions, internship training directors must ensure that doctoral programs have verified their applicants' eligibility and readiness for internship. Such verification can occur via a review of the appropriate application materials and/or via direct communication with the doctoral programs.
      
      
   5. Applicants may not accept an offer if they have been matched or have already accepted an offer from another internship program.
      
      
   6. An offer (verbal or written) that has been tendered by an internship program and accepted by an applicant constitutes a binding agreement between the program, the applicant, and APPIC that may not be reversed without APPIC's consent.
      
      
   7. The internship training director must put in writing the appointment agreement with the applicant in a letter postmarked no later than 72 hours following acceptance of the offer by the applicant, as described in paragraphs 5a and 5b above.
      
      
7. Individuals who perceive violations of these policies are urged to request compliance with APPIC policies from the appropriate party (parties).
   
   
   1. Unresolved compliance problems should be resolved informally, whenever possible, through consultation among applicants, internship training directors, academic training directors, and/or APPIC, or by other informal means. APPIC sponsors an "Informal Problem Consultation" process (described on the APPIC web site) that is recommended for use in addressing these issues.
      
      
   2. Internship training directors who become aware of violations of these policies by other internship training directors should (a) urge the affected applicants and academic training directors to follow the informal resolution procedures described above, (b) directly contact the other internship training directors, and/or (c) use the APPIC "Informal Problem Consultation" process.
      
      
   3. Perceived violations of APPIC Policies and/or the Match Agreement that are not resolved through the APPIC "Informal Problem Consultation" process may be reported as a formal complaint to the APPIC Standards and Review Committee (ASARC).
      
      
8. If a formal complaint is filed with APPIC regarding an alleged violation of these policies, the APPIC Standards and Review Committee (ASARC) will evaluate the allegations and recommend an appropriate course of action to the APPIC Board of Directors. The APPIC Board of Directors is the body that ultimately determines the course of action. ASARC policies are described on the APPIC web site. Formal complaints regarding violations of APPIC policies should be filed by submitting an ASARC Complaint Form (available from the APPIC web site) to:
   
   Chair, APPIC Standards and Review Committee
   10 G Street, N.E.
   Suite 440
   Washington, DC 20002
   (202) 589-0600
   
   

Copyright © 2009 Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC).

NOTE: APPIC members, and non-APPIC members who participate in the Match, may reprint the APPIC Match Policies in their program materials and brochures by stating "Reprinted with permission."