Uniform Timeline and Match Guidelines

Important Dates

Portal Opens, Sites Can UpdateMonday, October 31st, 2022 – Monday, November 14th, 2022
Application WindowMonday, January 9th, 2023 – Friday, January 2oth, 2023
Sites Can Contact StudentsMonday, January 23rd, 2023
Phase I Interview PeriodMonday, January 30th, 2023 – Friday, February 24th, 2023
Phase I Match DayMonday, March 6th, 2023
Phase II Wednesday, March 8th, 2023 – Thursday, March 23rd, 2023
Phase II Match DayFriday, March 24th, 2023
Phase III OpensMonday, March 27th, 2023

Pre-application Guidelines

For DCTs

  • Discuss and advise students regarding training needs and plans prior to preparing and submitting applications
  • Introduce PENDELDOT portal and guidelines to students: http://pendeldot.apa.org
  • Inform students about the deadlines and reinforce rules in this agreement
  • Let students know that they must sign the Match Agreement Letter and abide by PENDELDOT guidelines
  • Make sure students have ranked their sites in order of preference before Match Day so they are prepared to make decisions regarding offers made

For Students

  • Register for the online portal http://pendeldot.apa.org
  • Research sites of interest and prepare your application materials (Cover letter & CV are required for all sites. Some sites also request supplementary materials like letters of recommendation, a case study and/or an assessment report)
  • Sign the practicum Match Agreement Letter indicating you will not to accept any offers (i.e. from participating and non-participating practicum sites) prior to Match Day
  • Prepare one PDF document for each site. This PDF should contain all of the application materials for that site. Some sites will want you to include your letters of recommendation in this document. Other sites may request that your letters be mailed or emailed directly to them. If sites want these letters mailed or emailed they must indicate where these should be sent in their profile description.

For Practicum Sites

  • Post up-to-dated information about your externship on the PENDELDOT APA Directory at http://pendeldot.apa.org on or before November 14th
  • Please include any COVID-19 related updates in your site’s description if applicable.
  • Interviews are expected to be conducted virtually. If you require an in-person interview this must be specified in your site description.

Application Guidelines

  • Anyone creating an account for the first time should use their official school E-mail address when registering. Because communications via the portal can sometimes be filtered as spam, we strongly encourage all communications, including those on Match Day, to be sent to and from the students official school E-mail address rather than through the portal.
  • Applications may be submitted between January 9th and January 20th at 5pm
  • Applicants should not to wait until the last minute to submit applications; externship sites should not penalize applicants for submitting their materials close to the deadline.
  • Application materials are to be uploaded to the portal as ONE PDF document per site.
    • Sites commonly request that applications include the following:
      • Cover letter
        • CV
        • Some sites may request a work sample (case study and/or assessment)
        • If the site wants letters of recommendations mailed or emailed (rather than being viewed and submitted by the student as part of their PDF) sites must indicate where these letters should be submitted (email or mail contact)

Interviewing Guidelines

  • Practicum sites may start contacting students to schedule interviews on Monday, January 23rd, 2023.
  • All interviews should be concluded by the end of the day Friday February 24th, 2023.
  • No offers may be made to students during the interview process.
  • Normative, enthusiastic and collegial communication indicating that a student is a good fit is allowed, but formal offers are not.
  • Students interviewing at participating sites may not accept any practicum placement offer prior to Match Day, including offers from non-participating sites.

Match Day Guidelines

Students should rank their sites in order of preference before the morning of the match. This way, they can make decisions about accepting, declining or holding a site more decisively on Match Day.

Students are encouraged to negotiate with their current training sites, professors, etc. to maximize their availability on Match Day.

Students should check their Spam/Junk folders frequently on Match Day.

The Match will begin at 9am EST on Monday, March 6th, 2023. All offers must be made by e-mail. Training directors may send emails out slightly earlier in the morning (say at 8:30 am EST.) to accommodate other responsibilities.

All communications during Match Day between graduate students and practicum sites concerning the acceptance, decline, or hold of an offer must be conducted by e-mail and should cc the trainee’s DCT. Sites may not make phone calls until an offer has been accepted.

Initial offers ought to go out by 9am but offers can continue to be made up until 4pm, the student must make a decision about the offer within 3 hours of receiving it. They must either accept or decline the offer within three hours of when the offer was sent as indicated by the timestamp of the E-mail.

Students cannot hold multiple offers. If a student receives more than one offer, the student must immediately decline the less preferred site and accept or put their more preferred site on hold. The only exception to this is that students who are hoping to secure multiple practicum placements. These students may hold the same number of slots that they hope to end up with. For example, a student hoping to obtain two part-time (single day) practica on different days may hold two such offers at a time.

After holding an offer for 2 hours, students may email their top remaining choice to see if they are still under consideration at that site. However, if the student receives an offer from the preferred site as a result of this inquiry, they must immediately accept it and notify the other sites where they interviewed that they have withdrawn from the match.

A student may only hold on to one offer at a time. A decision about a second offer must be made immediately upon receiving it.

The rules will be suspended after 4 pm on Monday.

SITES will be able to “suspend“ their site when they have filled all of their positions. The “suspension” will temporarily remove the site from the Directory, so as to inform the remaining applicants that they are no longer being considered.

The Match Day (Phase I) process will end on March 6th, 2023 at 4 p.m. Any outstanding offers that have been made prior to that time will become null and void, giving students, schools and sites time to prepare for Phase II.

Phase II Guidelines

  • Phase II of the Match will begin at 9 am, EST on Wednesday, March 8th, 2023.
  • The Match Coordinator will email a list of all practicum sites with unfilled slots to DCT’s.
  • Interviews can take place from March 8, 2023 until March 23, 2023. There will then be a Match for Phase II on Friday, March 24, 2023 between 9 am EST and 5 pm EST. Any students that remain unmatched and any sites with unfilled slots can then engage in a “Phase III/Clearinghouse” process beginning on March 27th at 9 am.

Other Guidelines

  • We recognize that some practicum sites are small, taking only one student every year or two and generally do not interview multiple candidates. These are often small practice settings with specialized expertise that is a particularly good match for a student’s unique research interests and training needs. Some graduate programs also have “in-house” practicum training with program faculty or external supervisors who are paid to teach a practicum course. Nothing in this consensus statement precludes students from pursuing such opportunities and such small and in-house practicum sites need not be required to participate in this uniform match timeline. However, graduate program DCTs and students are encouraged to inform such sites about this timeline. As more potential practicum sites become aware of these guidelines, the hope is that they will at least follow the same timeline and at best sign on to the agreement. Doctoral students who come from schools that do not conform to PENDELDOT may have different application processes and dates; however, PENDELDOT practicum sites are expected to abide by these guidelines. Please feel free to let PENDELDOT Board Members know if this becomes an issue or problems develop with a particular graduate program. Students should report any offers made prior to the beginning of Match Day or other inappropriate behavior by sites to their school’s DCT, who should feel free to involve the PENDELDOT board in informal resolution proceedings. Students should be aware that holding multiple offers simultaneously and any other comportment concerns will be reported to the school’s DCT.