School Psych Students In Massachusetts (Question About Internship)

[sackofcrap]

Currently, I'm a school psych student  (MA / Specialist Level) in another state, but I used to live in Boston before I started this program and would like to move back to Massachusetts after I am done with the program. I would ideally like to do my internship in Massachusetts. Anyway, looking around, the only internship site that I am seeing come up in my searches is Newton Public Schools.

Am I missing something? Is this the main site for school psychology internships in the state? Every time I search, the only place I can find any information about is Newton Public Schools? Anybody that went to school for school psych (MA / Specialist Level) in Massachusetts, where did you do your internship?

Also, does anybody know if the school psychology internships at Newton Public Schools are paid? I don't know if school psych internships are generally paid in Massachusetts or not. The state that I am in now, generally has their interns being paid about $20,000-$30,000 for the year.

 

 

Edited May 5, 2016 by sackofcrap

[jdgor]

I did my internship a few years ago in Brookline.  Most of the school districts have internships, but for the most part you contact an individual school psychologist and set up an interview.  You might want to email the special education director or lead psychologist in some of the Boston area districts (Boston, Cambridge, Brookline, Newton) to see if they have any openings. 

When I did my internship, only sites out in the middle of nowhere paid anything.  There are so many school psych programs in MA that people fight to even get unpaid internships.  In my cohort, the only person to get a paid position drove up to New Hampshire for her placement.    

If you can get a spot in Newton, though, it's a good idea just for the networking, because once you graduate they are one of the highest paying districts in the area.  

[sackofcrap]

31 minutes ago, jdgor said:

I did my internship a few years ago in Brookline.  Most of the school districts have internships, but for the most part you contact an individual school psychologist and set up an interview.  You might want to email the special education director or lead psychologist in some of the Boston area districts (Boston, Cambridge, Brookline, Newton) to see if they have any openings. 

When I did my internship, only sites out in the middle of nowhere paid anything.  There are so many school psych programs in MA that people fight to even get unpaid internships.  In my cohort, the only person to get a paid position drove up to New Hampshire for her placement.    

If you can get a spot in Newton, though, it's a good idea just for the networking, because once you graduate they are one of the highest paying districts in the area.  

Okay. Just good to know there are other internship sites except just one. I was getting kind of paranoid. It's so weird to me how some places pay you pretty much an average salary and some places pay you nothing at all. So much variability. 

[schoolpsycher]

Hey! I'm currently at a school psych program in Boston, and I'm actually going to be interning in Brookline next year. The application process was a little unorganized because each district does things a little differently, but as the person above said, I mostly emailed everything (resume, sample psychoeds, cover letter, etc.) to the special education director or school psychologist. My program gave us the names of some contact people in the districts, but for a lot of them, I just searched the district's website for a few people who seemed appropriate and it eventually got to the right place. 

And yep, unfortunately most internships in MA are unpaid. Struggling at the thought of next year already haha. I think popular big city areas tend to be like that, and there's a lot of school psych programs in MA. Good luck and let me know if you have any more questions! 

[sackofcrap]

On 5/15/2016 at 10:27 AM, schoolpsycher said:

Hey! I'm currently at a school psych program in Boston, and I'm actually going to be interning in Brookline next year. The application process was a little unorganized because each district does things a little differently, but as the person above said, I mostly emailed everything (resume, sample psychoeds, cover letter, etc.) to the special education director or school psychologist. My program gave us the names of some contact people in the districts, but for a lot of them, I just searched the district's website for a few people who seemed appropriate and it eventually got to the right place. 

And yep, unfortunately most internships in MA are unpaid. Struggling at the thought of next year already haha. I think popular big city areas tend to be like that, and there's a lot of school psych programs in MA. Good luck and let me know if you have any more questions! 

Yeah, it sucks that it will most likely be unpaid. That is one of the reasons why I still waver on whether or not I will definitely do my internship in Boston or not. Taking an unpaid internship and having to deal with the cost of housing, might be too much, but I might be able to pull it together somehow. If I start saving now, it should work out. Plan B would be to just stay here where my program is for my internship year and then go to Massachusetts the year after that when I am actually looking for a job. Plan C would be to find an internship somewhere near Boston, maybe another city in Massachusetts and then move back to Boston later. We will see what actually ends up happening. I may end up in Alaska or something for all I know.