Internship
Psychology Internship Match Rates for PsyD Programs
The psychology internship match decides where a PsyD student spends the internship year the degree requires. This post counts the psychology internship match results of 103 APA-accredited PsyD programs over 2021 to 2025, from APPIC’s own report by doctoral program, and shows how far programs differ.
By Trevor Rupe, Contributor at Savo Media Group
Psychology Internship Match Rates at a Glance
- The median PsyD program matched 80.9% of its students to an accredited internship. That is over 2021 to 2025, for the 103 programs with at least ten students in the Match.
- 26 programs matched 90% or more, and 31 programs matched under 70%. A rate rests on the number of students behind it, so the table of the largest programs shows both.
- 9,431 students were registered. 7,541 of them matched to an APA- or CPA-accredited internship, 80.0% taken together.
- APPIC calls a match rate one measure of a program. It carries a caution against comparing programs on it alone, quoted below.
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103
PsyD programs with a match rate
APPIC -
80.9%
median accredited match rate, 2021 to 2025
APPIC -
9,431
registered students counted
APPIC
How the Psychology Internship Match Works for PsyD Students
APA’s accreditation standards require every accredited doctoral program to show that all its students complete an internship: “The program must demonstrate that all students complete a 1-year full-time or 2-year part-time internship.” The APPIC Match is the process APPIC runs to place doctoral students into those internship positions. APPIC describes it this way: “The 2027 APPIC Match will be conducted in two ‘phases,’ with each phase involving the submission of Rank Order Lists by programs and applicants to determine the placement of applicants into positions.”
The rate used on this site is the share of a program’s registered students in the Match, 2021 to 2025, who matched to an internship accredited by APA or the Canadian Psychological Association. Students who registered and then withdrew stay in the count of registered students, as APPIC counts them, and a program needs at least ten registrations to have a rate at all, because a rate over a handful of students says little. The match rate is one of the two parts of the outcomes factor, which carries 15 points of the 100 in the ranking method.
How Often PsyD Students Match to an Accredited Internship
103 PsyD programs had ten or more students in the Match over 2021 to 2025. Their median accredited match rate is 80.9%. Counting every student at once, 7,541 of 9,431 registered students matched to an accredited internship, 80.0%, and 10 programs matched 95% or more of their students. The table groups the programs by rate.
| Match rate | Programs | Share of programs |
|---|---|---|
| 90% or higher | 26 | 25% |
| 80% to 89.9% | 28 | 27% |
| 70% to 79.9% | 18 | 17% |
| Below 70% | 31 | 30% |
The pooled rate by Match year shows how steady the results are. Each row adds up every student the 103 programs registered that year.
| Match year | Registered | Matched to accredited | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,778 | 1,400 | 78.7% |
| 2022 | 1,813 | 1,532 | 84.5% |
| 2023 | 1,772 | 1,488 | 84.0% |
| 2024 | 1,886 | 1,551 | 82.2% |
| 2025 | 2,182 | 1,570 | 72.0% |
How the Psychology Internship Match Differs by Specialty and School Type
The psychology internship match also differs by the kind of program. APA accredits clinical, counseling and school psychology programs separately, and a few programs hold a combined accreditation. Medians are shown for each group with at least three programs.
| APA area | Programs | Median match rate |
|---|---|---|
| Clinical Psychology | 77 | 83.3% |
| Counseling Psychology | 11 | 68.3% |
| Clinical and School Psychology | 7 | 79.6% |
| School Psychology | 7 | 61.5% |
| Type of school | Programs | Median match rate |
|---|---|---|
| Private nonprofit | 79 | 81.1% |
| Public | 18 | 82.6% |
| Private for-profit | 5 | 67.7% |
APPIC’s own 2026 figures also differ by specialty. Of 2,183 registered clinical PsyD applicants, 81.3% matched; of 128 counseling PsyD applicants, 60.9%; of 65 school PsyD applicants, 76.9%. Those are matches to any internship.
The 25 Largest PsyD Programs in the Psychology Internship Match
Large programs send the most students through the Match, so their rates rest on the most students. These are the 25 PsyD programs with the most registered students over 2021 to 2025, in order of size. A program on contingency or probation shows its exact APA status.
| Program | APA area | Location | Registered | Matched to accredited | Match rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nova Southeastern University | Clinical Psychology | Fort Lauderdale, FL | 445 | 394 | 88.5% |
| William James College | Clinical Psychology | Newton, MA | 367 | 255 | 69.5% |
| Adler University, Chicago | Clinical Psychology | Chicago, IL | 350 | 311 | 88.9% |
| The Wright Institute | Clinical Psychology | Berkeley, CA | 322 | 271 | 84.2% |
| Ponce Health Sciences University | Clinical Psychology | Ponce, PR | 313 | 169 | 54.0% |
| The Chicago School, Chicago Campus | Clinical Psychology | Chicago, IL | 280 | 258 | 92.1% |
| The Chicago School, Washington, D.C. Campus | Clinical Psychology | Washington, DC | 270 | 223 | 82.6% |
| Alliant University, San Diego | Clinical Psychology | San Diego, CA | 263 | 230 | 87.5% |
| Pacific University, Oregon | Clinical Psychology | Hillsboro, OR | 230 | 184 | 80.0% |
| Alliant University, Los Angeles | Clinical Psychology | Alhambra, CA | 211 | 146 | 69.2% |
| University of Denver | Clinical Psychology | Denver, CO | 194 | 178 | 91.8% |
| Spalding University | Clinical Psychology | Louisville, KY | 166 | 160 | 96.4% |
| Carlos Albizu University, San Juan Campus | Clinical Psychology | San Juan, PR | 159 | 112 | 70.4% |
| University of Indianapolis | Clinical Psychology | Indianapolis, IN | 155 | 143 | 92.3% |
| Carlos Albizu University, Miami Campus | Clinical Psychology | Miami, FL | 153 | 115 | 75.2% |
| Palo Alto University | Clinical Psychology | Palo Alto, CA | 149 | 143 | 96.0% |
| Pepperdine University | Clinical Psychology | Los Angeles, CA | 144 | 120 | 83.3% |
| Azusa Pacific University | Clinical Psychology | Azusa, CA | 141 | 100 | 70.9% |
| George Fox University | Clinical Psychology | Newberg, OR | 137 | 126 | 92.0% |
| Midwestern University, Glendale | Clinical Psychology | Glendale, AZ | 134 | 127 | 94.8% |
| Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus Accredited, on probation | Clinical Psychology | Brookville, NY | 125 | 89 | 71.2% |
| Immaculata University | Clinical Psychology | Immaculata, PA | 123 | 110 | 89.4% |
| Yeshiva University | Clinical Psychology | Bronx, NY | 120 | 105 | 87.5% |
| Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine | Clinical Psychology | Philadelphia, PA | 115 | 93 | 80.9% |
| University of Hartford | Clinical Psychology | West Hartford, CT | 115 | 101 | 87.8% |
PsyD Results in the National Psychology Internship Match
APPIC also reports the whole Match by degree, and its table divides by every registered applicant, matched or not. For PsyD applicants the share who matched was 89.0% in 2024, 79.3% in 2025 and 79.8% in 2026. Of the 1,981 PsyD applicants who matched in 2026, 1,806, 91.2%, matched to an APA- or CPA-accredited internship.
| Match year | Registered PsyD applicants | Matched to any internship | Share matched |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2,037 | 1,812 | 89.0% |
| 2025 | 2,312 | 1,833 | 79.3% |
| 2026 | 2,483 | 1,981 | 79.8% |
That table is a different measure from the program rates above. It counts a match to any internship, accredited or not, for one Match year, while the program rates count only matches to accredited internships, added over five years. The two are not set against each other here.
What a Psychology Internship Match Rate Does Not Tell You
“Comparison of match rates across doctoral programs should be done cautiously, as students’ success in finding internship positions through the APPIC Match is only one potential measure of how a doctoral program has met its educational objectives.”
APPIC, Match Rates by Doctoral Program, 2011-2025
A match rate describes the students who registered in five Match years. It does not say how a program teaches, what its internship sites are like or how a particular student will fare. A program with twenty registered students moves by five points when one student does not match, while one student moves a program with several hundred by a fraction of a point. Read each rate with the number of registered students beside it, as the table of the largest programs does, and read the psychology internship match as one input among several.
For how the Match runs from application to Match Day, see the APPIC internship guide. EPPP pass rates by program is the companion list for the licensing exam.
Questions About the Psychology Internship Match for PsyD Students
What Is the Typical Psychology Internship Match Rate for a PsyD Program?
Across the 103 programs with ten or more students in the Match, the median program matched 80.9% of its registered students to an APA- or CPA-accredited internship over 2021 to 2025. Taken together, 7,541 of 9,431 registered students did, 80.0%.
Does a Lower Match Rate Mean a PsyD Program Is Weaker?
Not by itself. APPIC says: “Comparison of match rates across doctoral programs should be done cautiously, as students’ success in finding internship positions through the APPIC Match is only one potential measure of how a doctoral program has met its educational objectives.” A rate also moves with the program’s size and with how many students withdrew, so it is read beside the number of students behind it.
How Are Students Who Withdraw From the Match Counted?
They stay in the denominator. APPIC counts every registered applicant, and so does the rate here: 351 students in these programs withdrew over 2021 to 2025 and are counted as registered but not matched.
What Share of All PsyD Applicants Match Each Year?
APPIC’s degree table divides by every registered applicant. For PsyD applicants that was 89.0% in 2024, 79.3% in 2025 and 79.8% in 2026. That counts a match to any internship, accredited or not, so it is a different measure from the accredited rate in the program table above.
Sources for Psychology Internship Match Rates
- APPIC, Match Rates by Doctoral Program, 2011 through 2025 report, 2021 through 2025 window, retrieved October 12, 2026.
- American Psychological Association, Commission on Accreditation, accredited programs directory, retrieved October 12, 2026.
- Each program’s own APA disclosure tables and program pages, tuition, attrition, time to completion and program descriptions, read between October 12, 2026 and October 14, 2026.
- APPIC, 2024 Match Statistics, Combined Results, PsyD applicants registered and matched, read October 14, 2026.
- APPIC, 2025 Match Statistics, Combined Results, PsyD applicants registered and matched, read October 14, 2026.
- APPIC, 2026 Match Statistics, Combined Results, PsyD applicants registered and matched, read October 14, 2026.
- APA Standards of Accreditation for Health Service Psychology, internship requirement, read October 14, 2026.