ADMISSIONS PROCEDURE

[ Prerequisites for Training ] [ Evaluation Process ] [ Transfer Applications ]
[ Re-application ] [ Non-discriminatory Policy ] [ Enrollment ]

PREREQUISITES FOR TRAINING

  1. Physician-Psychiatrists: Must be graduates of approved medical schools, have completed at least one year of psychiatric residency, be licensed in California, and meet standards of personal suitability.

  2. Non-Physicians: There are three categories of non- physician applications, all of which permit full training and one of which (non-physicians research) also permits partial training.

    1. Doctoral Clinicians must have doctoral level degrees in clinical disciplines from approved programs and be licensed in California and meet standards of personal suitability.

    2. Non-doctoral Psychotherapists. A waiver by a subcommittee of the American Psychoanalytic Association is required after the applicant is accepted and nominated by our local institutes. The applicant must meet the following requirements:

        i. Hold a clinical masters degree that is usually awarded in the applicant's field.

        ii. Have two years of additional post-graduate training which can be either informal programs or individually sculpted.

        iii. Have an established career track in clinical psychotherapeutic work. The applicant must demonstrate ability and a commitment to psychotherapeutic work.

    3. Research and special training applicants: Researchers, scientists, scholars, educators and administrators may be admitted under the Committee on Research and Special Train (CORST) guidelines.

      i. Full Training:
      A waiver is required for full training. The applicant must be nominated by a local institute and applications are reviewed on a noncompetitive basis and solely on the merits of the applicants themselves, on the research or other program plan that is presented, and on the relevance of full training to that plan. The applicant must meet both of the following requirements:

      (a) Hold the highest academic degree that is usually awarded in the applicant's field of specialization or hold equivalent recognition non-academic fields.

      (b) Plan a career in which research or scholarly endeavors clearly play a central role. Applicants are expected either to be accomplished investigators, or to be outstanding academic teachers, scholars or administrators. Through their research, scholarly work, teaching or administrative work, applicants should be in a position to, and have the capacity to, stimulate the development or the application of psychoanalysis.

      ii. Partial training:
      This includes a combined program of full or selected seminars and analysis with a training analyst. In special instances, prior analysis with a training analyst or other analyst may suffice. A waiver is not required. There are two important issues in partial training. The first is that this institute characteristically prefers to train fully. The second is we generally follow the American Psychoanalytic Association CORST guidelines.

EVALUATION PROCESS

The evaluation process takes 2-5 months.

  1. Completion of the application form including a written autobiography and a nonrefundable application fee of $300.

  2. Receipt of three letter of recommendation.

  3. Interviews arranged by Chair of Admissions Committee:

    1. Three personal interviews.
    2. Clinical case presentations to two interviewers.
    3. If necessary, for research or special applicants, two interviews with research qualified faculty, university faculty, or training analysts, determined by the Chair of the Admissions Committee in consultation with the Chair of the CORST Committee.

  4. Meeting of the Admissions Committee (usually the first Thursday of the month, September through June), to discuss the application and vote on recommendation for admission. The Chair of the Admissions Committee, members of the Committee and training analysts and faculty members who interviewed the applicant are expected to attend. There is no specific requirement for a quorum.

  5. Presentation of recommendation of Admissions Committee to Education Committee.

  6. Action by the Education Committee.

  7. Chair of Education Committee informs applicant of the decision of the Education Committee.

  8. Request for waiver by the American Psychoanalytic Association for certain non-medical clinical applicants.

  9. Applications for training from close relatives of members of the Education Committee and the Society.

    1. Such applicants will not be interviewed and evaluated by members of the Education Committee.

    2. The Admissions Committee will request an evaluation of the applicant from a member Institute of the American. San Francisco Institute will abide by the evaluation and decision of the evaluating committee.

TRANSFER APPLICATIONS

Transfer applications will be accepted from other accredited Institutes. The applicant must arrange for records to be sent.

Evaluation of Transfer Applicants: The Admissions Committee Chair, in consultation with the members of the committee, and if necessary, with the Chair of the Education Committee, decides whether to undertake the usual or a modified evaluation procedure. Receiving credit for training taken elsewhere is discriminate, not automatic, and determined individually case by case.

RE-APPLICATION

Reapplications will be accepted. There is no strict policy about the period of time between applications, nor is there any definite policy about the number of times an application may be accepted for evaluation.

NON-DISCRIMINATORY POLICY

The SFPI admits students of any race, color, national or ethnic origin, or sexual orientation to all rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, or sexual orientation in administration of its educational policies, admission policies, loan program or any other school-administered programs.

ENROLLMENT

Those applicants who are accepted are enrolled in the training program as pre-seminar candidates. Admission to training carries the expectation that a candidate will, within a month or so of acceptance, report arrangements for his/her personal analysis with a training analyst.

The Education Committee offers assistance in arranging for the analysis if such is desired. The objective is to enable a prompt beginning of training through facilitation of the finding of a training analyst who anticipates having analytic time available reasonably soon. Candidates must be in analysis with a training analyst prior to beginning course work.

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