iopsych

If anybody has any questions about UCF feel free to PM me. I graduated in 2013, but will do what I can to answer any questions.

Good luck all! I remember how stressful it was when I was waiting. You all have some very impressive resumes!

Interesting that you have experience in a top I/O firm as an undergrad. Good for you, I am not aware of any I/O specific firms that hire UGs. I'd consider trying to improve your Quant score if you can, but you look like you are a solid candidate even if you don't. Good luck!

I graduated from an I/O PhD program last year and have been working full time for 3 years, so if anybody has any questions about grad school or work I would be happy to try my best to answer them. Good luck everyone! It looks like as I/O gets more and more popular the process is becoming much more competitive. I doubt I would be competitive with most of you today

When I was interviewing for positions I was never asked what my thesis and/or my dissertation was on. You can't really go into academia without a PhD and if you want to continue on into a PhD program you are correct, you essentially need a thesis. While people may raise their eyebrow at the fact that your MA/MS did not require a thesis they will likely never know unless you actually go out of your way to tell them. I interviewed with DDI, PDRI, etc. and none of them asked me directly about my dissertation or my thesis. Just my thoughts.

You will be fine. Just make sure you are able to get experience that lends itself to being a consultant. Nobody is going to check your diploma for the title of your degree.

What I have heard from IIT is that there isn't enough advisor time to go around, so if you aren't extremely active in research and aren't pushing to get in good with an advisor you end up getting left behind, which makes it difficult to complete. After the first 1-2 years students will start to fall behind on their progress thesis, research, etc. and just drop out of the program or try to finish the thesis and get out with the MS because they know finishing a dissertation will be nearly impossible without advisor support. So if you are driven, know what your research interests are and what research you want to do, have a perfect match with an IIT professor, etc. you will likely do fine. Again this is just what I heard through the grapevine from a graduate of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign that was one of my professors. He steered me away from even applying. I'd go where the most funding is.

So does that mean Latech is not offering you full tuition remission? Is Auburn?

I'd separate them and call 1 pubs and 1 conference presentations.

George Mason is an excellent program, even better if you want to go applied. They have tons of connections in the DC area where a lot of consulting is. I haven't heard a ton about Ill.Tech but a professor I talked to when I was going through the app process who graduated from UIC had said they tend to take a weed out mentality in that program where they accept 12-15 PhD students and let them fend for themselves to make it through from a research and advisor perspective. Now I can't confirm that, but that is what he had told me.

It depends on your skill set. I know one HF grad that completed his dissertation on gaming and learning, he took a job with an online gaming company. Most of the HF grads that I know work either at a consulting firm that contracts with the military or for the govt. in a military type facility doing applied research. Have you looked at places like AIR, ARI, NAWCTSD, etc.?

You can always go MS and then apply to fully funded PhD programs after you finish the MS. You typically only get to transfer about 1 semester of credits into the PhD, but at least you will be funded for the last 4-4.5 years and you may decide an MS is enough after you complete it.

When I was there it was 5k/semester with an opportunity for an additional 3.5k during the summer, you weren't guaranteed the summer, but you usually got it if you asked. Ta ship unless you work for Dr. Salas and in that case it is an RAship and you automatically have summer funding and I think they made more than the 5k/semester, probably closer to 15-20k for the year if you worked for Ed.

Paying for 5 years of expenses can be a lot. I personally would not attend a PhD program without full funding. Depending on where you are living you are looking at 30-40k a year *5 is 150-200k in expenses for a PhD. What is your goal? Applied or Academic? An MS can be just as valuable if your goal is applied. I work on a team of 5. My VP is an MS, my Director is an MS and my two peers are MSs, I am the only PhD.

congrats. I graduated from that program. Let me know if you have any questions.