BeingThere

This. In addition to ShiningInShadows, my suggestion is to get involved in psych research in the fall and put off applying for another year. Get lots of psychology research experience. This will accomplish two things: 1) you'll figure out what your actual research interests are, and 2) you'll be a more competitive candidate for psych PhD programs. IF you get into a PhD program, you are going to spend 5 to 7 years of your life in a very intense environment. You say you know you want to get into a PhD program, and presumably, you mean a psychology PhD program, but if you don't know what you want to research, then you're putting the cart before the horse. It's like saying you want to get married. It's a fine goal, but if you're not even regularly dating someone yet, it would be strange to go ahead and plan the wedding.

You can find some info here. http://www.siop.org/surveys.aspx There is probably an equivalent info clearinghouse for MBAs. The rule of thumb I've heard is that a master's in I/O is essentially a degree for those going into human resources. Whereas I imagine an MBA to be more of a management degree outside of HR. But of course, you will find countless exceptions to those rules of thumb. Plenty of I/O PhDs work in consulting and business. PhDs in I/O have much broader career opportunities than simply academia. There is nothing, of course, that says you can't get an MBA and then get into a PhD program for I/O (as long as you have some psychology background.) You can check out job prospects (along with average salaries and KSAOs) for various careers/job titles through the year 2018 at http://www.onetonline.org/

I'm glad I read this thread. I have to thank PsychGirl and Linelei for their advice! I have been wondering about how specific my research interests need to be as I gear up for this upcoming application season. Is it better to have a specific project/research question in mind when emailing POIs or is it better to just state a general area of interest? I don't have a specific line of inquiry; my interests are definite but still pretty general. Motivation, workplace climate, organizational support, personality. I don't mean to hi-jack gatorgrad's thread, but I have a related question: How specific should I get??

That would be SIOP. http://www.siop.org/

I'm working two jobs, going to school and paying off debt as well. It can be done. Anything can be done, if you're determined to do it. You will find a way. I get discouraged and overwhelmed sometimes (and I would bet I'm much older than you, so I battle that pessimistic thought as well), but I have years of experience that show me that I can do anything I set my mind to, no matter what the obstacles are. I had to stop thinking about all the obstacles I faced and why it would be nearly impossible to get where I wan to be, and I had to start thinking about ways to make it happen. Tired? Yes, all the time. Poor? Yes, terminally. Facing long odds and not sure how doors are going to open? Absolutely. Gonna do it anyway? Yes.

Garret, You may be at Point A, but I think you mislabeled Point B. Point B for you is the end of your first year of undergrad. Getting accepted into a PhD program is more like Point G or Point H. Some things must be experienced to be known. And hopefully, the next four and a half years will change you in ways you can't even imagine now. Explore, young scientist. My suggestion is take as many different types of psychology courses as you can. I agree that getting involved in research right away is a good thing. If you're lucky you will be able to be involved in a few different types of research. Ruling things out is a great way to narrow down what it is you want. But if I had to suggest a specialization for you to look into, I'd suggest cognitive psych.

If you haven't already, you could join SIOP (www.siop.org) and post this question to their discussion board. You will probably get a lot more feedback from others who have looked into this for themselves. I can't say for certain, but I think I remember people saying that if you want to do human resource management, do an HR degree and get the specialization certifcation (human resource professional something-or-other?) But you'd really be better off asking this in the SIOP forum. You could also check out the SHRM website. They may have salary info on their site as well.

http://mtweb.mtsu.edu/iopsych/alumni_views.html Of course, these alum bios are cherry-picked, but MTSU is said to be a good program if you are interested in just getting a master's.

Good to know. Thanks everyone!

Congratulations, psychOneonta89! Well done!

I am gearing up to apply to PhD programs this coming winter. I've got a list of faculty whose research interests match mine. I've started to make a file for each school I'm interested in (with application requirements, etc.) So my question is, when should I make initial contact with faculty to ask if they might be taking new students next year? I think right now would not be optimal because they have just been through the tiring process of going through all those applications for this current year. So would toward the end of the semester be too soon as well? Should I wait until the semester ends (late May) or even later into the summer? Thanks for any experience or wisdom you have on this!

I think a professor at my school got her PhD in social psych but her undergrad was in marketing. I concur with what has been said above. I would add one thing. Since you don't have a degree in psychology, one objective way to show that you have some knowledge about psychology is to take -- and do well on -- the GRE Psychology subject test.

My school offers student travel funds and grants through various campus committees and offices. I recently received a small travel grant to present at a conference in Chicago, and I'm only an undergrad. Even if your department doesn't offer travel funds for conferences, maybe other offices in your university do. Also, if you belong to student organizations or Psi Chi, travel funds may be available.

My school is not a PhD-granting campus. We grant master's degrees, but not in psychology. So my professor has not dealt with working on a paper to submit for publication with an undergrad student before. He is unsure about how journals view undergraduate first authors. He is completely supportive of getting this current paper published with me and just happened to mention this in passing. So, I am wondering if others have been published as first authors while still undergraduates? I realize I will not be aiming for top-tier journals, but are there professional journals out there that do publish undergrad first authors? My field is I/O and applied, but my study is on personality and motivation. Thanks for any experience or input you can give!

Lewin00, your input is certainly valued and respected by me. And I don't doubt that decent positions in academia are scarce and hard to get. I always appreciate your input in all of the posts I've read from you on these various threads.

These may be valid points, but you are going to be 50 anyway (if you're lucky.) And you'll still have 20 years of work-life ahead of you. I don't know about job prospects either way; there's no way to forecast what the outcome will be due to so many variables at play. "Good job" is such a subjective concept, isn't it?

Hi Misty, I sent you a message. :-)

Maybe you should wait and see what your professor has in mind. August will be here before you know it and, like Lisa44201 mentioned, geting a jump on things -- even if it's just being able to anticipate what the work is going to be -- is a great advantage. (But this is coming from someone who works a full-time job, works a part-time job, takes classes, and does research as well.) Maybe he'll just want you to start reading some of the literature on a specific topic. Be open-minded! Go with a positive attitude! And I would suggest that honesty about your situation is always the best policy.

The career center at my school offers free job interview coaching and practice; they say grad applicants can benefit from it as well. They may offer something similar at your school. As for the GRE, there are plenty of books and websites (ETS, to name one) where you can get practice. As for your GPA, you've either got that or you don't. As for lab or clinical experience, you can find that on your own (for free). As for maturity, you can be coached on how to appear mature enough for grad school, but if you aren't there yet, it's better if you don't fool yourself or others and get into a bad situation. As for connections, you can make those on your own as well, believe it or not. Yep, I'm with Juilletmercredi. Hard to see why you would want to pay for dubious help when you can get what you need on your own for free.

I think your list is comprehensive, DarwinAG. I would say that in my experience, the work you'll be doing and who you are doing it for/with matters more than anything else. I moved across the country for a job a few years ago. The situation was similiar to what prospective PhDs may be facing. I was sure I would not like the town (coming from San Francisco, I was sort of a snob with my prejudices about the Midwest). But I knew I would love the job and the opportunity was a rare one. I did not know a soul in the new town and I'd moved here alone. I'd only met my new boss once during the interview. I also worried that my lifestyle, political persuasion, and general life philosophy were going to be at odds with the culture here. I came for the great job opportunity and decided I would just cope the best I could with the rest of it. I found that the actual location did not matter much. Here's my guess as to why: how you see a place depends on who are you seeing it with and what you are doing there. I met great people outside of my job; I did great work. All else fell into place. I began to see the town the way my great new friends saw it. I found people like me who showed me that even here in Louisville, KY, there are fantastic arts venues and amazing outdoor activities and a rather wild subculture full of crazy individuals doing their own thing -- not to mention the unbelievable local restaurants on every corner! Now I love it here and hate the prospect of leaving. But I will gladly leave for another opportunity to do great work with a great boss (or professor) -- no matter what the town or "quality of life" is listed as. Even on the job (analogous to grad student culture), staff changed over the years I was there, and as a result the day-to-day culture shifted many times. What remained constant was the over-arching cultural identity of the company. I don't know if your list is in any particular order, but if so, I would recommend putting quality of life (and maybe even kareoke) down at the bottom. If all those other things are in place, the town just becomes a reflection of that.

WALLerts, may I ask who your POI at BGSU is? Could you message me if you don't want to post it here? Thank you!

Personally, I am dreaming about the days when all I have to do is submerse myself in research and coursework and theses and an eventual dissertation. I'm sick of juggling a non-related full-time job and a part-time job and classes and committees and research. I'd rather live on ramen, keep the heat down way low, and be of one mind.

You should definitely look for opportunities to present your research at conferences -- either poster or paper presentations. I have been told this is important.

Hi Sgade, I strongly suggest talking with your professors at your school and asking for help. Do you have a research project you are wanting to write up for publication? If you are applying to programs this coming Dec/Jan then you may or may not have enough time to do a new study, finish it, and write it up for submission by then. Speaking for myself, I will be submitting a manuscript for publication this summer on research I did over these last two semesters. I am having help and guidance from my professor/advisor. From what I've been told, publishing in psychology is a lenghty process. You may have something submitted for publication by the end of this year (if you already have a study ready to write up), but it's unlikely you would be actually published by then if you haven't yet prepared anything for submission. Again, talk with faculty at your school. They will know best how to guide you. Another step in "thinking about submitting for publication" is to look at journals and read their submission guidelines. But again, I'm only at the first steps of the process myself. Maybe others who've been published in psychology journals have more practical guidance for you. Good luck to you!

I agree on all those points, DarwinAG. It is invaluable to have colleagues and mentors in the research process and I certainly want to give credit where it is due. I have total respect and very high regard for my professor and know I could not have gotten through the project without his guidance. It's just a weird area to navigate. I think the issue is even a little more weird in that I submitted to present a poster at a conference and it was very specific about authors vs faculty advisors. I listed him as faculty advisor per the instructions in the submission. I want to give him the credit he deserves but wasn't sure if there was a line between faculty advisor and co-author. Sounds like there is not a hard and fast one, anyway.