[I/O Applicants 2010!]

I agree with alot of what dherres said , but in I/O programs they don't really expect you to know exactly what your research interests are and they expect they might change (unless you already have a master's in the area). I do think you should at least decide what areas interest you (you just don't need specifics) and definately frame that around why you would want to work with TWO professors in their program. The reason I say two is because some profs may have too many students or are not taking students that year and you could have by mistake shot yourself in the foot for that program by only choosing one prof.

Both management and social psych programs will put a lot more emphasis on research experience, so I agree that will hurt you. Both of those degrees lead to professor positions (almost exclusively) where you will be doing research, so they want to see you can do research and understand what it takes.

Thank you so much for the advice! I actually just recently joined a lab in my master's program- my professors OB lab, and we're doing work on innovation. It's a great study we're working on and I hope it will add some strength to my application, even though I've just started it, I feel it makes my application & SoP much stronger. For my top program choice, the management program's profs have done a lot of work on innovation & creativity, so for that program, I've stated that as my research interest...hopefully that's specific enough. Thank you again for all the wonderful feedback!!

[How many schools are you applying to?]

It's good to read that others are applying to schools based on geography. While getting a PhD is important to me, I want to stay where I am (big east coast city) for a variety of personal reasons. I'm applying to 5 programs at 3 different schools. I've heard this might be a bad idea (if one department sees you're applying to another within the school, it might hurt you), but I'm not going to let that limit my options. There was a 6th program and 4th school, a professor who seemed like he wanted to work with me, but he's leaving next year to go to another university, and no other faculty in the area of interest. So disappointed about that one, but hopefully I'll get in to at least one of the other 5. (I go back and forth from having confidence that I'll get in to thinking I'm totally screwed!)

[I/O Applicants 2010!]

I'm not applying to I/O programs, but something similar; I want to study organizational behavior, and I'm applying to both social psych and management PhD programs that have it (I'm limited by geography and unfortunately no I/O programs are in my area, but a lot of the profs have an I/O background).

Does anyone know how specific you have to be in your application in regards to your research interest in I/O (which I hope is similar to the social psych app)? Do you have to know the specific question you want to study for the next five years? Or is just saying you want to research topic x within OB enough?

A little bit about me: GRE: 600V, 730Q, 5.0AW; GPA: 3.72 from top-25 undergrad, 3.98 from grad; 3 years work experience, no published papers or lab experience. I'm feeling quite discouraged by the application process, in part by the lack of support I thought I'd get from some professors; I'm starting to worry that I'm going to get rejected from everywhere!

[Contacting Professors]

Thanks for the advice, I've sent a couple emails and didn't include a resume. I'm a bit disappointed by the results though. One professor who would be a good fit is unfortunately not teaching at the university next year (although he seemed enthusiastic about me and my interests, so I took that as a good sign), and the other sent me a bit of an odd reply. He broke down my email line by line, and then on the question on whether he would be taking on new students, he just said that due to the state's budget crisis, he couldn't really say. There was no feedback on whether he'd be interested in taking me on, etc. Perhaps this is normal and I shouldn't get discouraged, I guess because I'm limited by geographic location (I can't move and am only applying to programs in my city area), I was hoping to get better feedback--especially as these are the lower tier schools & programs on my list that I contacted. In addition to this and a few other setbacks, I'm starting to feel that this PhD application process is really discouraging through and through!

[Sending transcripts from multiple schools]

I'm debating what to do about this issue as well. I studied abroad for a semester in the UK through a transfer program with my university. I just got credit for the classes and it shows on my university's transcript. At least one school has said not to send these transcripts, but I'm unsure what to do with the other programs. Anyone know if there is a standard rule-of-thumb for study abroad?

[Contacting Professors]

I'm new to the application process, and I just want to make sure I'm doing things within the norm.

Is it a good idea to attach your resume to the email when contacting a professor? (It would be my academic/research-oriented resume, though it includes relevant work information). I want to highlight that I have a good undergrad GPA from a top-25 school, and some other things (at the hopes of getting the attention of the prof), but I'm not sure if this is too much?

Thanks in advance, I am so appreciative of all the advice on this forum; it's been a huge help.