Wrellie

Be careful with advice like this, especially for I-O programs. The top programs differ on this not only between-schools, but between faculty at the department-level as well. Some schools do not follow a mentorship model where you have a primary advisor (e.g. Michigan State - you're expected to work with multiple faculty), and even at the schools that do have primary advisors, the faculty do not agree with each other on importance of fit. They are also not oblivious to the fact that your interests will likely change throughout your schooling (especially when you haven't taken the coursework yet). Be as honest as you can if you get an interview. There are no absolutes when it comes to the application process for I-O programs. The fit is perhaps more important for you as the student if you are dead-set in what you want to do, because you want a professor who can train you in what you want to do as well as possible.

Good luck to all of you applying to I-O programs this year! It's a pretty stressful time, but you will all make it through. Feel free to private message me if you have questions. I went through the process a couple years ago and know the whole process can be a bit of a mystery. Always remember there is no guaranteed way to get into grad school, so you may receive different advice along the way. Try to make it all work for you.

Which psychology discipline are you in at UIUC this fall? My advice would be to actually go to classes first before you even start thinking about this. You have people like Fritz Drasgow in I/O who can teach you more about stats in psychology than you could ever hope to learn in your entire lifetime. I met one of the incoming I/O first years at UIUC on the recruiting trail last season who is extremely impressive in her stats knowledge, and it was obvious just talking with her briefly that she knew her *!&*. These are the kind of people in your program. My advice is focus right now on what you went to UIUC for in the first place, and if you are not I/O and want stats courses, take them with the I/O professors or whoever people like Fritz Drasgow thinks is best for you.

I would think you would be a great fit in any of the I/O programs that do Occupational Health Psychology research. The NIOSH funded schools are UConn, USF, and Portland State. As a Canadian citizen, I am not sure if you would get the NIOSH funding, but the schools are a start at least. Honestly, I can't imagine an MA in health psychology hurting you at all. In our OHP specialty, we are required to take public health graduate courses.

Ladygrey, There is a lot of good information here. I disagree with some of it (if you want to go I/O do not stress verbal on GRE over quant), but most of it is really good. I was accepted into both top 10 I/O programs I applied to this past year (I only say this so you know it is possible) and want to add a couple things. First, do research immediately. It doesn't matter if it is as an RA on a project that has nothing to do with your interests or your thesis. The more research you have done, the better. Also, ask yourself "why do I want a Ph.D."? You might find you absolutely hate doing research. In which case, you will find that out quickly and spare yourself a ton of time you can spend doing something you like. Second, it is way more important that you find out what kind of research you want to be doing, and then find which professors do that kind of work. I/O psychologists are very familiar with the concept of person-job fit, and your graduate studies will essentially be a job working with and for your advisor. If you don't know what you want to do yet for research, there is no way you can tell where you should apply. If you want to apply to Michigan State and Minnesota because they are the top ranked universities, the selection committee will know that when you apply. If you want to work with Paul Sackett at Minnesota because you have experienced low diversity populations in all your part-time jobs and this led to several negative incidents; thus you now think that studying diversity in the workplace is something you are destined to do for the rest of your life, they'll probably be able to tell that too. You might have noticed I said both top 10 schools. I only applied to 2, because I spent at least a month researching every professor who did something similar to what I wanted to study. That knocked out 8 of the top 10 schools from my list (well 7, but one did not respond to my initial email inquiry so I axed that school because at some point, you are going to be chopping schools off so you don't spend $5000 on applications). Lastly, study your ass off for the GRE. You typed "not to sound conceded". It's "conceited". Do not make these errors on the GRE or in any correspondence you have with potential schools. Many people blame bad GRE scores on many things. Don't be that person. Study now and study hard. My potential advisor made sure I was aware of what I would need for scores to get into a top school (90th percentile in both). So I studied, and got those scores. It might not get you in anywhere, but it can definitely keep you out. Also, I/O acceptance at top schools is as competitive as all the other disciplines including clinical psychology. It's likely if you are applying to a top I/O school that their selection is even more competitive than the other disciplines at that school, so if it is what you really want, start now and go hard.

Congrats UMG! I'll see you in the fall at USF as I accepted there too!

I was also accepted to PhD. No idea on order at all.

Congratulations hm! I will definitely be attending the open house, so I hope to see you!

Your profile looks very similar to mine except the fact that I am an undergraduate and you have an MA (which I would think would be in your favor). I only applied to 4 I/O programs and 2 OB programs. Do not get anxious. I would be absolutely shocked if you did not get interviews/acceptances. As long as you applied to programs where the faculty is a good fit with what you do/want to do then you are extremely competitive.

I didn't post that either, but I had one professor who sent the letter to me too. I cried too. I thought to myself "Wow, professors really pay attention to EVERYTHING you do". It was very detailed and had examples in it that I didn't even think about while I did them.

Thank you Dinnerdate and KW58D! And a big congratulations to you too! I can't lie, I thought mine was a long shot too, even though I thought the fit was perfect.

Thank you Buzzin! Good luck as well. (and keep in contact with me. Perhaps we'll be hitting schools at the same time)

Received an acceptance to George Mason's I/O program this past weekend. Extremely happy as it was in my top 3 schools before visits, funding, anything else is taken into account.

Thanks for being detailed about it Cog! I guess it makes sense. I would encourage everyone to not assume anything about the process at all though. I thought I was getting called to have an interview setup and was told I was accepted in the program. I was shocked (in a very good way obviously), but I don't believe there are any hard rules regarding anything in the process, other than you will be told when you have an interview or not, and whether you are accepted or not.

I'm curious why everyone wants to know which POI accepted/interview applicants have. The school I go to has professors that take 2 applicants a year on a pretty regular basis (which generally means another takes none that year). Also, why are they secret and need to be PM'd? I mostly ask because I have a result, but am hesitant to share because of all the secrecy in this thread.

I applied to I/O and OB/OS programs this year, so I guess there are at least a couple of us. I am actually finding this time somewhat relaxing, since everything I can do has already been done. I've had a few of my professors ask me what is going on and I just say, one informal phone interview, no offers yet.

I must say, I agree with JoePianist. I took two schools off my list since neither POI at either school bothered to respond to my email (sent in late October). While everyone is nervous about getting into grad school, I have absolutely no interest in spending the next 5 or 6 years of my life with you as a researcher if you can't even respond to a simple email asking if you are accepting students in your lab this year.