honkycat1

I am the exception because of my UG research interest. and I said its the gre/grades that matter is because the fact I'm the exception in terms of my research interest shouldn't say anything about my qualifications as an applicant. so I'm saying, keep doing what you are doing, you don't need specific I/O research experience, make sure you have good stats, and general research knowledge, as well as SOME idea of the I/O field.

but I think, going into a phd program in cognitive area with the intention of getting an non-academic job when you leave is probably not too practical. because thats just not what you are getting trained to do, to be honest...

also, if there is a "subfield" that is being overlooked in terms of quantitative psych, its bayesian statistics... so if thats something your interested, you may be able to find a niche within psychology to do that. Look up Michael Lee at UC Irvine, hes is (was?) the president of math psych and hes a big proponent of bayesian statistics... but its a relatively upcoming group of social scientists that do not use traditional NHST methods...

a school like BG would be looking for a min of 1100 but aim for 1250 range (not hard standards but its close). GPA wise 3.5 is probably the min you want to have. I would say I'm the exception. BUT this is with a caveat, I would guess I represent few FEW applicants in terms of interest and stats. Meaning, most people with my background and experience would get into many more cognitive programs and they would not be applying to I/O. So its a selection issue. in terms of narrowing down the field, again, you have to demonstrate you have SOME idea about the type of work, and some potential areas that draws you to the field. and the rest may be fit, but in I/O psych, most programs admit students to the program, not specific advisors like they do in clinical or cognitive, so your research "fit" plays a role but not a HUGE role.

most people will disagree with me, but being in the I/O program, and having spoken with I/O faculty and people on the admissions board, read extensively on selection literature, I can tell you this: GPA and GRE will be what they place the highest weight on. Research interest does not necessarily have to be specific to I/O. As long as you show 1) you know what you are doing, 2) you have experience with basic principles of design, analysis, 3) You have a well-informed interest in I/O, then it shouldn't be much of a problem. If you have good stats, and demonstrate you can succeed in grad school, and show some interest in I/O, you will have a good chance. I did NO research in I/O psych and as you will see in your selection process, bowling green is pretty good. good luck. let me know if you need help.

a general linear model course in UG is probably just ANOVA? maybe some basic regression? but its all very basic stats stuff that every psych student will have to know in grad school. I don't think a UG course on methodology can be "overlooked" in any way. Unless its something different, then please let me know the content. But either way, I can't imagine any UG course resemble anything of a grad level course also, quant psych isn't really a "field", its really just a focus on quantitatively rigor in terms of methodology... thats my understanding at least, a lot of the "quantitative" psychologists are part of other subfields too that just happens to use rigorous methods in their research. in terms of actual quant psych, its VERY rigorous and they are generally interested in using formal probability or computation models on various fields of psychology, or in depth analysis or simulation of various research methodologies... you definitely need quite a bit of math like linear algebra, matrix algebra, advanced calc, probability theory, computer programming, etc... Of course you will be trained on a lot of those but just a basic calc course and psych stats will not demonstrate you have the pre-requisites I don't think. I would go on the society for math psychology website (http://www.mathpsych.org) and look around, as well as look at some papers in the field to get a sense of the rigor of their work. Its really the nerdiest psych subfield there is lol... ps: I'm not in this field, but my previous lab had 3 people that were all math psych members and do a LOT of formal modeling and bayesian analysis, and they are quite familiar with math psych so I have an idea of the type of work they do.

I don't know how useful a masters in experimental psych will be... and what options you have with that. If you want to do experimental psych as a career, you will have to have a PhD eventually, and I don't know how many of PhD programs in those fields accept a masters. I would definitely 1) Apply to PhD programs, if you don't get in 2) Wait a year and get some posters/publication under your belt and apply again Or you can skip #1 completely and just take a year off and work as a RA if you can support yourself. Also make sure you rock your GRE because your GPA is average at best.

I think its 95% fashion statement, but then, we convince ourselves its like 20% fashion statement and 80% something thats more reasonable to even make this a reasonable discussion. for me, backpack all the way. And also for me, its both for functionality and fashion statement that I'm a friggin student that just need to get things done regardless of how I look. I'm never sacrificing functionality and convenience for looks. I have a shoulder bag for my laptop and its a * to carry, I just put my laptop in my backpack... along with my papers and lunch.

working in the office is a huge + for me too

what a brilliant idea!!! PS: 10 minute email works great for this edit: do you even need a legit email?? lol http://db.tt/YQ7fnaN

Please don't misunderstand the question, I don't mean like, how do you EVER find motivation. But do you ever find an extra spark of "I gotta get down and get stuff done" type of motivation in this? movies? music? some video? reading about someone's autobiography?

the same reason why ogranizations don't like to use personnel selection tests but rather intuition and unstructured interviews. Anyways, most people don't think GRE or any standardized scores mean anything, which is fine, but there are not statistically better measure or predictor of grad success. Most research show "intuition", "unstructured interview", and other non-standardized methods of selection are pretty much fail across the board. Not surprised at the thumb downs though. and people use the word "predictor" so cavalierly... how do you measure personal letter? how do you measure LOR? how can someone say something is a predictor when you can't even measure it?

GRE is the probably the best predictor of graduate success... what research have you found that shown otherwise?

there is definitely a negative stigma against it, but if you can show why that school is the best fit for you, then its not impossible. I would be interested in what kind of data people have on how less likely you are to get accepted if you went the same undergrad.

yea I really can't see a professor getting mad... I mean, they were grad students once, they might have applied to 10+ schools. and 14 is not an absurd number anyways. but yes give them an organized envelope of all the material they need: I think when I was applying, I printed a full list, with deadlines of all the schools and program, as well as address or instructions on electronic submission. I printed a copy of my cv, a writing sample, and later dropped off stamped envelopes as the turn in date was near (profs will almost ALWAYS procrastinate this). make the work minimal for them so they don't have to worry about anything other than write the letter. the better they feel about writing a letter for you the better it will be. Professors are not immune to emotions in their judgment.

if you can make the research interest and experience relevant to aspects of i/o then its not hard. I had no i/o experience but my research experience in other areas helped me. Speaking some profs, a lot of what they look for is your experience as a research, regardless of the area. Yes, i/o research experience would be a bonus but they know I/O is a small area and not an area every school has. so to rule out applicants because they didn't work on a i/o project would be unfair and overlooking a lot of great applicants. but what that said, you better have a damn good c.v in terms of research products. (papers, presentations, etc)

social psych phd is very competitive for sure. I would agree with some of what psychgrad 2011 said about i/o BUT its program dependent. some program will accept more and only graduate a small percent, some programs will admit few and have a higher graduation rate

doing baysian data analysis http://doingbayesian...p-bayesian.html economics / behavior economics blogs freakonomics http://www.freakonomics.com/blog/ http://danariely.com/

Cognitive Science has a lot of computation and software design, human interface technology etc. But social psychology is very much research oriented. Cognitive Psychology specifically, is also very heavily research oriented. a phd in those programs EXPECT you to be involved in academia, they focus on publication and research. but again, as far as cognitive science goes, if you also have a great background in computer science, there is definitely applied fields for that. again, from my experience, a lot of phd programs will not want you if they don't think your goal is to find a career in academia, thats what they are training you to become. If I were you I would definitely talk to the faculty in the program and ask them what they expect their graduates to do. getting a phd in a program that doesn't train you on applied work will NOT land you a job even after you graduate.

yes I would take a year off and study for the GRE while working on getting some research pub/presentation. My friend got a 1150 or so the first time, studied the entire summer and got 1350 the second time around.

For those of you who have been accepted, what was your applicant profile like? What was your gpa 3.5, gre score? Q:720 V:600 How many years of research experience did you have: I would say 2.5? first half year mostly doing RA stuff at a social personality lab. 2 years in a cognitive psychology lab. 1 talk presented at a undergrad cognitive science conference my junior year, 2 posters presented in my senior year (SJDM and Midwest CogSci Conference, all first authorship) What ranks were the schools that accepted you? We don't really rank and my GPA sucks but I was voted the outstanding senior for my major at Michigan State Univ. As far as I/O goes, I got into a pretty good phd program so I might be able to help you out

from your post, I would definitely encourage taking a year off. I think the people that do the best in grad school, are people that have a passion and the drive to do whatever it is they intend to do in grad school. Be it mastering an applied field, or diving into the world of science and research. So those that are not sure, I would take the year off.

I don't know the policy with letters of rec in master programs but how do you plan on getting them if "nor did I establish a connection with any of my psychology professors."

here is my take: its not very important. The school I applied to required* it (as printed online) but I didn't have a score, and I got in. if you did well in all your core psych classes, especially psych 101, you really don't have to study much to do well. however, if you think you will struggle and think you need a lot of time to study, then I wouldn't even bother. so, I think take a practice, if you do well, then take the test. If you don't do well and feel you will sink a lot of time into studying it, then forget it. It helps, obviously, but the magnitude of that help is not worth the time it takes for you to improve your score. Unless you have nothing else to do but study for that thing.

did it for the first month of undergrad, never used it, give it away. Its one of those "seems like a good idea" things that just doesn't have the practicality. most stuff you can find video lectures on youtube, and discussions are not really worth recording anyways. just take good notes.