wandatheavenger

Does anyone else get the feeling that the SIOP convention is slowing down the remaining bit of the process? Maybe I'm just sick of waiting...

The entire process is ridiculous in how expensive it is. I could only afford to apply to five programs and wouldn't be able to pay my own way to visit a school across the country right now. It seems like a bit of an unfair way to reduce the number of applicants.

I got that from one of my schools a few weeks ago. I sent an email basically stating that I had documentation stating that the problem wasn't with me or my undergrad institution and that I'd be happy to resend ASAP if needed. They found them shortly thereafter. My guess is that a student worker didn't know what they were doing and misplaced them. It didn't affect the status of my application at all.

While I find effort to be very important, the simple fact is that we grade on performance, the mastery of the content area, not how hard the student tries to master it. And I don't buy the argument that a student trying their hardest might still fail due to a lack of background knowledge. With the magic of the internet, information has become available on just about every topic, if one only wishes to take the time to look for it. And if it's not online, a student might have to resort to one of those sneaky little buggers called a library *gasp!* Heaven forbid they be responsible for knowing stuff.

My unofficial I/O adviser who's been helping me out with my I/O stuff is working on her dissertation from CMU and has worked very closely with both Drs. Christiansen and Wagner. She's had nothing but great things to say about both of them.

One thing that will also help you out immensely is to start looking at what specific areas of I/O you are interested in studying (personnel selection, motivation, leadership, etc...) and make a point of showing a marked interest in them. If you are lucky enough to have an I/O psychologist as faculty at your college (I had the benefit of an ABD from my program of choice in the department who was amazingly helpful) see if you can't get an independent study on an area of I/O with them. Most love the idea of having a student genuinely interested in their field and would be willing to do that for you. Not only would that show interest, but also give them an opportunity to get enough experience with you to write one hell of a letter of recommendation and you have demonstration of interest for your personal statement. Also, look for programs that focus on what you are interested in, including what sort of approach they take to I/O. If you want to be more of a practitioner, for example, make that clear and go for programs that focus on that aspect of the field. The more you can show that your interests fit in well with the program, the more likely they are to ignore a slightly lower GPA. Best of luck to you.