I/O graduate education

[riz]

Hello everyone,

I was hoping to get some advice on my current situation as far as my education goes in I/O psyc. I am currently an undergraduate junior at UMD and i ahve been premed/psychology , until now where i have decided to pursue my major instead and more specifically I/O psyc. The reason for htis is i have found that i am not getting the grades that i would like with the premed courses, which i have completed but with a 2.3 average which has brought my overall GPA very low. However, the GPA for the rest of my courses including Psyc is about 3.5. I always kept psychology as my backup plan, but hadnt decided anything specific, until i researched I/O psyc and found it very interesting. UMD offers a couple of lab and lecture courses in I/O which i have registered for. However, i am concerned that i will not be able to get into any PhD program with my GPA and i basically only have 3 semesters left to graduate so even if i do get a 4.0 every semester, it wont boost my GPA that much. Now that i dont have to worry about any of my science classes anymore, i feel getting a 3.8-4.0 for the remainder of my undergraduate career is achievable, as i have demonstrated this with my non science classes. i eventually want to do PhD, but in my current situation i cannot most likely get into any program directly, so i thought i will apply for masters first, and then go from there. However, i am concerned that i will not be able to get into any masters program either . So i guess my question is, what options do i have left now? I fulfilled my premed requirements, but at a cost for my GPA which now wont allow me to get into any psych graduate program either. Sorry for the long explanation, but any incite would be helpful, thanks! the only thing i can think of is taking an extra year and trying to boost my GPA further from the two extra semesters. I have not taken the GRE yet, but i plan to this summer, as well as participate in research. If i get sufficient research, high gre, and good letters, will this be able to compensate for my low GPA? if so to wat extent.

[uberskooper]

Your situation is a little similar to mine. At one point I thought it might be a palatable idea to go premed (thanks mom), so I tried to double major in psychology and physiology. I thought that I would major in both, take the GRE and MCAT, and decide where my best chances were. In order to complete undergrad on schedule, I had to take pretty heavy course loads in the sciences. 20 credits and 2 jobs held concurrently (as well as a lack of real interest in physiology) ended up with me getting exhausted and doing poorly all year. The result was a GPA drop from 3.7 to 3.3. After this, I decided to just stick to psychology (my original plan) and not to follow my parents' advice.

Anyway this really isn't about me, it's about you. You can still get into a Ph.D grad program. What is your final GPA going to be? From my reading, anything above a 3.5 will not afford you a great competitive advantage in most schools*. Even a 3.0 can get you into lower tier programs**. GPA (and GRE scores) serve more as a screen to junk out unworthy applicants. After that, your letters of recommendation, statement of purpose, and relevant experiences (research, teaching) that hold more weight.

My advice to you is to use your remaining time to get into an I/O lab and get all the experience you can. Take all the I/O classes you can. Try to develop your research interests, so that you will have something to talk about in your statement of purpose (along with all that research experience). Your time in the lab will also give you some good recommendations. Check out the SIOP website for program listings to find admission information about I/O programs and faculty research interests that match with your own. Do well on the GRE. You can also explain why your GPA was so low in your statement of purpose. That's what I did.

http://www.siop.org/gtp/gtplookup.asp

*Except ultra competitive schools, but even for them I think that a very high GPA (say 4.0) will afford you no great advantage over another applicant with a slightly lower GPA (say 3.8).

** Though a 3.0 is the BARE minimum. Below that your are pretty much screwed. I think a 2.7 will get you into some Masters programs.

[riz]

so if i have a 3.0 i still have some chances into getting into some masters programs even some PhD programs. i calculate that at the time of graduation my gpa should be around 3.3. however, at the time of sending in my applications, my GPA mayb around 2.9. So basically im screwed because thats the GPA they will look at to determine to accept or not. Ive been going through every single college on SIOP list and when finals are over will be making a complete rank of which colleges should be easiest for me to get into. What are the lowest of the low tier colleges as you mentioned? thanks

[dherres]

I can commiserate, I'm in a similar situation. My first few years at my school are far less than exemplary, due to struggles with depression/alcoholism, and later mild addiction. I took a few years off, though, and had stellar performance after that, but my GPA at my current school (Emory) is still a 3.155 (I took some classes at Georgia State University during my hiatus and made a 4.0, so if I include those -- which I have been doing for most applications! -- it's still just a 3.28). I have found, however, that it can help to email some people at the programs to which you're applying and describe your situation. U. of Akron, for example, has a GPA requirement of 3.25. Before I factored in my GSU grades I didn't meet it, so I emailed the program coordinator and explained (some of) the situation, qualifying it with my most recent performance and other qualifications. She told me to still apply, as exceptions and wavers are made when other areas may compensate. And I don't think U. of Akron would be described as a low-tier program......

So long story short, don't be discouraged!

[IOPsych83]

I recommend doing very well on the GRE. From what I have seen most programs use the GPA as more of a cutoff...if you have around a 3.5 you are fine..now obviously if you are looking at the very top programs that will not be the case as they can be much more selective. However schools in the Central Michigan, UCF, SLU,..etc. range you should be fine with a 3.5. The reason for this is because most program directors realize that grade inflation is becoming very common in universities nowadays, so how can you compare a 3.5 at one school to a 3.7 at another school? Now everyone has to take the GRE and it is a reliable and valid measure, so you can draw more direct comparisons between applicants. My program director has also told me that they look at the quant. score more than the verbal score. If you can get a 1300 on the GRE you have a good shot at getting into a lot of decent programs even with a 3.4.

[wandatheavenger]

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.

[prefers_pencils]

Out of curiosity, what made everyone interested in I/O psych? Do you identify more with the I-side or the O-side?

I had pursued clinical psych, then counseling psych, because I wanted to help adolescents deal with everyday struggles in their lives. Then a terrible work experience greatly affected my and my coworkers' mental and physical health, and I felt compelled to pursue I/O. I've always loved social psych, but I want to do applied work, and in my case, O-leaning programs seem the best fit. I do wonder if I'll miss the opportunity to do individually therapy in the future, so I'm applying to MA programs, and will decide whether to continue with I/O or attempt to transition to a counseling psych PhD.

Anyway, just wanted to share

[paiged]

This might be a tad on the long side, for which I apologize.

As for getting into grad programs:

I don't have the highest gre scores (I don't remember the break down, but it was below 1300) and i got a 620 on the psych GRE... and I also didn't have the highest GPA (3.61, 3.51 Psych) and I got accepted to Penn State, Bowling Green State, and Purdue, waitlisted from Michigan State, and haven't heard from Akron or DePaul. For me what really helped was getting my research experience with professors even outside of I/O psychology; I have worked in a social cognition lab with a professor for 3 years and am in the process of writing an undergraduate thesis with him. I have working in a Culture/Emotional Labor lab, as well as even a clinical psychology lab. My research experience proved to be extremely valuable when applying to schools. Also, start taking grad classes if you can: I know that I'm lucky in that I go to a large R1 with a prestigious I/O program, but for me what really helped were the quantitative psychology courses. I took the first year grad courses, worked my butt off in them, and got an amazing recommendation letter from that professor. I/O programs LOVE students who see math/stats as a great asset to their education, rather than something you have to do. Even something as simple as linear algebra (math 125 at my school) helps because you need to know it anyways for a lot of upper level stats. Also, I highly encourage taking I/O cluster courses, but also supplementing them with other courses. For example, see if your school offers courses human resources, labor industrial relations, or business communication; I'm currently in a class on training in business/industry as well as a course on the theory and practice of interviewing. I've also taken organizational communications courses through my communications department. I don't think you need to take an extra year-- you obviously have done the math, two extra semesters can't knock up your GPA that much higher. If you want to wait a year before applying to grad school, see if you can get a job as a lab manager or doing other sorts of research. As you can see, even with a GPA that isn't as competitive with other applicants, I did much better than I expected to when applying to graduate school. Now... I just have to chose which one. Apply to both Masters and PhD programs if you still feel weary-- you might surprise yourself. I sure did...

As for why I chose I/O Psych:

I came into undergrad thinking I was going to get my PhD in social psych. Working in the social cognition lab showed me that wasn't what I wanted to do, I wanted something more applied. I had I/O grad students for both Intro Psych and Social Psych, and their insight helped me a lot because before meeting them I had no idea that I/O psychology existed. It's not taught in most Intro Psych courses, which I think is very unfortunate. I've worked different jobs (while being a student full time) since I was 16 in a variety of industries, and so that also gave me a lot of insight to pull from of ways I wish I/O psych had been integrated into my experiences and how I wanted to change things. Research Interests wise, I'm more on the I side of things; my honors thesis is on personnel selection, but I also like performance assessment/appraisal/feedback and training. O-side I'm a motivation kind of person, and I also want to do work in quantitative and research methodology.

[kristincas]

On 3/12/2009 at 11:41 AM, paiged said:

This might be a tad on the long side, for which I apologize.

 

As for getting into grad programs:

I don't have the highest gre scores (I don't remember the break down, but it was below 1300) and i got a 620 on the psych GRE... and I also didn't have the highest GPA (3.61, 3.51 Psych) and I got accepted to Penn State, Bowling Green State, and Purdue, waitlisted from Michigan State, and haven't heard from Akron or DePaul. For me what really helped was getting my research experience with professors even outside of I/O psychology; I have worked in a social cognition lab with a professor for 3 years and am in the process of writing an undergraduate thesis with him. I have working in a Culture/Emotional Labor lab, as well as even a clinical psychology lab. My research experience proved to be extremely valuable when applying to schools. Also, start taking grad classes if you can: I know that I'm lucky in that I go to a large R1 with a prestigious I/O program, but for me what really helped were the quantitative psychology courses. I took the first year grad courses, worked my butt off in them, and got an amazing recommendation letter from that professor. I/O programs LOVE students who see math/stats as a great asset to their education, rather than something you have to do. Even something as simple as linear algebra (math 125 at my school) helps because you need to know it anyways for a lot of upper level stats. Also, I highly encourage taking I/O cluster courses, but also supplementing them with other courses. For example, see if your school offers courses human resources, labor industrial relations, or business communication; I'm currently in a class on training in business/industry as well as a course on the theory and practice of interviewing. I've also taken organizational communications courses through my communications department. I don't think you need to take an extra year-- you obviously have done the math, two extra semesters can't knock up your GPA that much higher. If you want to wait a year before applying to grad school, see if you can get a job as a lab manager or doing other sorts of research. As you can see, even with a GPA that isn't as competitive with other applicants, I did much better than I expected to when applying to graduate school. Now... I just have to chose which one. Apply to both Masters and PhD programs if you still feel weary-- you might surprise yourself. I sure did...

 

As for why I chose I/O Psych:

I came into undergrad thinking I was going to get my PhD in social psych. Working in the social cognition lab showed me that wasn't what I wanted to do, I wanted something more applied. I had I/O grad students for both Intro Psych and Social Psych, and their insight helped me a lot because before meeting them I had no idea that I/O psychology existed. It's not taught in most Intro Psych courses, which I think is very unfortunate. I've worked different jobs (while being a student full time) since I was 16 in a variety of industries, and so that also gave me a lot of insight to pull from of ways I wish I/O psych had been integrated into my experiences and how I wanted to change things. Research Interests wise, I'm more on the I side of things; my honors thesis is on personnel selection, but I also like performance assessment/appraisal/feedback and training. O-side I'm a motivation kind of person, and I also want to do work in quantitative and research methodology.

I know that this post is really old, but it was super helpful in dealing with admissions anxiety!  Thank you!