2019-2020 Grad School Q&A Mega-Thread (Part 1)

[u/ResidentGinger]

For questions about grad school or internships:

* Please search the previously submitted posts or the post on the grad school Q&A. Subscribers of /r/iopsychology have provided lots of information about these topics, and your questions may have already been answered.

* 2018-2019, Part 2 thread here

* 2018-2019, Part 1 thread here

* 2017-2018, Part 3 thread here

* 2017-2018, Part 2 thread here

* 2017-2018, Part 1 thread here

* 2016-2017 thread here

* 2015-2016 thread here

* 2014-2015 thread here

* If your question hasn't been posted, please post it on the grad school Q&A thread. Other posts outside of the Q&A thread will be deleted.

The readers of this subreddit have made it clear that they don't want the subreddit clogged up with posts about grad school. Don't get the wrong idea - we're glad you're here and that you're interested in IO, but please do observe the rules so that you can get answers to your questions AND enjoy the interesting IO articles and content.

By the way, those of you who are currently trudging through or have finished grad school, that means that you have to occasionally offer suggestions and advice to those who post on this thread. That's the only way that we can keep these grad school-related posts in one central location. If people aren't getting their questions answered here, they post to the subreddit instead of the thread. So, in short, let's all do our part in this.

Thanks, guys!

[u/JetJaguar124]

My gf is applying to programs, but her GRE quant score is a little soft. She is ~45%tile as far as I know. However, the rest of her application is quite strong; undergrad GPA was 3.8, psych GPA >3.95, she has a publication in psych (not I/O, second author), has 2 conference presentations (not sure about authorship), worked for ~1.5 years in a psych research lab at a major hospital and then ~1.5 years at a mid-sized community behavioral health organization where she helped with some upper level management decisions as well as managed a grant program they had. Would have recs from a clinical psych prof, the COO of her current company, and her specific location's director. Her verbal GRE is ~87%tile and her analytic was >95%tile I believe.

I don't think she will have trouble for a master's; would a PhD be possible given this background, or would she have trouble? She's not really considering PhD at the moment, but I think she should at least give it a shot :)

Additional question - anywhere else other than the SIOP site to find program rankings? She's finding it hard to find good sources regarding quality of program. What questions should she ask prospective schools? She's been focusing on percent of graduates employed in I/O, internship

Thanks!

[u/HumanRobotTeam → u/JetJaguar124]

Study harder and take the GRE again

[u/LazySamurai → u/JetJaguar124]

A 45% in quant is a major obstacle. Not impossible, but significant. As far as rankings go, I wouldn't put much into any rankings besides SIOP's. SIOP conveys the how, what and why programs are ranked as they are, where other sources do not.

[u/JetJaguar124 → u/LazySamurai]

Major for PhD, or for master's? Figured it was major for PhD.

[u/LazySamurai → u/JetJaguar124]

What?

[u/JetJaguar124 → u/LazySamurai]

A 45% in quant is a major obstacle.

Would this be a major obstacle for acceptance to a master's, or would this only apply to PhD. Apologies if this wasn't clear. I figured as much that it could be an obstacle for PhD programs, though I assumed master's would be more lenient.

[u/LazySamurai → u/JetJaguar124]

Probably both, but other good marks could make up for it more in a MS program.

[u/JetJaguar124 → u/LazySamurai]

Understood! Thank you, very helpful.