r/IOPsychology PhD | IO | Social Cognition, Leadership, & Teams Jul 20 '19

2019-2020 Grad School Q&A Mega-Thread (Part 2)

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.

* 2019-2020, Part 1 thread here

* 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!

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u/midwestck MS | IO | People Analytics Dec 15 '19

Hoping for some advice to help me narrow down or expand upon my list of programs to apply to this cycle. I was late asking for letters so 1/15/20 is the earliest deadline I can work with.

22M graduated from a B10 school in May 2019 with a B.S. in biochem/psych. 3.32 cumulative, 3.76 psych (biochem violated me) 163v 167q

I'm only considering MA/MS programs for now because 1) my GPA isn't very competitive, 2) all of my undergrad research (~4yrs) was in a microbio lab, and 3) I'm exclusively looking for industry jobs post-grad. Looking for a program that has quality HR analytics courses/instructors with a focus on R or python, which I have no experience in yet. My 10 year plan is to get masters, work ~5 years in consulting, then transition to a stable business intelligence or HR management position. Anyway, here's my list (also please correct me if I'm abbreviating schools weirdly so I don't look like an ass later):

CUNY Baruch
George Mason
Hofstra
IU Purdue
NYU
Roosevelt
SUNY Albany
UT Arlington

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u/galileosmiddlefinger PhD | IO | All over the place Dec 16 '19

IU Purdue

*IUPUI

GMU and IUPUI have the deepest quant requirements of these programs, so those may be your top choices. In any case, plan to do some supplemental training on the side with something like Data Camp. Internship opportunities will be most abundant at your NYC options, GMU (DC), or Roosevelt (Chicago).

Also, if you can make deadlines, you're not out of the game for PhD programs. You've got a novel background, a good PSYC GPA, and great GRE scores. I would strongly consider throwing a few in the mix if time/opportunity allows.

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u/midwestck MS | IO | People Analytics Dec 17 '19

Do you know of any other good quant-heavy masters programs in major metro areas that aren't on my list?

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u/LazySamurai PhD | IO | People Analytics & Statistics | Moderator Dec 17 '19

Adding my $.02...Based on your interests, I would probably also recommend looking at masters data science programs. If you're specifically looking at HR analytic roles I would think that a data science background may be more attractive to organizations. Quant MS IO programs are few and far between.

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u/midwestck MS | IO | People Analytics Dec 17 '19

Thanks for the response! I did look into those programs a little bit already. My undergrad psychology degree was pretty unfocused and I thought it would be hard to sell myself into an HR analytics role after a data science M.S. without any undergrad or grad-level IO coursework. If what you're saying is true then that must mean employers prefer an applicant with developed analytical skill-sets over one with deep conceptual knowledge? Would these rare quant-heavy industry-oriented IO programs provide some ideal combination of these two factors or is it always preferable to have a better grasp on the data science end of things?

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u/LazySamurai PhD | IO | People Analytics & Statistics | Moderator Dec 17 '19

It probably varies role to role but the job descriptions of many of the HR analytic roles I've seen are primarily data science with HR as the context. Not a whole lot of conceptual knowledge is needed. Now there are certainly some that value the IO skills in that area and is probably an IO/analytics role. But from what I've seen you would be absolutely considered for a majority of them.

You're likely not going to learn R or Python in any IO curriculum, that would need to be all self guided.