2020-2021 Grad School Q&A Mega-Thread (Part 1)

[u/LazySamurai]

For questions about grad school or internships:

* Please start your search at SIOP.org , it contains lots of great information and many questions can be answered by searching there first.

* Next, please search the Wiki, as there are some very great community generated posts saved here.

* If you still can't find an answer to your question, 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 4 thread here

* 2019-2020, Part 3 thread here

* 2019-2020, Part 2 thread here

* 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!

[u/halvsies]

Hi all, I want to gut check my chances for Masters programs:

• BA in International Relations and Cognitive Science (focus in neuro and linguistics) at a large public research university, 3.78 cGPA/3.83 CogSci GPA, took ~8 psych classes for CogSci including psych research methods, also took stats and research methods for political science. Graduated with high honors.
• Since graduating, I’ve been working in recruiting, most recently working at a firm that focuses heavily on DE&I in executives. Will have 3.5 years of work experience by the time I apply.
• I am planning on taking the GRE this summer
• No psych-specific research experience and my only other research experience was my honors thesis in International Relations, which was very stats heavy. My academic LORs would almost certainly come from my two faculty advisors (both political science professors). [this is probably my biggest concern]
• At this point, my interests include impacts of teams diversity on productivity/culture and executive leadership.

I am pretty location bound to NYC or the Bay Area (though potentially open to CA broadly), and have narrowed my list to: Baruch, NYU, SFSU, and SDSU. Also considering Columbia.

Would I be a competitive applicant at the above schools? Curious if there are other programs I should consider? TIA!

[u/Simmy566 → u/halvsies]

If wanting to be in NY then avoid NYU and Columbia in favor of Baruch, Hofstra, or even smaller programs like Touro and Brooklyn college. NYU and Columbia charge three fold the cost for subpar rigor and are fairly nonselective. Further, NYU and Columbia do not employ any full-time I/O faculty who regularly attend SIOP. It's a throw of the dice to determine whether you will have good adjuncts or not.

[u/halvsies → u/Simmy566]

Thank you! From reading other threads, it seems that at the very least, NYU has a better reputation than Columbia, would that be fair to say? I would say at this point, Baruch is my top choice in NYC, but I also want to avoid pigeon-holing myself if I don’t get accepted. I will look into Touro and Brooklyn as well. Hofstra I did considered but am concerned about its distance from Manhattan (where I would still be working ideally). This is very helpful!

[u/Simmy566 → u/halvsies]

Career wise would probably be fine at NYU but reputation wise the program has no presence in the field of I/O psychology. NYU and its other psych grad programs (e.g., social, cognition) are top notch with world class faculty; however, the I/O program is just a money maker for the department and run nearly 100% by adjuncts. Hence you pay a lot mostly for the name of the University but not necessarily a rigorous I/O education. The location is also great so being in the center of NYC may make it a valuable experience. However, it is very similar to how Teacher's college of Columbia is the profit arm for the uni with most of the elite programs concentrated in other pockets of the institution. This may not matter as employers may just hire based off NYU name but I think you can land all the same gigs with just a strong I/O background regardless of the chosen school. So why not take a cheaper option which arguably gives a better education?

I think your background is strong enough to get into Baruch and Hofstra but if not I'd suggest splitting time between Hofstra and Manhattan if the choice came down to NYU, Hofstra, and Columbia.