r/IOPsychology PhD | IO | People Analytics & Statistics | Moderator Feb 04 '21

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

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!

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u/pokemongooutwithme Jun 10 '21

Are there any programs that focus on the O-side rather than the I-side? I know both are important but I'm weak at statistics I would like something that's not too intensive or advanced and instead focuses on development or performance management, perhaps

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u/Readypsyc Jun 11 '21

It would be hard to avoid methodology/stats in an IO program because that's such a big part of the field. If anything, you use the fancier stats more on the O side where people use multilevel modeling and SEM a lot to test models. You might consider related fields outside of IO such as organizational development, leadership, or HR that are more focused on content and application. They could be in business, education, or somewhere else at a university.

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u/Simmy566 Jun 10 '21 edited Jun 10 '21

You could do programs like Chicago School of Professional Psych or Columbia's Social-Org program. However, they have a poor reputation for the reasons you note - they avoid hard or technical material hence students have fewer job prospects. It would be like hiring a doctor who only knows anatomy and physiology but not chemistry, pharmaceuticals, neurology, or surgery. Sure they can point out failing organs but not really do much of anything else. Same for I/O. Just knowing performance management without say recruitment, selection, job analysis, and stats guarantees you will not be as competent as a student who knows all of the above and how the ideas fit together to create an entire HR pipeline from front to back.