<p>Hey everyone,</p>
<p>I'm a 22-year old male planning on finishing my undergraduate degree this December. However, I don't have a stellar academic record. Nor was the GRE a total success. I'm interested in pursuing a Masters in Industrial/Organizational Psychology or Human Factors (Engineering) Psychology. </p>
<p>I'm interested in studying at the University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin or Georgia Tech. However any program relevant to I/O psychology that will admit me sounds pretty good.</p>
<p>My "stats":</p>
<p>Psychology B.A. from University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
GPA: 2.3-2.4 (lots of C's and a few D's, predominantly outside my major. I did poorly in premedical biology, history of Darwinian science, and an art history course)
GRE: 147 V (gulp), 155 Q, 5 W</p>
<ul>
<li>1 year internship facilitating parental ethicacy lessons and leading supervised visitation sessions for non-custodial parents of at-risk children</li>
<li>6 years of heavy customer-relations work history</li>
<li>1 semester as a research assistant in social interaction laboratory </li>
<li>Heavy coursework focus in management. Took several business-related courses through Carlson School of Management as well as graduate level coursework in both the MSW and I/O program</li>
</ul>
<p>That's about all I have. Is there any hope for me? If there isn't, what would you suggest I do?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>I would really suggest that you take time off and pursue professional work in the field and look at coming back to school later on.</p>
<p>You are not likely to get into many graduate programs straight out of undergrad with a 2.3-2.4 GPA - that’s just the bottom line. That GPA doesn’t suggest that you are well-prepared or positioned to succeed in graduate-level coursework. Your GRE scores are not horrible, but they’re certainly not going to help show that your GPA is an aberration. Also think about letters of recommendation - are your professors willing to recommend you for graduate work despite your low GPA?</p>
<p>More to the point, you need to think about why you want to go to graduate school. If you haven’t performed particularly well as an undergraduate student, why do you expect to be able to perform well as a graduate student? The coursework and expectations certainly aren’t going to get any easier, and at the graduate level, a 3.0 GPA is bare minimum.</p>
<p>Your best bet is to pursue work in the field for a year or two, and then apply with a track record of professional experience to offset your academic record.</p>
<p>Also, you really need to do some homework about the schools you’re looking at. Neither U of M nor Georgia Tech admit master’s students in I/O psychology - they have only a doctorate track. The U of Wisconsin does not even have an I/O psychology program.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Shucks. It was late when I posted this and I was trying to be concise and mistakenly typed “masters” and left out other details. GTECH and Minnesota only have 6-year doctoral tracks for I/O, and GTECH has an equivalent program in Engineering Psychology. Wisconsin doesn’t have a specialized I/O program, however they have a concentration in Social/Personality Psychology on top of an Individualized Graduate Major which could include emphasis in research with a professor researching organizational psychology. That is ONLY IF any professors happen to be researching a related topic at the time.</p>
<p>My bad for seeming misinformed.</p>
<p>As far as professional work before going to graduate school, I think it’s a great idea and was my initial plan. However, my B.A. in Psychology may limit my opportunities to work in any industry that would expose me to I/O principles unless I can land a job in Human Resources. Any advice here?</p>
<p>You are not going to be admitted to a doctoral program given your academic performance. Doctoral admissions are extremely competitive and that GPA is going to get you dumped at the first cut regardless of just about anything else. Frankly, your work doesn’t demonstrate that you’re prepared for that level of study.</p>
<p>The most recent admissions stats for U of M psychology: 385 applicants, 37 admitted, average GPA 3.74.</p>
<p>You need a new plan, because it is not realistic to believe that you are going to be accepted to any doctoral program straight out of college.</p>
<p>Social and personality psychology is really different from I/O (that’s my field), so I wouldn’t suggest going to a social or personality psych program if you are really interested in being an I/O psychologist UNLESS there is a really strong professor in the field of I/O psych (I mean who publishes in the I/O journals) who works in that department and is willing to take you.</p>
<p>I agree with polarscribe: your chances were slim even for an MS in psychology, but you won’t get into a doctoral program (ESPECIALLY not the top 25ish programs you cited, UW-Madison, Tech and Minnesota) with a 2.3-2.4 GPA and mediocre GRE scores, plus only one semester as a research assistant.</p>
<ol>
<li>You need better grades.</li>
<li>You need to raise your GRE scores.</li>
<li>You need more research experience (this is actually priority one).</li>
</ol>
<p>There are a few different routes you can take here:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Try to get into a master’s program in psychology. There are master’s programs in I/O psychology, where you can get more research experience, prove that you can handle graduate level classes, and get recommendations from professors. However, you may have some difficulty getting into master’s programs in psych.</p></li>
<li><p>Secure a position as a lab manager in psychology or a related field. Many PhD hopefuls are lab managers first for 2-3 years - you get valuable research experience and a recommendation from the PI, and you may even get to take some graduate classes for free. These positions are usually released in March through May, when the current lab managers get into their doctoral programs and the PI needs to begin looking for a new one.</p></li>
<li><p>Go work in the field. It’s a myth that you can’t get a job with a BA in psychology; the unemployment rate for psychology majors is no higher than that of business or computer science majors. Most of management is psychological principles applied to organizations. You could find a job in HR, but you could also find a job as a middle manager at some corporation, or as a research or data analyst somewhere. Work for a few years and try later.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>You may need to combine #2 and #1 or #3 and #1. But you’re very unlikely to gain admission for Fall 2014.</p>
<p>Also: if you are 22, how do you have 6 years of customer-relations work history? First of all, PhD programs won’t care about that: I/O PhD programs are research focused. But second of all, 6 years ago you were 16. This is mostly part-time work you are referring to, yes? Is it part-time retail or food service? That <em>really</em> won’t matter, and I wouldn’t even list it on your CV when you are applying.</p>
<p>Hi guys, (sorry for bombing someone else’s party :), but the topic was kinda related)
Feel free to leave a comment with your opinion, if you want.
I go to a small sized private university in Germany. I’m graduating in 2014 with a 3 year degree of BSc in Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Undergrad GPA: ~3.2 (not proud at all)
Research Experience: 1 year (part of a joint project between 3 universities, pretty big deal )
Publications: Around 2 by the time I graduate. Halfway through the first one.
LOR: Will get solid ones from my professors and research supervisor.
GRE: 166 / 156 / 5.5
Applying to selected Ivies, Stanford and Rice, for a PhD in engineering with a focus on Nanotechnology (my research area is the same obviously).
What are your thoughts? Should I bother applying or… is it just too long a shot?</p>