<p>I was thinking of majoring in Psychology and minoring in Management for Industrial/Organizational Psychology because I feel management would help me prepare for i/o graduate school. However, I'm also thinking sociology may be a good minor for this field as well. What combination do you think would be better to prepare me for I/O psychology? I know a minor isn't necessary, but I feel like it will help supplement my major.</p>
<p>I'm also leaning towards UC merced as my school of choice because of the small class sizes and the increased research opportunities. Are there are any other schools within the UC system that I should take a look at that offer the same things as Merced but more? I know there are great schools outside the UC system for this major, but I'm trying to stay in california. </p>
<p>Thanks for any suggestions and advice.</p>
<p>I’d go with psych and business. You won’t learn anything different methodology wise in sociology versus psych, and the content in sociology won’t help a ton IMHO.</p>
<p>That’s true, I also felt like management would prepare me much better, since I would probably be working in a business anyway. I think I’ll go with management then. Do I declare my minor when I’m enrolled in a school?</p>
<p>Yes. You want to look for colleges and universities that have psychology and business programs and apply to those schools. You can indicate preferrered majors on your application for most schools. At a liberal arts college you would typically declare your major and minor (if you have a minor) by the end of your sophomore year. At universities I don’t know if you’re expected to declare a major immediately or what. An admissions counselor at any institution you’re interested in could explain it to you. Don’t be afraid to ask.</p>
<p>Lynx, I actually greatly disagree that a sociology minor wouldn’t have anything to offer someone who is already majoring in psychology, particularly if that person is interested in I/O. Modern psychology, for the most part, has always been a positivist/post-positivist discipline, so most of the methodological training one would receive would be quantitative. Sociology, on the other hand, has components of both post-positivism and constructivism/anti-positivism. While the quantitative aspect may not be much different between psychology and sociology - though multivariate regression may be more emphasized in sociology since experimental control is a bigger luxury in that discipline - minoring in sociology may expose someone to more constructivist and qualitative methods, such as phenomenology and grounded theory, which could be beneficial later on in a person’s career if they do things like action research, which is highly abductive. </p>
<p>Additionally, a lot of organizational theory is derived from sociological theory. Grasping structural-fuctionalism, conflict theory, modernism, and even post-modernism will put you ahead of the curve when you start talking about Mintzberg, Follett, and Barnard. And of course, Weber’s other great contribution besides how religion facilitates social integration was his theory on bureaucracy.</p>
<p>However, minoring in business would be beneficial too. I/O psychologists are in a weird middle ground. The business world thinks a lot differently than the psych world and has its own lexicon. Psychologists are generally very theory-driven people and concerned with things like internal validity and such; whereas the business world isn’t so much interested in that - at least directly. Being able to understand the business language and the way managers think will definitely be helpful.</p>