A Brief Overview
Most of us will spend a significant portion of our lives in various workplace settings. These settings can be your very first job at a local restaurant or your future career as CEO of a
Fortune 500 company. In your current or past occupations, have you ever wondered why the company asked you to take a test before you were hired, how they chose the methods used to train new employees or why some companies continually succeed in their respective industries?
Enter INDUSTRIAL/ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY or simply I/O Psychology. It is the study of behavior in work settings. These psychologists are interested in making the workplace more productive and profitable, while helping to ensure that employees are able to live healthy professional and personal lives.
Specific topics related to I/O psychology include, motivation, organizational change, job stress, employee selection, training and development and personnel psychology. Perhaps you have encountered a number of these topics in your experiences as an employee. The field of I/O psychology has produced numerous research studies that examine each one of these topics. Consulting firms have also used the same data and research studies in their creation or reshaping of specific jobs or entire companies.
Many motivation techniques, efficient selection policies and techniques to lower job related stress are born from I/O research. With these thoughts in mind, the demand for I/O psychologists is increasing.
** Please note that this binder is meant to give you an overview of I/O Psychology. It is recommended that you look at other resources regarding graduate school (look around the office there’s plenty!) and talk to your friendly neighborhood advisor.

When looking for a graduate school in the area of I/O psychology, there can be a variety of different but equally important criteria that is set by both the university and the applicant. We will first begin by discussing by university requirements.
Confusion is understandable when you first start to sift through graduate school programs. Many graduate schools place emphasis on different criteria. This is worth stating again. Graduate programs can VARY widely between one another. There is no set standards that will guarantee your entry. BUT the good news is that there are things you can do to stack the odds in your favor. Some common criterion include:
1) GPA a.
Maintain as high a GPA as possible, a poor freshman year does not disqualify you, but it does mean that you must work hard to bring it up. b.
Schools may look at different GPAs such as Overall, Psychology and your last 60 units.
2) GRE a.
Utilize available GRE prep courses. (Some are even free!) Some sources are books and CDs available at bookstores or Kaplan testing services. b.
You may be required (depending on your program) to take one or two
GREs. These can be the regular GRE or the Subject GRE in this case it would be Psychology.
3) Letters of Recommendation a.
Letters of Recommendation should ideally come from university faculty or at least an area of work related to your field of research. (For example, a letter of recommendation from a research lab assistantship, would look much better than a letter from your boss about your bartending/server ability) b.
Some great sources of letters are from classes numbered in the 490s. Ask your nearest Psychology Advisor about your options.
4) Other Criteria a.
Statement of goals and objectives b.
Work Experience c.
Extracurricular activity
As far as the applicant’s criterion, they can include location, cost, number of students applied compared to graduated, type of research conducted, average graduation time and any or all of the above. One way to organize your thoughts follows.
You are essentially going to create a table of criteria that will allow you to look at the strengths and weaknesses of each school according to criteria that you choose. This is just one way to help you make a decision with all of your pros and cons in one place. Be sure to check out other resources in the office including the graduate school binder and
APA Guide on the bookshelf, etc.
** Please note that this binder is meant to give you an overview of I/O Psychology. It is recommended that you look at other resources regarding graduate school (look around the office there’s plenty!) and talk to your friendly neighborhood advisor.

School
USC
ASU
NMS
Alliant
Location
5
3
1
4
Type of
Research
3
4
3
2
Grad. Time
3
3
3
3
Cost
1
3
5
1
Totals
Max Score = 20
Low Score = 1
Best Score = 5
As you can see of the choices Arizona State University scored the highest of all the listed schools according the criteria. Remember that the ratings are based on what is most important to you and how the school fits that criteria.
12
13
12
10
** Please note that this binder is meant to give you an overview of I/O Psychology. It is recommended that you look at other resources regarding graduate school (look around the office there’s plenty!) and talk to your friendly neighborhood advisor.