Industrial-Organizational Psychology
Doctoral Program Personal Statement
Personal Statement & Data Sheet for:
(Last Name, First Name, MI)
Thank you for expressing interest in the Ph.D. Program in Industrial-Organizational Psychology at North
Carolina State University. We look forward to reviewing your application.
There are four sections in this personal statement for you to complete:
1. Demographic Information & Education
2. Test Information
3. Personal Narrative
4. Research Interest Ranking
Please complete all sections in full before submitting your personal statement. Save this form to your
computer and complete at your leisure; when completed, see the instructions at the end of this form regarding
submission. We welcome your completed form any time after October 15 th, but no later than January 5th.
Revised 1-2011
Part 1 – Demographic Information & Education
Date:
Current Address:
Street
City, State, Zip
Phone number: (
)
E-mail address:
Citizenship:
If US, legal resident of what state:
Undergraduate Degree(s) Information
Institution/School
Degree
Undergraduate GPA:
Field of Study
Date Received
Undergraduate Psych GPA(if applicable):
Graduate Degree(s) Information
(if applicable)
Have you completed, or are you in the process of completing, a master’s degree?
If yes, did/are you completing a thesis?
If yes, what is the title of your thesis?
Institution/School
Graduate GPA:
Degree
Field of Study
Date Received
Graduate Psych GPA(if applicable):
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Part 2 – Test Information
Score
Percentile
Date Taken
GRE – General Test
Most Recent
Verbal
Quantitative
Writing Score
GRE – Subject Test
(Psychology) Optional
GRE -- Next Most Recent
Dates/Scores (if applicable)
Verbal
Quantitative
Writing Score
Subject Test – Psychology
TOEFL or IELTS *
(* Note: A TOEFL or IELTS score is required only for international applicants from
countries in which English is not the primary language of instruction)
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Part 3 – Personal Narrative
The following questions request supplementary information to help our admissions committee understand how our
program can best serve your interests. You are not limited in length.
1. Describe your long-term goals. How will graduate study in psychology help you attain these goals?
2. Have you ever conducted, or helped others conduct, psychological research? If so, describe the
nature of the work and its purpose.
3. List any work experience you have had, starting with the most recent and working backward in
time. Indicate the duration of each experience.
4. List academic honors and organizations.
5. Describe your extracurricular interests, hobbies, etc.
6. Please check the courses below in which you have prior course work:
General Psychology
Tests & Measurements
Technical Writing
Behavioral Research Methods
IO Psychology
Management
Statistics
History & Systems of Psych
Philosophy of Science
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Part 4 – Research Interest Ranking
The Ph.D. program in IO Psychology at NCSU offers course work and research in several areas. We attempt to match
applicants to faculty based on research interests. However, we realize that many applicants may not be ready to narrow down
their interests – either because they are somewhat unfamiliar with specific aspects of I-O Psychology or because they have
very broad interests. If this is the case, please choose undecided below. Otherwise, you may indicate and rank order your
research interests below. Applicants choosing undecided will receive the same consideration as those who provide rank
orders of interests.
Instructions for Research-Interest Ranking: Please indicate and rank order your interests below. You may list up
to five of the following research topics. List your strongest interest first, followed by your second strongest interest,
and so forth.
creativity and innovation
humanitarian work
psychology
organizational development
work attitudes
cross cultural research
job/work analysis
organizational theory
work motivation
deviant & counterproductive
work behavior
leadership
psychological measurement
work teams
employee recruitment
meta-analysis
performance appraisal
employee selection
organizational citizenship
behavior
statistics & research methods
employee surveys
technology in the workplace
training
Other:
EITHER choose undecided, OR provide a rank order of your interests (do not do both).
Undecided:
I am not yet ready to narrow down
my interests.
(If you choose this option, please
do NOT provide rank-ordered
interests.)
I would like to rank-order my interests (up to five) as follows,
from 1 (strongest interest) to 5 (less strong):
Interest 1:
Interest 2:
Interest 3:
Interest 4:
Interest 5:
To submit this Personal Statement:
When your Personal Statement has been completed and saved, use your Word-Processor (or other
appropriate software), to create a .pdf version of your document. Note that all relevant information you wish
to be reviewed as part of your Statement, should be in that document itself. PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT
OTHER DOCUMENTS OR CVs, nor reference such content in your Personal Statement.
There are TWO alternative ways to submit your statement. Method 1 is strongly preferred.
Method 1 Upload the .pdf version of your Personal Statement into the appropriate section of your
primary on-line ApplyYourself application. THIS MUST BE DONE BEFORE YOU PAY YOUR
FEE AND SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION. Once an application has been submitted, you can no
longer change its content.
Method 2 Send the .pdf version of your Personal Statement, as an email attachment, to the Graduate
Programs Assistant, at: psych_studentservices@ncsu.edu Important note: to ensure proper filing, both
the subject line of your email and the name of the attached file should read: “Statement PSI LastName
FirstName” (w/o quotes or other punctuation); for example, Statement PSI Jones John (PSI is the
curriculum code for Industrial-Organizational Psychology.) You should be notified within a week or so that
your statement has been received and can be processed.
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