haread

Now why didn't I think of that two or three months ago? Sigh.... But, better late than never, started going through my old IO Psychology textbook this morning. Cheers! Haread

Hello everyone. Well summer has drawn to a close, the new term starts this week and comps is in mid-September. Now that it's crunch time, I am making my final push/surge toward the finish line. Just wanted to check to see if any of the old-timers here on the forum had some "wish-I-had-known-this-then" advice. In addition to memorizing cites, I have been reading the APA Handbook of IO Psychology which has been useful in helping me to integrate things. The challenge is the field is so damn broad! Anyway, I figure it is a good idea to leave no stone un-turned, and even one useful nugget of wisdom may make a difference. Cheers! Haread

Remember ORG Psych is an Applied field. You should consider taking the following (nuts and bolts of the field). Bivariate/Mulitvariate Statistics and Matrix Algebra -Correlation -ANOVA/MANOVA -Regression -Path Analysis -Structural Equation Modeling -Factor Analysis (Exploratory and Confirmatory) -Multilevel Modeling *Meta Analysis Good luck!

You can take a look at the thread I started on this a few years ago. I was also 41 when I applied (just turned 44) have finished my 2nd year and I am now studying for comps. The transition can be challenging as there are many things in research you need to take at face value and experience can get in the way. Make sure you take advanced stats (Multiple Regression, Path Analysis, Structural Equation Modeling, Factor Analysis, etc. as these are pretty standard in OB) Also, I think you need to apply to more schools. I applied to 28 total and was admitted at 6. It is a Turkey shoot at this stage unless someone really wants to work with you. http://www.www.urch.com/forums/phd-business/119265-non-traditional-applicant-olde-underrepresented-groups-diversity-suggestions.html Good luck and let me know if you have any questions. Haread

As an aside, this is another reason why in my comments on choosing a program I make the case that in addition to name recognition of the program you need to take a look at who on faculty at the institutions you are considering are either current or former editorial staff at the top journals. Here at my school in the management department, we have the former editor of OBHDP, the editor of Personnel Psychology, a former editor of Personnel Psychology, an associate editor of AMJ, an associate editor of OBHDP; in the I/O psych department we have the editor of JAP, and down the hall in marketing I believe is one of the associate editors of JIBS. No matter your institution, these are the type of people you want to work with, provide feedback on your papers and talk ideas through with whether they are on A or B journals. It makes for a steep learning curve, but it really makes a difference in how you view research problems, research methods, theoretical contributions, etc. Even they do not get all of their papers published, but their hit ratios are impressive. Haread

Good comprehensive list. For A Journals I would go with the top six plus: Personnel Psychology (OB) Journal of Applied Psychology (OB) Journal of Management (Strategy) In my program all of our seminar readings are pretty much from these nine journals. Haread

In my opinion a great deal depends on both the program you are enrolled in, and the expectations of faculty. In my program your target is two A-list publications by the time you hit the job market. This means in a 5 year program I need to have several papers under review / accepted during my 3rd and 4th year. I am finishing my 2nd year and in addition to faculty sponsored projects have begun to run lab studies and collect data for my own self-initiated projects (with faculty oversight). That coupled with class, teaching assignments, reading, etc. keeps me busy. In additions to studies this summer I will be studying for comps in September. You get more efficient as time goes by, but then again the bar gets raised every year. Haread

There is truth to the belief that Ivy begets Ivy. If your goal is to get considered for placement potentially at a Chicago, Northwestern, Harvard, etc. then Yale is the better choice. However there is no guarantee of placement, and if you don't learn the publishing and research game, then you can still be at a disadvantage. Even if you place high you may not make tenure. If your goal is to learn to publish and your goals are more at the R1 level or a Big 10 college such as MSU, Ohio, University of Michigan, then Ohio is a good choice. There really is no right answer. My suggestion, life is a long run game. Go where you can learn to do what you love. Haread

First off, congratulations on deciding to apply for PhD. Second, here are my recommendations. 1. Do a literature review of the A Journals to figure out who the key conversants are in your area of interest and who is currently publishing on those topics. 2. Develop a short list of 5 - 10 scholars in that space and figure out where they are. 3. Revise your list to reflect those people and those programs. 4. Start an outreach plan of action know, and if you can tie your thesis into it even better. Those people will have the connections you are looking for. Haread

Although it might be rare, one of my letter writers who was a director where I was previously employed actually had a PhD. When I contacted him he had retired from industry and was working at an Academic Institution as both an adjunct professor of practice, and as a director for the universities outreach program to industry. I thought he would provide a unique perspective plus our interactions were more recent than my scholarly recommendations. Just a thought. Never say never. Haread

There may be nothing wrong, just not enough schools applied to. At the end of the day its a numbers game. The top schools may have too many applicants, and the lower ranked schools may believe that even if they accepted you, you would turn them down should a better offer come along. Remember, at this level most everyone had good test scores, a competent GPA and can do the work. It is not about you however, it is about a department that thinks you bring something to the table, whether that is ideas, insight, work ethic, etc. I would use the time wisely to develop an outreach strategy. Check the appropriate professional society to see if they have a listserv you can join to ask questions and began to engage the scholarly community. I sent out several questions on the relevant listserve and now I have an idea that the faculty at my institution most likely saw me taking initiative and engaging, which may have helped. When I applied, I sent out 28 applications in total I was accepted at three, and was in the interview process with two others when I declined to continue the process. So my numbers were basically 1 out of 6. In my case I am an older student (41 when I applied) so I had to work against the age factor. Still, where there is a will there is a way. Good luck! Haread

Academia is a very small world. As a mentor said to me, "people open doors for you". If the top scholar publishes regularly and is on editorial boards for your top journals, I would lean toward working with him. It also depends on what type of career you want. Many top schools like to "keep it in the family" and hire from each other. The question then is presuming you place well, what is your real odds of making tenure? Haread If you have not read this other post, it addresses a similar question. http://www.www.urch.com/forums/phd-business/140088-school-ranking-prestige-vs-publications-record-job-market.html

Congratulations on your acceptance! I faced a similar quandry a few years ago. My background is Ivy League undergraduate and Top 10 Financial Times ranked MBA. For a variety of reasons I am pursuing my PhD at a Big 10 State School and I am very happy and pleased with my choice. There are several factors that go into determining your longer term prospects in the field as a scholar. A few of these are publication record, research focus, school, mentor/committee, age, etc. Here are two article that touch on some of it. The two most important factors that determine placement that many scholars typically agree on are 1) Publications and 2) School. 1. Gomez-Mejia, L. R., & Balkin, D. B. (1992). Determinants of faculty pay: An agency theory perspective. Academy of Management Journal, 35, 921-955. 2. Judge, T. A., Kammeyer-Mueller, J., & Bretz, R. D. (2004). A longitudinal model of sponsorship and career success: A study of Industrial-Organizational Psychologists. Personnel Psychology, 57, 271-303. In my opinion the UTD rankings are flawed in that they look at schools versus department. At the end of the day departmental reputation in the field often trumps school reputation. Here are some examples. Management Scholarly Productivity Rankings Management Department Productivity Rankings | Mays Business School | Texas A&M University Accounting Scholarly Productivity Rankings Accounting Program Research Rankings by Topical Area and Methodology by Joshua Coyne, Scott Summers, Brady Williams, David Wood :: SSRN I counsel people to go to the "best" school that will admit them. However we need to determine what the criteria for best is and who's perspective and opinion count. For example my school is considered a "Public Ivy" although not at the top of the list, the MBA program is top 20 for Business Week, but top 75 for Financial Times. It is typically trumped in reputation by another school in the state with a better public reputation. None of these external opinions have anything to do with scholarly reputation. The school is a Resarch-1 university that has some of the best scholars in the world in management (my field), industrial-psychology, educational psychology, etc. In my opinion there are really only two criteria that count. 1) Number of faculty in your department actively and consistently publishing in the top journals in your field. 2) Number of faculty in your department currently or previously serving in editorial positions in the top journals in your field. Both of these factors are tied to publishing/productivity which in the long run is what counts. As a senior scholar counselled me this week, it is all about getting manuscripts out the door. You want to learn from people who both know how to do it, and can teach you how to think like a scholar. In fairness there is truth in the idea that Ivy begets Ivy. You may get your initial placement from a publicly well known program to a publicly well known program for reasons outside of publications. However your ability to stay at that school and be granted tenure may be highly dependent on your publications. Publications also affect mobility should you desire to change schools. You will be a much more attractive and sought after candidate with publications. So in summary, if the department in the state school you are interested in had strong authors who were also editorial staff with recognized scholarly reputations, I would definitely place them on my shortlist. Haread

This one is easy. Two factors I would look at. 1) Which school has faculty that consistently publish in the A level journals. 2) Which school has A level journal editorial staff on the faculty. School reputation is important but learning what it takes to get in print is more important. You will learn more and faster from the editors and those who consistently publish in top journals. Haread

No one told me about Dropbox.com until the end of the first year of my PhD program. It is a way of using the cloud to share files accross computers. I currently have my laptop, home and work computers all synchronized so I can always have access to my files (I used to use Google Docs). Coursework, articles of interest, papers, lit reviews, are all easily accessible. Several professors use it to share files with collaborators, and my research team currently uses it as well. In the interest of full-disclosure, here is my referral link to their site. I believe if you sign up we both get extra storage (they give you 1.5GB to start). http://db.tt/N7lAp7iY Hope it helps! Haread