Master of Arts (M.A.) Program in Psychology with a concentration in  Industrial and Organizational (I-O) Psychology FAQ

We consider undergraduate GPA, graduate GPA (for the few M.A. applicants who already come in with graduate coursework), letters of recommendation, research products (e.g., honors theses, conference posters, or journal submissions) and research experience (e.g., time spent in research labs), statistics and research methods coursework and skills (e.g., knowledge of programs such as R and SPSS), and some extent of knowledge about I-O Psychology (though this can be demonstrated through methods other than formal coursework in I-O). Additionally, as noted below, reporting GRE scores is optional; however, we certainly consider GRE scores when students do report them. No single factor is “make-or-break,” and most candidates have strengths in some areas and opportunities for improvement in other areas.

The GRE is optional for our M.A. program: we certainly consider GRE scores when students report them, but reporting them is not required. The GRE is required only for our Ph.D. program.

Yes! Please have your third letter writer email their letter to psycgrad@gmu.edu with a note clarifying (in case this isn’t already clear in the letter) that you are applying for the M.A. program in I-O psychology.

Professors who know you very well (e.g., because you have conducted research with them or taken several courses from them) are probably the best letter-writers. If you obtain a letter from your manager at your job or internship, ideally the letter could pertain to knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics relevant to a master’s program in I-O psychology (written and spoken communication skills, time management skills, knowledge of spreadsheets, etc.). 

Our MA program starts off with a survey-level graduate course on I-O psychology, so we don’t require or assume much prior I-O information at all. Basically, we just want to ensure that applicants know enough about I-O to have a realistic preview of what to expect–in other words, to know that they’re going into the field that’s right for them. So, having taken an undergraduate-level I-O course would suffice in this regard. Alternatively, students who have not taken any I-O courses can obtain some background in I-O through means other than formal coursework: for instance, via online resources (see, for instance, here and here), attendance at the SIOP conference, and so forth. Not having been a psychology major at the undergraduate level is not a problem at all: many of our current students and alumni weren’t!

Yes! Each year, generally in late March, we typically do 1-2 virtual (i.e., Zoom) open house sessions for applicants who have been admitted and those who are on the waitlist. Students who are invited to these open house sessions are informed about the dates, times, and Zoom links via email.

Yes, of course. You can find alumni testimonials here. Additionally, one of the aforementioned open houses for applicants who have been admitted or waitlisted is generally hosted by current students. 

Indeed there is. You can find a lot of information about the university here and take a virtual campus tour by clicking on “Explore our campus now.”

Please log in to the application portal, find your offer of admission, and click on the link within the letter that states "confirm your intent to enroll." This is admittedly a poor wording choice in the portal: in reality, you can either confirm or decline your admission when you click on that link. Here is a website with screenshots to assist you.

First, a terminological note: A deferral is an automatic readmission that does not require an applicant to through admissions review again during the next application cycle. In contrast, a  reconsideration is not an automatic readmission–instead, an applicant must go through admissions review again during the next application cycle, regardless of the previous admission decision. Essentially, a reconsideration simply allows the application materials to be transferred over to the next application cycle so that the applicant does not have to reapply or pay the application fee again in order to be reconsidered for admission during the next cycle. 

In our M.A. program, we do not permit deferrals. We do permit reconsiderations, but only after one year (i.e., from the Fall semester of one year to the Fall semester of the next year). We do not permit reconsiderations after one semester (i.e., not from Fall to Spring) due to course sequences and prerequisites.

Welcome aboard! After you accept, you will start receiving emails very soon. Within a matter of days, you will receive emails about registering for Fall courses. Later, you will receive other emails, for instance emails involving Fall orientation for incoming students, possible roommates, advisor-advisee pairings, internship opportunities, etc. 

Please begin checking and using your gmu.edu email address regularly: although we will send the first few emails to your other (e.g., undergraduate or personal) email address as well as your gmu.edu one, we will soon transition to solely emailing your gmu.edu email address. Moreover, your gmu.edu email address will be added to the M.A. student listserv, to which many important emails are sent.

You can find information at our M.A. program website, at our M.A. program’s profile on the SIOP website, and the relevant portions of our I-O graduate student handbook. Each of these sources provides mostly unique information, so we definitely recommend that you take a look at all of them!

Yes, we also have another master’s program in I-O, the Master of Professional Studies (M.P.S.) program. Both are very good programs, but they are deliberately intended and designed to serve different purposes and somewhat different populations of students. You can find a table that compares our M.A. and M.P.S. programs here. You can find more information about our M.P.S. program here. 

Yes! Our I-O graduate programs are ranked #5 nationally overall, and #4 among public institutions, in the most recent (i.e., 2022) U.S. News and World Report ranking. See here for more information. 

We are fortunate that the number of faculty in our program is larger than that in most I-O programs. Thus, no matter where a student’s interests lie, the student can almost always find a faculty member with expertise in those areas. You can find the list of tenure-line I-O faculty here. 

We also have two additional full-time faculty members who teach in our other master’s program, the M.P.S. Additionally, we have one affiliated faculty member at Mason’s Costello College of Business. 

Information about the M.A. curriculum can be found in our I-O graduate student handbook

Many students obtain professional development opportunities through internships, as described below. Additionally, the program offers many opportunities for professional development: the “Learning Series” (a weekly speaker series featuring prominent researchers and practitioners, as well as career panels), the opportunity to do a practicum, an in-house consulting firm that serves nonprofit volunteer organizations (almost all M.A. students participate during one of both years in the program), and several short-term (e.g., a few days or weeks long) applied opportunities each year that are shared with us by our professional networks (see, e.g., this student consulting challenge, where many past winners are from our program).

Funding is not guaranteed as part of the program: students are responsible for obtaining their own funding.

The vast majority of students obtain part-time (typically 20 hours/week) off-campus internships. Of these, several students intern through the Consortium Research Fellows Program (CRFP), of which our program is a member, often at entities such as the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (ARI). We also frequently receive and share emails about internships at other private firms, government/military/intelligence agencies, and nonprofit firms, and we have good “pipelines” to internships at several firms. Occasionally, a student may also intern or work part-time on campus, for the university (e.g., in Human Resources).

A small number of students, often (but not only) those who plan to obtain a Ph.D. after their M.A. and/or international students, will instead obtain a teaching or research assistantship on campus. These opportunities are not guaranteed and are not very commonly available to M.A. students but can sometimes be obtained in the psychology department itself, in the Costello College of Business, or in other departments within the university.

We do our best to inculcate a culture that values hard work and learning, yet is friendly and collaborative. M.A. students interact constantly with Ph.D. students and on occasion with M.P.S. students as well. Of course there are occasional squabbles between students, but in general our students get along well and graduate with an excellent professional network, healthy friend circle, and even on occasion a life partner!

See here.

See here.

No, this is an in-person program. To be able to take courses, students should generally plan to be on campus about 2.5 days per week (which allows time for part-time internships off-campus). If you’re interested in an online program, please look into our other master’s program in I-O, the M.P.S. program. Please see above for more details about the M.P.S. program.

Almost everyone attends full-time. However, yes, it is certainly possible to attend part-time, and it has been done on occasion.

It would be very difficult to work full-time and yet attend and properly prepare for all the courses in the program. We therefore strongly recommend working (or interning) only up to 20 hours/week while being a full-time student, especially during the first year in the program (during the second year, because students typically take fewer credits per semester, it may be possible to work up to 25 or so hours/week). Conversely, if a student finds it absolutely necessary to work full-time, we strongly recommend attending the I-O program part-time. 

No, the STEM OPT extension does not apply to our M.A. program. Additionally, many I-O internships and jobs in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region–as well as more generally in the U.S.–are with the federal government, the military, the intelligence agencies, or private organizations that contract with the federal government, military, or intelligence agencies. Thus, many I-O jobs require U.S. citizenship and not many organizations are willing to sponsor international students for a work visa (i.e., H-1B) or U.S. permanent residency (i.e., a “green card”). We think it is important to be candid here: although our domestic (i.e., U.S. citizen) students have excellent internship and job prospects, things are unfortunately much harder for our international students who graduate with a terminal M.A. degree and who want to subsequently stay in the U.S. It should be noted that these difficulties are not specific to our program: they are typical of I-O M.A. programs across the board, although students in programs with the STEM OPT extension do have more time to get a job after they graduate.

Our graduates are employed in consulting firms, private corporations, the federal government (including various government agencies, intelligence agencies, and the military), state and local (e.g., Washington, D.C., or Fairfax County, Virginia) government, and nonprofit firms in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region, all over the country, and, less commonly, internationally. 

We are very fortunate to be located in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region, which is by far the best place in the world to be an I-O psychology practitioner–and which, as a result, has a very high concentration of I-O psychology practitioners. Many agencies and firms in the region that hire I-O psychologists already have alumni and/or friends of the Mason I-O graduate programs on staff.

Our rigorous coursework (M.A. students take the same courses as Ph.D. students) and frequent opportunities to consume and conduct research mean that, unlike graduates of many other I-O master’s programs, our M.A. graduates are well-qualified not just for consulting and Human Resources jobs but also for jobs focused on applied research.

A few of our M.A. students take additional (beyond requirements) statistics courses and are therefore additionally qualified for Data Science jobs.

Yes! You will take courses with Ph.D. students and will have the opportunity to participate in conducting research with faculty and Ph.D. students. Note that being admitted to our M.A. program does not provide or imply automatic admission to our Ph.D. program. However, our M.A. students have better odds (vs. other applicants) of being admitted to our Ph.D. program. Moreover, due to the reputation of our M.A. program, our M.A. students also have excellent track records of obtaining admission to other Ph.D. programs.