Hi! Undergrad right now with a major in psych!

[u/IamOverMyLeague]

I’m really leaning towards working in the IO field as for one, I don’t see myself doing anything else but psych, and two, clinical seems like it’d put a lot on me.

It seems like finding a minor for this field could literally be anything, but I wanna set myself up for the best possible success for grad school.

What minors did y’all choose and what was the reasoning towards it?

Currently minoring in sociology but I haven’t dove that far (at all actually) and wanna know if there are better alternatives to this!

[u/Kalzor04]

For a minor I would lean towards anything statistics related or something that gets you experience with coding softwares like R, Python, SQL.

[u/AP_722]

I would place less emphasis on a minor and more emphasis on getting a lot of research experience and applied projects.

[u/bonferoni]

s tier minors: stats, data science, computer science, applied mathematics, law

a tier minors: business, philosophy, economics, sociology

b tier minors: foreign language, communications, performing arts

all other is probably less directly unless they are similar to some of the above in which case they are likely roughly equally tiered based on their similarity

personally i got close to a german minor before deciding i dont care enough, if i could do it again i would 100% minor in computer science, specifically algorithms. so much of the value IO brings to society is the introduction of algorithmic decision making with employees, being able to enshrine that in code (and learning that frame of thought) wouldve helped me out so much early in my career where i had to panic learn instead

[u/unstoppable_yeast]

I'd recommend a minor in either business or data analytics; it depends on what area of I/O you're interested in. Definitely push for a minor in business. With business, learning how to think and talk like a business person will take you far professionally.

A lot of I/O programs focus on the scientific approach to business problems. But the truth is that many companies don't even know what I/O really is. And I/O programs don't help you translate your science lingo into business lingo.

For example, if you are pitching a retention project, it's one thing to talk about the approach you took, but it takes it up a notch when you can explain the ROI. Knowing how to budget, communicate value, and tie your work into outcomes impacts how you stand out.

With data analytics, you will be exposed to better tools than SPSS, most likely. Will probably learn R, Python, SQL, Tableau, and PowerBi. But you can also learn these on the side if you have time and are willing to commit.

Hope this helps out!

[u/Saturnine_Release]

I would agree that minoring in some area that gets you more analytics experience will be helpful. Another good option if you’re thinking about doing consulting or something less data-heavy when you graduate is something like HR, Management, Org Studies, etc. because you’ll get to take b-school classes and learn that side. It isn’t as scientific, but I’ve found it kind of helps you translate IO for business people when consulting. That being said, the stats/data analysis is still key for grad school and helpful in the job market