Alright, guys, let’s talk about my journey into finding the perfect Industrial-Organizational (I/O) Psychology Master’s program in Canada. It was a bit of a wild ride, so buckle up!
First, I started with a simple question: “Do I really want to do this?” I mean, I/O Psych sounded cool, but was it the right fit for me? I spent a good chunk of time reading articles, watching YouTube videos of people in the field, and even reached out to a couple of I/O psychologists on LinkedIn for informational interviews. Just to get a feel for the day-to-day, you know?
Once I confirmed, “Yep, this is it!”, the real fun began. I needed to find programs. So, I hit up Google, naturally. I typed in things like “industrial organizational psychology masters programs canada” (obviously!) and variations of that. I also checked out some university ranking websites, but honestly, those weren’t as helpful as I thought they’d be.
Digging Deeper
My initial searches gave me a HUGE list. Overwhelming? Absolutely. So, I created a spreadsheet (because who doesn’t love a good spreadsheet?). I listed out all the universities that popped up, and then I started to narrow things down based on a few key things:
- Location: Did I want to be in a big city or a smaller town? East Coast? West Coast? I’m a city person, so that helped me eliminate a few options right away.
- Program Length: Some programs were one year, some were two. I was leaning towards a two-year program to really dive deep into the material.
- Coursework: I skimmed through the course descriptions on each university’s website. Did they offer courses that genuinely interested me? Did they have specializations I was curious about (like coaching or organizational development)?
- Faculty: I looked at the professors’ research interests. Did they align with mine? This felt super important to me. I even tried finding some of their publications to get a better sense of their work.
- Tuition fee: I have to compare all program’s tuition fee to find which one is affordable.
This process took weeks, I’m not gonna lie. I spent hours clicking through websites, reading program handbooks, and updating my spreadsheet. It was a grind, but it was also kind of exciting. I felt like I was getting closer to my goal with each university I researched.
Finally, I narrowed it down to my top three choices. I applied to all three, which involved writing personal statements (ugh, the worst!), getting letters of recommendation, and making sure my transcripts were sent. That was another whole adventure in itself!
After all of the process, I realized that all programs I searched are all good to appy, choosing depends on my personal situation, and pick one of them to start my new phrase of carrer!
So, that’s my story. It wasn’t easy, but it was definitely worth it. Good luck to anyone else going down this path! You got this!
