Industrial Organizational Psychology Degree Requirements

• Industrial-Organizational Psychology
• Organizational Behavior
• Statistics
• Motivation
• Human Resource Management
• Introduction to Psychometrics
• 1 applied active learning elective (see on-campus experience)
• 1 core psychology theory course
• 1 core organizational management course
• 3 industrial-organizational psychology electives and/or seminars
  • EXPO 34 Business Rhetoric is an elective option.

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Tip: Seminars offer small-class discussions as well as ample opportunities to connect with faculty and peers while engaging in research. We encourage you to complete multiple seminars.

You can choose to concentrate your degree studies in a specific area and earn a certificate along the way.

Graduate Certificates:

• Organizational Behavior
• Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Leadership
• Topics in Human Behavior

Microcertificates:

• Wellbeing At Work

To meet the on-campus requirement, you choose the Standard on-campus option and study with us in the summer. You can easily request an I-20 for the F-1 student visa for Harvard Summer School’s 3-week session. For more details, see International Student Study Options for important visa information.

Come to Cambridge for Convocation (fall) to celebrate your hard-earned admission, Harvard career fairs offered throughout the year, HES alumni networking events (here at Harvard and around the world), and, of course, Harvard University Commencement (May).

• Prior to enrolling in any degree-applicable courses, you must possess a 4-year regionally accredited US bachelor’s degree or its foreign equivalent. Foreign bachelor’s degrees must be evaluated for equivalency.
• You cannot already have or be in the process of earning a master’s degree in industrial organizational psychology or a related field. Check your eligibility.
• If English is your second language, you’ll need to prove English proficiency before registering for a course. We have multiple proficiency options.

To begin the admission process, you simply register — no application required — for the following three, four-credit, graduate-level degree courses (available online).

These courses count toward your degree once you’re admitted; they are not additional courses. They are investments in your studies and help ensure success in the program.

• STAT 100 Introduction to Quantitative Methods
  • You have two registration attempts to earn the minimum grade of B to fulfill the STAT 100 requirement (a withdrawal grade counts as an attempt). STAT 100 cannot be more than two years old at the time of application.
• IORP 1501 Industrial-Organizational Psychology
• MGMT 4000 Organizational Behavior
  • Before registering for MGMT 4000, you’ll need to pass our online test of critical reading and writing skills or earn a B or higher in EXPO 34 Business Rhetoric.

The three courses don’t need to be taken in a particular order or in the same semester, but each course must be completed with a grade of B or higher, without letting your overall Harvard cumulative GPA dip below 3.0.

During the semester of your third degree course, submit the official application to the program.

Don’t delay! You must prioritize the three degree courses for admission and apply before completing subsequent courses. By doing so, you’ll:

• Avoid the loss of credit due to expired course work or changes to admission and degree requirements.
• Ensure your enrollment in critical and timely degree-candidate-only courses.
• Avoid the delayed application fee.
• Gain access to exclusive benefits.

Eligible students who submit a complete and timely application will have nine more courses after admission to earn the degree. Applicants can register for courses in the upcoming semester before they receive their grades and while they await their admission decision.

GPA. You need to earn a B or higher in each of the three degree courses required for admission and a B– or higher in each of the subsequent courses. In addition, your cumulative GPA cannot dip below 3.0.

Withdrawal Grades. You are allowed to receive two withdrawal (WD) grades without them affecting your GPA. Any additional WD grades count as zero in your cumulative GPA. See Academic Standing.

Repeat Courses. We advise you to review the ALM program’s strict policies about repeating courses. Generally speaking, you may not repeat a course to improve your GPA or to fulfill a degree requirement (if the minimum grade was not initially achieved). Nor can you repeat a course for graduate credit that you’ve previously completed at Harvard Extension School or Harvard Summer School at the undergraduate level.

Courses over five years old at the point of admission will not count toward the degree. As stated above, the statistics course used to fulfill the requirement cannot be more than two years old at the time of application.

Further, you have five years to complete your degree requirements. The five-year timeline begins at the end of the term in which you complete any three degree-applicable courses, regardless of whether or not you have been admitted to a degree program.

Potential degree candidates must plan accordingly and submit their applications to comply with the five-year course expiration policy or they risk losing degree credit for completed course work. Additionally, admission eligibility will be jeopardized if, at the point of application to the program, the five-year degree completion policy cannot be satisfied (i.e., too many courses to complete in the time remaining).

When you have fulfilled all degree requirements, you will earn your Harvard University degree: Master of Liberal Arts (ALM) in Extension Studies, Field: Industrial-Organizational Psychology. Degrees are awarded in November, March, and May, with the annual Harvard Commencement ceremony in May.

When you become an officially admitted degree candidate, you have access to a rich variety of exclusive benefits to support your academic journey. To learn more, visit degree candidate academic opportunities and privileges.