Mentioning collaborators in SOP... yes or no?

[bsharpe269]

I am finishing up applications for a couple schools with Jan deadlines and need input on a situation.

 

I have a fairly specific SOP, detailing my interests in my chosen research area. Prof X and Prof Y are two of the most famous professors in my subfield and there is quite a bit of collaboration between their schools. The situation looks like this:

 

Univ X: Prof X

Univ Y: Prof Y and Prof Z (one of prof X's former students)

 

Prof X and Prof Y are two of the biggest names in my subfield and they seem to get along. There are a couple competing theories in my subfield and these two have similar ideas and argue in favor of each other. Prof X and Z publish together a ton.. multiple papers a year. It is very common for students to do a PhD under Prof Z then do their postdoc under Prof X.

 

I am very interested in both of these schools. Prof X is probably the most famous of them all (will probably get a Nobel Prize any time now). I have heard some not too great things about his mentoring though so I would lean towards Univ Y if I get into both.

 

Alright, so my question is: as I am writing my SOP for Univ Y, do I mention their collaboration with Prof X? On one hand, there is so much collaboration going on here that I feel like it might be an oversight not to mention it. Also, it shows that I really know my field and have done my research on the schools. On the other hand, since Prof X is probably a bit more famous, I don't want Univ Y to assume they are my second choice. Thoughts on this situation please? I don't know if this is an important or potentially dangerous thing to mention.

[fuzzylogician]

Guess here:

 

It sounds safe to say something along the lines of "among other things, I am interested in the work that has resulted from the collaboration between Prof. X and Profs Y and Z (or vice versa, when applying to Univ Y)." That shows that you know what's going on and you give it as one of many reasons why school X/Y is great for you. 

 

It may be presumptuous to assume that you would be included in that collaboration, so I would not say anything about "looking forward to collaborating with Prof Y+Z at Univ Y" unless it is somehow very clear that it's something students can expect to do while at school X (and vice versa, again), and for the same reason I would avoid giving it as a main reason why school X is a good fit or emphasizing it too much. If the main reason you can think of is a collaboration with Y, then (an adcom would reason) you should go study there. 

[gliaful]

Alright, so my question is: as I am writing my SOP for Univ Y, do I mention their collaboration with Prof X? On one hand, there is so much collaboration going on here that I feel like it might be an oversight not to mention it. Also, it shows that I really know my field and have done my research on the schools. On the other hand, since Prof X is probably a bit more famous, I don't want Univ Y to assume they are my second choice. Thoughts on this situation please? I don't know if this is an important or potentially dangerous thing to mention.

You can circumvent making Univ Y feel like your second choice by noting some unique aspect of Prof Z's work within the collaboration. You can still make it known that you are aware of the collaboration while making it appear that you would prefer to work on Prof's Z side of things.