Interdisciplinary vs traditional home departments

[OneBlueFish]

What are the pros and cons of doing a PhD in an interdisciplinary-type department versus a department that falls in a more traditional box? My research interests lie in computational social science, which straddles computer science, sociology, and (sometimes) political science and linguistics. My undergraduate degree is in a technical field and I have research experience on a computational project in that field. I also have some coursework in the social sciences and research experience in (traditional, not computational) sociology.

When I was submitting my applications I found that different universities house computational social science research in different departments--many put it in their sociology department, but some put it in their computer science department, some in their linguistics department, and some in less traditional, interdisciplinary departments (think Cornell Information Science). To cover my bases I applied to both sociology programs with a definite strength in computational social science and also a couple of interdisciplinary programs. I now have acceptances with adequate funding from a well-regarded sociology program and an equally well-regarded interdisciplinary program (wahoo!) and I'm trying to think through the pros and cons of each. Essentially I'm picking between being on the technical side of a sociology program or on the social science side of a semi-technical interdisciplinary program. There are professors whose research interests match well with mine in both programs, and I think I'd be able to do essentially the same sort of research in both places, though the department name is different.

When job-searching after finishing a PhD (in academia or in industry), how much does the name of the department your degree came from matter? When in graduate school, is it more advantageous to be in a department with significant breadth (all the faculty in the interdisciplinary program also have appointments in other departments at the university), or significant depth? What else should I be thinking about here?

Thanks all, and if you're also waiting on your decisions, best of luck!

[rising_star]

Take a look at job ads in your field to get a sense of whether they care about what department your degree is in. That's really the best way to figure this out, besides talking to finishing PhD students and recent PhDs in your field. I have an interdisciplinary degree and sometimes find myself wishing I had a degree in a traditional social science field since some job ads specify that your degree must be in X to apply. YMMV obviously.