SOP question re: mentioning faculty

[joops]

Hey again everyone.

Sorry if this topic has been exhausted before, but I have a pretty specific question regarding SOPs.

I plan to mention specific faculty in all of my SOPs, but I'm wondering if I may be taking a risk by not mentioning every single prof. I may be able to work with at each school. Is is possible that I'm shooting myself in the foot by mentioning only two or three potential advisors? I mean, if a professor is interested in my application and feels that my interests align well with his or hers, then will he or she be offended if I haven't mentioned him/her?

To try to avoid this problem, I mentioned about 7 professors for an SOP that is due today. Is this a mistake? Should I just mention a few and if there is a professor who is interested in me, will he or she excuse the fact that I didn't talk about him or her in my SOP?

Thanks again, and sorry if I am clogging this board with so many topics!

Edited December 31, 2010 by Alissa

[Strangefox]

I think mentioning 7 profs might be too much. You do not have to write that you want to work with these 3-4 people and only with them. You can put it this way: "In the program there are several faculty members I will be excited to work with, among them Professor X, Professor Y and Professor Z". Thus you will show that you are open to other opportunities. I would mention only professors I am particularly interested in working with.

Edited December 31, 2010 by Strangefox

[joops]

I think mentioning 7 profs might be too much. You do not have to write that you want to work with these 3-4 people and only with them. You can put it this way: "In the program there are several faculty members I will be excited to work with, among them Professor X, Professor Y and Professor Z". Thus you will show that you are open to other opportunities. I would mention only professors I am particularly interested in working with.

Thanks for your speedy reply! Both you and my friend (who is already in a PhD program) believe that seven is too much. I will cut the number down, then use wording that indicates that I am open to working with more than just the people whom I mention.

I've only been mentioning profs I'm interested in working with, but I always feel like there might be others at these schools whose interests match mine, but for whatever reason this information is not shown through the journal articles I scan or lists of their specialties.

Thanks again, strangefox. You've been nothing but wonderful in this very stressful process.

[Strangefox]

You are welcome!

Good luck and Happy New Year!

[surprisecake]

How did you manage to weave 7 names into your SOP?

[joops]

How did you manage to weave 7 names into your SOP?

With difficulty. I just grouped them into three based on specialty, and said why the profs in each group would be good for me to work with. At this school, it seems that each student has five dissertation advisors, so I figured it wouldn't be too bad to put so many in. Any thoughts?