Assigned two faculty advisors...

[reveuse]

Hi All,

I recently received an acceptance to a great MA program in Education--this is happy news!

In my official letter, it is mentioned that I have been assigned not one, but two faculty advisors. Someone I spoke with who is currently in the same program has indicated that he has only one advisor (his advisor would be one of my two advisors if I accepted). I was just wondering--and this maybe a silly question--is having two advisors for an MA student semi-common practice? Both faculty members' interests align with mine, so they seem like a good match. However, the faculty member I mentioned in my SOP is not one of these potential advisors.

Should I be happy about this because (it should mean) I have more academic resources with which to succeed during my time there?

[wanderlust07]

Shot in the dark (from another discipline): if this is a 2 yr program, is it possible one/both of them will be on sabbatical during your time there, and they split the time between them? I currently have one formal advisor and a couple more unofficial ones for various purposes and fields. I wasn't assigned an official one at all until several months into the program (we n00bs all shared the DGS for a bit).

Do you have some sort of split specialty that would benefit from two advisors?

I really wouldn't worry, though. In my experience, as long as you have faculty you feel comfortable talking to openly, and you can get an occasional signature, the official advisor is sort of a formality (again, this may be field specific).

[qbtacoma]

Congratulations! This sounds like a good thing, and like wanderlust said, this is probably a case of one or both professors going on sabbatical while you in the program. Actually this is also good news because clearly the program is thinking ahead and helping you in advance instead of letting you scramble for a new advisor while your first goes on leave. It is likely that the professor you mentioned in your SOP isn't taking new students or doesn't have enough room for you - lucky, you have two others who match your interests at the same school!