Contacting multiple profs within a program

[ryanmor]

Hello all,

I've been in the process of making connections with POIs over the past few months now and have received great responses from those that I've emailed. A few of my top choice schools have 3-4 POIs that I could see myself working with (some with better fit than others, but all would be great). These profs have provided some really good feedback, some have chatted on the phone with me, offered to review my NSF GRF application, and some have said "I look forward to reading your application" . I have also included their names on my SOP in the "fit" portion as people that I've communicated with.

But one thing that has got me worried- what happens when/if I get accepted to these departments where I have expressed interest with working with multiple people? Do they understand that I need to pick one person to serve as my advisor and that all that time they spent talking with me was for nothing?

Am I crazy for worrying about this stuff? Thanks.

[gellert]

Yes, they definitely understand you'll only work with one main person! (Though sometimes they'll let you have more than one faculty member with whom you collaborate.) I'd say it's a very good thing you've contacted more than one POI per department. It shows you're a good fit for the dept and school as a whole, not just for one person who may end up leaving or be disliked by his/her colleagues.

Congrats on the positive responses, by the way!

[juilletmercredi]

Of course they'll understand They're all in the department; presumably they've either had graduate students in the past, have them now, or have at least seen the way the system works. And professors do not get their feelings hurt about the things that grad students believe they get their feelings hurt about. I doubt any of them will be losing sleep over the fact that you picked Professor Y over them to be your advisor if that's the right fit for you.

But the time spent is not for nothing. You will still be a student in their program; they will still be your professors. You may or may not collaborate with them on research, but you may take classes with them and you will definitely participate in your departmental culture. There are some professors in my departments that do the furthest thing from what I can even comprehend (especially since my program has cognitive neuroscience and I'm a hippie-dippie social health psychologist) but we're still friendly and I know them and their students, and they know me. The ones who are close to what I do, I meet with informally and chat with. They may eventually end up on your doctoral committee.