Does fit matter?

[Atua]

Hello ~~

I've already matriculated into a PhD program in August, but I'm thinking about reapplying to one school for F2012 that I was wait-listed to for F2011. My reason for doing so is that my current program has no one I can work with. I focus on IR and CP in the Middle East - no one in my department does any work on this region and the department has a heavy theorist and Americanist (quant) layout. Thus far, I like all the faculty - they're collegial, smart, and nice, though I'm not sure that these traits will help me advance my research and my career.

Anyways I'm just looking for some advice from those who have been in a similar situation, i.e., dealing with a bad fit. Or, even if you haven't been in a similar situation, do you think fit is vital?

You may be thinking to yourself, "why would Atua accept a bad fit offer?" Long story short, I accepted my best financial offer because all of my acceptances were backups with bad fits. Why did this department accept me? The person who accepted my cohort picked a few of us with Middle East interests (maybe to build cohort camaraderie?), but I'm not sure why this was done given the lacking IR faculty.

Thanks~~

Atua

Edited October 13, 2011 by Atua

[Alephantiasis]

Part of the grad-school experience is to expand your horizon. Fit is important, but if you're going to grad-school only to work on what you already know, I think you're making a mistake. Try to see an opportunity to learn from people outside of your comfort zone instead of worrying about fit... Now, if you think it's a problem and that no one is going competent enough to help you pursue your own interests, that's a different story.

[Helix]

My understanding is that there are two ways that fit with faculty (or the broader resources at the school--does your current school have a great Near East Lang & Lit department to lean on? or folks in the history or anthro programs with regional expertise?) makes a big difference.

The first, and most immediately important, is their ability to guide you as you pursue your dissertation research. It doesn't necessarily matter that they don't study your region as long as you have substantive interests in common with them for this, I think. So if you wanted to study Middle East language policy through comparative historical analysis and all they have are folks who do formal theory comparing the U.S. and Canada's electoral systems, you could be in trouble.

The second way, which I think is important in the long run, is their ability to guide you into a research/faculty job after you graduate. If where you would want to transfer they have folks who work on what you like, but are all junior faculty and their placement record is blah, but the folks at your current program are more well-known at least in the field (again, assuming they have any expertise you can draw on at all to muddle through the dissertation process) you might be ok just where you are.

Just my two cents from a not-yet-admitted point of view.

[kaykaykay]

Transfers because of bad fit are fairly common. I have been in that situation. If you do not feel at home somewhere it can really kill your interest in the subject and can make school feel like struggling. if this is the case try to change as fast as possible(because inevitably you will lose credits and time). However, I agree with everything what was written before: fit of research method is more important than fit of region. Also if the department accepted so many of students with interest in the Middle East maybe they are looking into hiring someone with Middle East expertise? In any case if quant and American is not your cup of tea maybe even that would not help.