Professors?

[Helpplease123]

I've seen quite a number of posts suggesting that future professors should be discussed in your statement of purpose and it's not something i'd considered doing....would it only be relevant for Phd applications or should I be doing it for a masters application as well?

Thanks!

[especially]

I'd include it for master's apps too (what I'm doing). You don't have to / shouldn't outright say "I want to work with Prof X and Y", but including a statement near the end of your SOP along the lines of "Professor X's interest in topic #1 and Professor Y's work on topic 2 align well with my field of research, but I would be open to working with any professors in your department" is a good idea.

[Helpplease123]

I'd include it for master's apps too (what I'm doing). You don't have to / shouldn't outright say "I want to work with Prof X and Y", but including a statement near the end of your SOP along the lines of "Professor X's interest in topic #1 and Professor Y's work on topic 2 align well with my field of research, but I would be open to working with any professors in your department" is a good idea.

Thanks! I was originally planning to just talk about relevant courses, so will add something in about professors too!

[Helpplease123]

I'd include it for master's apps too (what I'm doing). You don't have to / shouldn't outright say "I want to work with Prof X and Y", but including a statement near the end of your SOP along the lines of "Professor X's interest in topic #1 and Professor Y's work on topic 2 align well with my field of research, but I would be open to working with any professors in your department" is a good idea.

I've just seen on the application form these two questions:

Please list 2 or 3 scholarly/research topics that are especially interesting to you. (1000 characters)

Please list the names of 2 or 3 faculty members whose research you find most interesting and with whom you wish to work during your graduate studies. (1000 characters)

Should I still mention in my SoP?

Thanks!

[rising_star]

I've seen quite a number of posts suggesting that future professors should be discussed in your statement of purpose and it's not something i'd considered doing....would it only be relevant for Phd applications or should I be doing it for a masters application as well?

Thanks!

It is relevant for both PhD and master's applications. I always listed professors. One of them actually called me to discuss my application and interest in the discipline and department. To answer your other question, you list it on both the application form and in the SOP. You want to make sure that everyone knows, without a doubt, who you want to work with.

Also, I wouldn't bother too much with relevant courses. Departments always have way more courses on the books than they actually teach.

[ktel]

You would bother with relevant courses if you were taking a course-based Master's, however. Then you are not conducting research with a professor, so no need to list professor's you want to work with.

[Helpplease123]

Thanks for your advice!

[vautrin]

I was wondering if anyone has advice on whether it makes any sense to list professors you'd love to take classes with who are in a different department than the one you're applying to? At the specific school I'm thinking of there are a whole list of people I'm really excited to work with directly in the department (Sociology), so I'm not short on profs to mention, but there are also some really amazing people in related fields at the same school (Anthropology and History) whose work I really admire, have read a lot of and is also quite related to my primary research interests. How would the application committee be likely to react to my mentioning these other professors?

[Helpplease123]

I wouldn't... you don't have much space as it is, focus on the professors in your school. I thought about the same thing and concluded that I didn't want anyone reading the essay to question whether or not i'd applied to the appropriate school for my interests.

[MouldBreaker]

I'd include it for master's apps too (what I'm doing). You don't have to / shouldn't outright say "I want to work with Prof X and Y", but including a statement near the end of your SOP along the lines of "Professor X's interest in topic #1 and Professor Y's work on topic 2 align well with my field of research, but I would be open to working with any professors in your department" is a good idea.

Hi! Did you contact with those profs?