Engineering, advisor outside of admitted department?

[vtme]

Hi everyone,

After being admitted to a masters/Ph.D program, can you request to have an advisor outside of the department to which you have been admitted? For example, I applied to several schools into the mechanical engineering program focusing on computational fluid dynamics, but i was recommended by my undergrad adviser to try and work with a specific professor in the Engineering Sciences and Mechanics department who pretty much does a ton of CFD. So my question is if i am enrolled into the ME program, do i HAVE to have an adviser who is listed under the ME department?

Thanks

[jacket24]

This sort of thing seems to vary between programs but I think it is possible. I was admitted to Cornell's MS/PhD Civil & Environmental Engineering department and expressed interest in some professors in the Biological & Environmental Engineering department with positive response. I'm not sure if the same would apply to your case since the departments that I contacted are so closely related but it would certainly be worth asking the program director.