Is it OK to ask who's on the admission committee?

[TonyFerreyra]

I was wondering if it would be OK if I emailed the department asking to know who are the faculty members in the admission committee. What do you think?

[uromastyx]

I think this would look bad. And they probably wouldn't tell you.

If I were an adcomm I would wonder why it is that you wanted to know. I would assume it's so that you could tailor your approach in some fashion.

It shouldn't really matter who is on the adcomm. My advice is to refrain from inquiring.

[TakeruK]

What stage are you at right now? If you are still applying, I agree with uromastyx, and that they probably won't tell you and that it will also look bad.

 

But, if you are already admitted, then it's probably okay for them to know. I'm not really sure why you want to know though -- the only reason I can think of is that you want to know for an upcoming visit but even so, I don't know why that would make a difference.

 

However, for the sake of argument, if you really wanted to know, I think it's a legitimate request if you are already admitted to the program. You might be able to find it out without asking directly if you ask for copies of previous departmental meeting minutes. If the meetings are open to graduate students (not all of them are), then you should be able to get a copy of previous minutes (just like if you are renting/buying a home in a strata, you can get some past minutes) to help you make your decisions. I'm not saying that you "should" in the sense that you are entitled to them, but it's a legitimate request and whether you succeed or not would depend on departmental policy. Usually, committees are decided early on in the year so the minutes from those meetings might tell you who is on the committee. 

 

In my former grad school, department meeting minutes, committee membership rosters, and teaching assignments (for faculty and TAs) have all been emailed to the entire department or are even sometimes available on the website. So you might also be able to get the information by searching or asking current grad students.

 

I think that while the internal discussions of the admissions committee should be confidential, its membership should not. However, this is only for argument's sake. In practice, I would think asking about this will raise more eyebrows than it might be worth so it probably would not help you very much.

Edited February 20, 2013 by TakeruK

[Chai_latte]

I wouldn't ask.  I'm basically echoing what everyone else has said.  However, I'm still very curious  about who was on the adcomm at my current school.  It's silly and very much after the fact, but I want to know which profs handpicked ME (wonderful me) for the program.  I guess my curiousity will just gnaw at me for the rest of my life, b/c I don't have the guts to ask. 

[TonyFerreyra]

Im about to go to the Campus Visit and they asked me if I wanted to talk to any particular proffessor and I mentioned two, and the secretaty answered that those are members of the committee, so I was going to meet them anyway. I figured that since they already mentioned two of the members, they wouldnt mind sharing who else is in it... If I knew, I think I could prepare better for the interview

[Tuck]

Based on your more recent post, I think there is possibly a diplomatic way to do this if you really must.  I agree with everyone else that you shouldn't ask who is on the committee, but you could ask the grad coordinator who you will be meeting with or, to be even more polite, ask what your itinerary will be.

[rae303]

I would not ask.  Some schools don't care, but others definitely do and won't tell you.  I'd walk lightly until you know which way the school leans.  As for Chai_Latte's dilemma, I would ask...and I would probably go about it through the gossip channels.  You are already in, asking won't hurt you at this point.  Are there any older grad students you could ask who might know?