Applying to two departments in same school

[Calorific]

Hello guys,

 

So I'm applying to two schools (Virginia and Univ. Florida) and they say I could apply to a different department without needing to pay an extra application fee. Thing is I do have cross-disciplinary interests that border the departments of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.

In the higher rated schools, I would rather indicate my desire to work with other labs and faculty in the other departments  in my statement of purpose but I am afraid i might be limited to one department if I have to go to these other schools which allow multiple applications. Also, they do not emphasize multidisciplinary research on their webpages and I am guessing this is the reason why they allow multiple applications.

Anyone with a thought and guidance on this would be *wildly* appreciated. :)

[unbrokenthread]

Hmmm, good question.

 

I would still mention your interdisciplinary interests in your SOPs for these schools, as they do boost your fit with the institution.

 

I recently applied to two departments at UW and essentially stated that I believed that you can't study what I'm studying (astrobiology) and have one (biology, early evolution) without the other (geology/planetary science), hence I was applying to both. This is a school that seems to really like interdisciplinarity though.

 

If you do not want to make your interdisciplinary interests a "hard line" - a requirement for you - you might present it as a bonus.

 

Ex:

I look forward to doing X research in Y field. My interests in Z have informed my interests in Y...

And this is how you can suggest interdisciplinary work without pressing the issue. This is also a way to bring up the fact that you are applying to multiple departments at the school, if you choose to do so.

 

Hope that helps!

[Calorific]

It really helps, unbrokenthread. Thanks for your response!

[meowth]

My area is no where close to yours, but I applied to two programs at UF. At first I was worried it might come off weird, but I just made sure my two separate statements agreed with one another because I assumed the professors from one department or another would see both (also the professors I was interested in working with were affiliated with both departments) and figured that would be okay. Not that each statement can't emphasize a slightly different thing, just making sure you seem consistent in your message of what you want to do, even if the programs draw you in for different reasons.

 

So I believe you should go for it! Costs the same for your application either way and you can even send out the letter of rec requests for multiple programs at the same time (although it doesn't send until after you submit your application entirely).

[surefire]

You've gotten great advice so far!

 

As is the case with meowth, I'm not in your field but have experience applying to two departments at the same school (though I did have to pay the extra app fee!).

 

I would add, regarding your statement: do a little bit of extra recon, if you're thinking about naming a prospective supervisor. For me, the two potential supervisors I was interested in working with were BOTH cross-appointed between the two departments, so I thought I could reference them similarly in both SOPs. However, in talking with them, I found out that one of these prospective supervisors could supervise me in one of the departments but not the other. I didn't anticipate this, but it was great to find out, so that I could invoke prospective supervisors accordingly in the SOPs!

 

Just something to think about! Good luck!

[Calorific]

Thanks meowth and surefire.

 

Just one more question, meowth,

UF's application does not synchronize my references to the two departments and I am wondering if your referees had to upload a single reference for both departments as you seem to suggest.

I have been having trouble getting my refs to upload reference to my second application. 

 

Looking forward to your reply!

[meowth]

lexiro,

 

Even though I sent the requests for my recs at the same time (when it gave me to option to check off both programs, I checked off both programs) I believe each one went out as two separate e-mails to each professor. So, when I submitted my application, 6 emails got sent out, 2 to each of my 3 professors.

 

I know that while two of my professors uploaded recs for both programs at nearly the same time, the third professor only uploaded one letter. I assume that's because she knows that the materials for my second application aren't actually due until January (but since I was applying to both programs as one application I had to do them by the first deadline in December). (This is really the only reason I'm pretty sure they went as two separate e-mails.)

 

I guess make sure that you professors know that you're applying to two programs and that you need two LORs from them for UF. They might have seen the two e-mails from UF and assumed the second one was just a resend or a reminder. I think you can resend your request too if you need to (though I'm not sure how that works if they already submitted one).

 

Good luck!

[Calorific]

Thanks meowth! 

I'm doing a reminder and mailing my referees about this immediately!