School Specifics in Personal Statements?

[Deliberate]

How important is it to put a paragraph about specific professors you'd be interested in working under in your personal statement?  Is it typically a bad idea to not include such a paragraph at all?

 

Furthermore, is it generally a bad idea to talk about your interest in non-departmental philosophers in personal statements (for example, talking about how your research interests involve the works of a professor at some other school)?

Edited December 29, 2013 by Deliberate

[SelfHatingPhilosopher]

How important is it to put a paragraph about specific professors you'd be interested in working under in your personal statement?  Is it typically a bad idea to not include such a paragraph at all?

 

The advice on this is quite disparate, and I believe this is because members on an adcom will disagree on how to value it. Some professors I have talked to said they do not care about the SOP, so for them it doesn't matter whether you do or don't.

 

I have had other professors tell me it's important for different reasons. 1) Programs want to know you're a good fit for the program, and that you actually want to attend. For instance, NYU, Rutgers, and Colorado receive a lot of applicants. The former two for the prestige, and the latter because of it's location. They want to know you're a good fit for the program, and that you are interested and want to attend the program, and won't just sit on your acceptance waiting for a better offer from elsewhere. By pointing out the professors you'd like to work with, you demonstrate this interest. 2) Programs will sometimes admit people based on their interests and expressed interest in philosophers, and will structure their waitlists accordingly. So if you get waitlisted at a program with an interest in Philosophy of Art, and you're first on that WL, you'll only get in if their current Phil of Art admit decides to commit elsewhere. Other times, programs will be specific to the professor. If the professor is currently full up with students he's advising and planning to advise, they won't want to admit anymore students under him.

 

On the other hand, and I've only heard this vaguely online so I don't know if anyone actually operates this way, but if you single out professors, say Professor A who works in Phil Mind instead of Professor B who also works in Phil Mind, you may risk causing offense. But this seems a bit odd, because it's probable that Professor A is doing much different work in Phil Mind than Professor B and is no judgment on their quality.

 

Personally, I think it's a good thing to do. It's something I did, for whatever that's worth. Although what I did, was not so much a paragraph listing the professors I wanted to work with. Instead, I had a paragraph for each of my interests, and at the end I mentioned the relevant professors I'd like to work with.

[MattDest]

How important is it to put a paragraph about specific professors you'd be interested in working under in your personal statement?  Is it typically a bad idea to not include such a paragraph at all?

 

Furthermore, is it generally a bad idea to talk about your interest in non-departmental philosophers in personal statements (for example, talking about how your research interests involve the works of a professor at some other school)?

 

It seems like a good idea generally for the reasons that SelfHating mentions about determining fit and desire to attend. However, if you didn't include such a paragraph in your SOP, I can't imagine it will be a huge strike against you. 

[philstudent1991]

Except in one or two cases, I didn't list professors. This is because unless you really really know your stuff, it can seem like you just trolled the website and copy and pasted names. Also, if you have the misfortune of mentioning a professor that is retiring or on leave or not taking graduate students or whatever, that hurts your application. You can definitely demonstrate fit, which I unequivocally agree is paramount, without mentioning professors. However, in one or two cases I did because I was familiar with their work and know I would want to work with them.

[jamc8383]

Also, if you have the misfortune of mentioning a professor that is retiring or on leave or not taking graduate students or whatever, that hurts your application. 

 

This is easily avoidable.  Contact your POIs.  Be brief; ask specific questions (rather than emailing them a wandering inquiry with questions that could easily be answered by a cursory review of the program's website--they hate that!) and they're likely to answer.  I got responses from everyone that I contacted.  No joke.  One historian told me that he was leaving the university--and the country--next semester and another very thoughtfully explained why he wouldn't be accepting students in the fall.  The rest responded with varying degrees of enthusiasm, but at least I was able to confirm that they would be accepting students. Decisions were made accordingly, more POIs were contacted, and so on.  In the event that it might be helpful, you can feel free to PM me for the (slightly-redacted) text of the email that I used to contact POIs.  Best of luck!