A question on "fit" with faculty...

[definitelyacaravaggio]

Hi everyone! I am applying to grad school this fall, and I was wondering about how you would go about making a decision in the following case.

 

My research interests are mainly on Area A of theoretical linguistics, and in the interaction of A with B and C. Let's say that people at University X sound like a good fit for me because they've written important papers on A and are into exploring A in a framework that appeals to me and sounds like a productive setting for what I'm interested in researching. 

 

However, when it comes to area B of theoretical linguistics, University X is less of a good fit for me in terms of research affinity. Faculty at Uni X work on B from a point of view that is less exciting to me in terms of what I want to do research on/with. 

 

Would you guys still include Uni X in your application pool? I'm a bit in a muddle because in terms of A, it sounds excellent - they work on A from experimental points of view as well, which is exactly what I would like to do. But when it comes to area B, it's less of a good fit; and I don't just want to work on A in grad school, but go beyond that and include B (and C) as well.

 

I'm leaning towards applying to Uni X anyway, because I'm working on the assumption that I would learn things about B that I wouldn't elsewhere, and anyway I should be willing to add to my interests/research tools when I go through grad school. If they don't do area B the exact same way I've been doing it, it shouldn't be too much of a problem because they're still looking at it with a generative approach (which I dig). (And anyway I might well go to grad school and decide to focus on areas A and C, without looking at B beyond the basics! Things happen!)

 

 

So basically my question is: how much of a fit did you look for when you were choosing which schools to apply to? 

Edited April 17, 2014 by definitelyacaravaggio

[hoviariel]

Fit is rarely perfect because your faculty are not your clones. Apply to the school anyway because you can never predict whether your other "good-enough" will accept you or not and you seem to fit well enough as it does there anyway.

The thing is that you can only measure fitness relatively between different departments that have already accepted you. The only thing that you can during the application process is apply to programs that you can fit in well enough to feel comfy in your research and productive.

Apply

Edited April 17, 2014 by hoviariel

[definitelyacaravaggio]

I don't think anyone wants to find a "perfect" fit, really - I think that what I'm specifically wondering about is "how much" of a fit people usually look for. If someone's main interest was semantics with X framework and Y method(s), would it make sense to apply to programs that do semantics but with Z framework and W method(s)? This is not my specific case because it is my secondary interests that I'm not too sure about, but I would still like to know people's experiences and opinions on this topic. 

[beccamayworth]

I think a good idea would be to contact the faculty you're interested in that place and talk to them about it. Before I applied, I emailed a few Professors to ask if they would be interested in a specific line of work. They'll give you useful answers. 

[fuzzylogician]

I think it's a good idea to email some people who do A to ask if they would be interested in supporting work that interfaces with B in this particular way, and ALSO to write to the people who study B directly and ask them if they would be interested/able to support someone who wants to do your kind of B as it interfaces with A, where your main work and advisor would be in A. 

 

Unless you get a terribly unsupportive or negative reply, I think it'd be worth applying even if it's not a perfect fit for all of your interests. Things are rarely perfect and besides people grow and interests change. If this seems like a good place that can support most of what you want to do and will not get in your way of learning and trying to do other things, I'd say it's worth your application fees. If you get into this school, you could have very frank conversations with both the A and B faculty, as well as their students, about this question. Things will look very different once you've been accepted and are deciding between schools. You'll have a better perspective and people will be more forthcoming than when talking to an obscure prospective student who hasn't even applied yet.

[VioletAyame]

If this seems like a good place that can support most of what you want to do and will not get in your way of learning and trying to do other things, I'd say it's worth your application fees. If you get into this school, you could have very frank conversations with both the A and B faculty, as well as their students, about this question. Things will look very different once you've been accepted and are deciding between schools. You'll have a better perspective and people will be more forthcoming than when talking to an obscure prospective student who hasn't even applied yet.

Completely agree. Things really change from when you start applying to when you start hearing back, having interviews and visits, and talking in-depth to more people. Programs go up and down your list throughout the process. We have a whole "If I had known" thread, but in all actuality most of them are things you couldn've have known without going through it in the first place.

[definitelyacaravaggio]

Thank you to everyone who took the time to reply!

 

All of you make very good points. I hadn't thought of emailing faculty about this, but it makes a lot of sense, and I'm glad you pointed that out to me. I can ponder and wonder all I want about how I'd fit in with their research interests and outlooks, but unless I actually talk to them, I'll never actually know for sure. And the fact that you explicitly said that the way they will talk to me will change if I get accepted -- that was something I needed to know, because I wouldn't have reflected on that otherwise. It makes sense for them to be less open to frank discussions with someone in my current position; conversely, it makes sense for them to be more open if I get accepted.

 

My research area is within theoretical linguistics, but it's not as "popular" as, let's say, semantics, so I already have a somewhat limited number of universities that have people working on it -- which is both good (I have fewer places to investigate in detail) and bad (same reason). I think I'll end up applying to Uni X in the end, because (1) I really don't have that many options to choose from in the first place, and (2) the faculty working on A sound very good and there is more than one POI I'm interested in (which is good, and means I'd have a backup plan if Person X doesn't work out); that should be enough to make it worth the applications fees at the very least...