New Potential Advisor with Better Fit?

[0570]

Hi everyone, glad to be playing the post-application waiting game with you!

 

Some background info: I applied to a doctoral program where the research fit was close but not perfect. The program is in the education field, so the research fit doesn't seem to be as critical as it is in certain STEM fields. Knowing this, I talked with a potential adviser and stated my research interests pretty broadly so that our interests were loosely but logically related. She was enthusiastic and I ended up listing her as a potential adviser in my personal statement.

 

Herein lies my dilemma: In an email inviting me to interview, the department introduced a new faculty member whose research interests perfectly match my own! The email directed students interested in working with him to his email address. The new prof won't be in town during the interview so I won't be able to speak with him in person, but how should I go about navigating the sudden shift in potential advisers I'm interested in working with? Is there anything I should add to the [roughly written] general outline below? Thanks for all your help!

 

"Dear first adviser, I'm thrilled about University of X's program and believe your work is making important contributions to the field. However, with the introduction of new faculty member's work, I believe his research project on specific topic would be a wonderful extension of my previous research and a more specific route to explore broad topic. I've emailed him and look forward to working with both of you in some capacity in the future."

Edited December 23, 2014 by lslee92

[Applemiu]

"Dear *potential advisor*, I'm thrilled about *University of X*'s program and believe your work is contributing greatly to the field. However, with the introduction of *new faculty advisor*'s work, I believe his research project on *specific topic* would be a wonderful extension of my research interests and a more specific route to explore *broad topic*. I've emailed him and look forward to working with both of you in some capacity in the future."

 

Thanks for all of your help!

 

If I understood well, are you thinking about emailing the "close enough fit" POI to tell him/her about the "perfect fit" POI?

IMHO, don't do that. He/she won't like that "however" too much. I really appreciate your honesty, but I believe it is a little misguided in this case. You are rushing and making assumptions, and that's not how the application process works.

It's perfectly OK to contact more than one POI at each institution. Plus, the "perfect fit" POI won't be there for the interview (that's a little bit unusual). What if you don't end up collaborating with him/her? On the other end, if you get in (even with another POI) you can usually add a second advisor or collaboration. 

My point is that there is no need to tell your POI about your interest in another POI at the same institutions right now. If they ask you "why this university" then you can say, well I am really interested in your work and also in this other person's work. Something like that.

Again, it is OK to contact more than one POI, and not all of them are, in theory, a perfect fit, but that's not something you write in the email. Likewise, each professor is in contact with a number of students, and some probably seem a better fit than others, but he/she does not write that in the email. This is not hypocrisy, but just that, in the end, you really don't know till you meet the person and get to know him/her better. Remember that in the end "the person is more important than the project".

In the meanwhile, try to get to know better the new POI via emails. Does he/she plan to do Skype interviews?

[0570]

If I understood well, are you thinking about emailing the "close enough fit" POI to tell him/her about the "perfect fit" POI?

IMHO, don't do that. He/she won't like that "however" too much. I really appreciate your honesty, but I believe it is a little misguided in this case. You are rushing and making assumptions, and that's not how the application process works.

It's perfectly OK to contact more than one POI at each institution. Plus, the "perfect fit" POI won't be there for the interview (that's a little bit unusual). What if you don't end up collaborating with him/her? On the other end, if you get in (even with another POI) you can usually add a second advisor or collaboration. 

My point is that there is no need to tell your POI about your interest in another POI at the same institutions right now. If they ask you "why this university" then you can say, well I am really interested in your work and also in this other person's work. Something like that.

Again, it is OK to contact more than one POI, and not all of them are, in theory, a perfect fit, but that's not something you write in the email. Likewise, each professor is in contact with a number of students, and some probably seem a better fit than others, but he/she does not write that in the email. This is not hypocrisy, but just that, in the end, you really don't know till you meet the person and get to know him/her better. Remember that in the end "the person is more important than the project".

In the meanwhile, try to get to know better the new POI via emails. Does he/she plan to do Skype interviews?

 

Thanks for your response. My intentions were exactly as you assumed, but I believe you're right - in all of my anxiousness to come off as the perfect candidate, I didn't want to appear wishy-washy or undecided about my commitments. I forgot that I didn't ever really *commit* to any potential adviser in the first place, and I heard that faculty members can be a little touchy and full disclosure when contacting more than one POI is just a general precaution when dealing with some big egos in the field Your suggestions are really helpful and they got me thinking about interview and how I'll contact the new faculty member...

 

The introduction email didn't say exactly what the new POI would be doing. It just listed a brief bio, his projects, and his email, but I'm assuming he'll at least contact potential students by phone.

[Applemiu]

I am glad you agree. I think that full disclosure may make sense when you contact a POI for the first time, like "I am really interested in XXX university because of your work, Dr. X's work, and Dr. Y's work". The tricky part is that you knew about the new POI only later on. I think it is very important to be honest, but an email right now could sound dismissive.

[TakeruK]

I agree with Applemiu, there's no need to mention the other POI at this time. Make sure you don't say anything to either POI that implies you would commit to them if you got in. Instead, you should be sure you are just simply expressing interest in working with them if you do get an offer. Most schools have a system/timeline for establishing advisors so you wouldn't want to get ahead of yourself! 

 

I think it is normal for almost all professors to expect that a prospective student will be contacting multiple POIs (at the same school and others) at the same time. Also, read your first POI's emails carefully. I find that most professors are also careful to express their interest in working with you should you get accepted but they generally try to keep the language neutral enough that it doesn't imply they will definitely take you on if you choose to go there. Especially this early in the season, there may be other applicants they might have a greater interest in that come later. It doesn't make sense for either applicants or professors to commit right now. 

 

So, I think you should definitely go ahead and contact the other POI. In my field, when we do this, we don't start off with "I am contacting you and Drs. X, Y, Z" etc. We just focus on the single person, with the expectation that the prof is in contact with a ton of other students and the student is in contact with many other profs. We generally express our interest in each other and learn more about each other. Usually, after the admission decisions are made, you and the prof might flesh out a project for you to consider, and I did this with every POI at all the schools that accepted me and then I made my decision partly based on how much I liked each project. This also gave me a chance to very briefly have a research conversation with each professor and also gave me a feel of how well I think I would work with them. So, usually, (in my field at least), the earliest we might firmly commit to a project is when we actually accept the admissions offer, or sometimes, not until a few months after you start the program. In other fields with rotations, you might end up trying out many projects for a year or two before committing.