Contacted by a professor who is not my POI

[andrestoga]

Hi,

 

I have been contacted for an interview by a professor who is not my POI. What should I do? Tell her that I'm not longer interested in their program? or the other way and take the interview?

 

She is a professor who doesn't fit with my research interests.

 

Best,

[C10H12N2O]

Hi,

 

I have been contacted for an interview by a professor who is not my POI. What should I do? Tell her that I'm not longer interested in their program? or the other way and take the interview?

 

She is a professor who doesn't fit with my research interests.

 

Best,

Take the interview but make sure to ask how she sees your research interests fitting together. It's been my experience that a lot of professors don't update their research interests on their webpage/the institution's webpage. So maybe their interests are more aligned with yours than you think. 

If it's clear after the interview that you do not see yourself working with them let them know through a polite e-mail. 

 

Cheers,

K

[iphi]

Hi,

 

I have been contacted for an interview by a professor who is not my POI. What should I do? Tell her that I'm not longer interested in their program? or the other way and take the interview?

 

She is a professor who doesn't fit with my research interests.

 

Best,

 

I think you are jumping to conclusions. You have no idea why she might be interviewing you! Maybe she does all the screening. Maybe your POI has something in their personal life and can't conduct the interview him/herself. Take the interview and then decide, don't just dismiss it outright.

[MathCat]

I think you are jumping to conclusions. You have no idea why she might be interviewing you! Maybe she does all the screening. Maybe your POI has something in their personal life and can't conduct the interview him/herself. Take the interview and then decide, don't just dismiss it outright.

I agree. Take the interview, see what this is about. If it is because she is interested in working with you, you should learn more about her current research. There's probably a reason she thinks you would be a good fit.

 

One program I was accepted to assigned me a supervisor whose research interests were apparently exactly in an area I said I was no longer interested in. I was ready to decline their offer, but once I talked to the prof about it, I realized there was a lot of overlap with things I am interested in, and also that the webpage was not really accurate about their current research!

[TXInstrument11]

I agree. Take the interview, see what this is about. If it is because she is interested in working with you, you should learn more about her current research. There's probably a reason she thinks you would be a good fit.

 

One program I was accepted to assigned me a supervisor whose research interests were apparently exactly in an area I said I was no longer interested in. I was ready to decline their offer, but once I talked to the prof about it, I realized there was a lot of overlap with things I am interested in, and also that the webpage was not really accurate about their current research!

 

 

I think you are jumping to conclusions. You have no idea why she might be interviewing you! Maybe she does all the screening. Maybe your POI has something in their personal life and can't conduct the interview him/herself. Take the interview and then decide, don't just dismiss it outright.

 

 

Take the interview but make sure to ask how she sees your research interests fitting together. It's been my experience that a lot of professors don't update their research interests on their webpage/the institution's webpage. So maybe their interests are more aligned with yours than you think. 

If it's clear after the interview that you do not see yourself working with them let them know through a polite e-mail. 

 

Cheers,

K

Ah, but what about when it's clear that there is no research overlap?

 

My premise is much the same as the OP's, except that the faculty member in question explicitly mentioned research outside my area.

 

With two other faculty members of his department in mind, I wrote in my SOP that my goal is to marry cognitive and bio approaches in studying aggression. I made it very, very clear that my focus is aggression - not bio or cognition in general. However, after no word from either POI [come to find out, one of them left the uni shortly after my app], a professor who studies sleep, cognition, and aging emailed me an interview request.

 

I'm definitely flattered, especially since I'm not exactly drowning in offers from other schools, but this really seems out of my area. He said to check his lab page and see if I found his work interesting. So far, I see very little overlap. 

 

Part of me wants to give it a fair shake, so to speak, but I worry we will probably both be wasting each other's time, especially since I just got a funded offer from Illinois.

Edited February 26, 2015 by TXInstrument11

[andrestoga]

Ah, but what about when it's clear that there is no research overlap?

 

My premise is much the same as the OP's, except that the faculty member in question explicitly mentioned research outside my area.

 

With two other faculty members of his department in mind, I wrote in my SOP that my goal is to marry cognitive and bio approaches in studying aggression. I made it very, very clear that my focus is aggression - not bio or cognition in general. However, after no word from either POI [come to find out, one of them left the uni shortly after my app], a professor who studies sleep, cognition, and aging emailed me an interview request.

 

I'm definitely flattered, especially since I'm not exactly drowning in offers from other schools, but this really seems out of my area. He said to check his lab page and see if I found his work interesting. So far, I see very little overlap. 

 

Part of me wants to give it a fair shake, so to speak, but I worry we will probably both be wasting each other's time, especially since I just got a funded offer from Illinois.

 

I think in your case is better to say that you are not interested in their program. The professor who contacted me didn't tell me to check her webpage but I think it is almost the same case as you: wasting each other time.

 

Best,

[BiochemMom]

The person who contacted you may be on the admissions committee versus someone who wants you to work for them.

[andrestoga]

The person who contacted you may be on the admissions committee versus someone who wants you to work for them.

 

It's likely but I will find out when I have the interview. By the way, she hasn't written me back yet so, maybe she realized that our research interest didn't overlap at all.

 

Best,