POI's for Master's???

[tapw22]

Hi all,

I've applied for Master's programs in Marriage & Family Therapy. I see lots of posts about POI's, but does that apply for Master's or just PHD?

I've been invited to interview by one school from an admin person and will be doing a group interview, followed by an interview with all of the faculty. Should I be preparing questions for e certain faculty member?!

[kingslayer]

I applied for masters programs in School Psychology and I thought that I didn't need a POI (never mentioned one in any of my personal statements, just talked honestly about what I wanted to do). In one of my interviews, the interviewer asked "Ok, so you would be working with Dr. POI, is that alright?" and I was completely taken aback because I wasn't expecting it. However, in other interviews there was no expectation of a POI. I think it would depend on the program.

[historicallinguist]

4 minutes ago, kingslayer said:

I applied for masters programs in School Psychology and I thought that I didn't need a POI (never mentioned one in any of my personal statements, just talked honestly about what I wanted to do). In one of my interviews, the interviewer asked "Ok, so you would be working with Dr. POI, is that alright?" and I was completely taken aback because I wasn't expecting it. However, in other interviews there was no expectation of a POI. I think it would depend on the program.

I do not think it is a good idea to have just one POI/no POI in an SOP for an  Master Program. Generally speaking, MA program has bunches of coursework where you are expected to be taught by a number of different professors. Mentioning couple of POIs will show that you are a good fit for the department as a whole. I think in U.S. departments, decisions are generally made by a committee, and in some cases, an applicant got to get a majority vote in the adcom in order to get admitted. So, it is better to not to ignore the majority folks sitting in the adcom, and it is a good idea to show how you are going to fit into the majority faculty members' academic interests by mentioning a number of POIs and elaborating on how these folks might support you.

[somekindaway]

Depends on the program, I think. My program encouraged people to identify one POI, which is what I did (and reached out to before submitting an application). They also asked for an optional top 3 list of POIs, which I completed as well.

[Rigid_Designator]

My MS program required me to submit interest in working with up to three faculty members who were accepting students on my application. I was accepted without interview and assigned to one of them; I presume they made this decision themselves based on needs and the like.
This was in the application; if your application did not require this, it makes me wonder if you don't have a POI or if one gets chosen during the program itself. I would research your program's website some and see what you can find out. Contacting current grad students in your program can also be helpful.