Mentioning Profs you want to work with

[Tirapol2526]

Hi everyone,

what do you think about mentioning in your SoP the profs you intend to work with when you get admitted to grad school? I have seen this advise often in SoP books but I am a bit skeptical because if this professor will go to another university, has not got a tenure track position, is on absence soon, retires, or simply doesn't like your application it might weaken your application.

Secondly, if you apply to top schools I am also not so sure if you should give reasons (though this too is recommended) because it should be pretty obvious why you apply at, say, Harvard and Stanford (because they are the best) and given particular reasons might even sound a bit insulting to such high-ranked places.

What do you think?

[melusine]

Well I'm applying to all the "top places", as you call them, and I think them being so selective is all the more reason for giving the reasoning behind my choice.

I mean, if you're applying there simply because of the school's reputation, that not only shows you as a very shallow person, but also brings into question your seriousness as a candidate. What distinguishes grad school from undergrad is that you're making a life-altering decision on both a personal and professional aspect. Therefore, your decision to attend a particular school has to be intimately linked to those two variables... If your ultimate goal in life is to be a university professor (v, v competitive goal), or an otherwise highly esteemed specialist in your field, a diploma from one of the Ivies will make your life easier when looking for said job, as it will not only give you a very well known and respected degree but also allow you to establish contacts with very big names in your field.

You also need to mention how a particular school fits your particular scholarly project: and you have to do this regardless of the school's reputation. After all, your desire to work with a particular prof/within a particular department should be your real motivation when applying somewhere.

Just an example> say you are applying for a PHD in Latin American history and want to specialize in Argentina, Chile, Peru.. And the only profs in Latin American history at one of the big name schools specialize in Cuba, Brazil, are you still going to apply? Probably not, and if you are, the difficulty you'll have in convincing them you fit will only make it more apparent.. that you don't.

[rising_star]

You might want to look at some of the other posts about this kind of thing. The general consensus is that yes, you want to mention faculty and that you should always demonstrate your fit with the program.

[a fragrant plant]

2) I think you definitely need to give reasons regardless of the school's rank. At graduate level you don't apply to a school because of its big name.

Edited November 22, 2009 by peanuttheanthro

[peppermint.beatnik]

You should always give reasons, it would be a mistake not to. Also, at the graduate level, the "top schools" don't necessarily have the top programs in every discipline.

[art6308]

When I wrote my SoPs, I mentioned the names of several faculty members that I wanted to work with. And then I included a statement that basically said that I was really just looking for a dedicated mentor/adviser that would work with me on topics that I was interested (which were pretty broad topics). Anyway, if you are concerned that mentioning specific faculty members might make the school disfavor you in some way, I'd include an umbrella statement like that, saying that you would be interested in working with another faculty member if the situation came up.

I personally feel that it is important to mention who you might like to work with - that was one of the main reasons I feel I was accepted.

Hope that helps!

[Amanda]

Anyone figure out a polite way to say a professor has shown interest in your research topic? I was going to leave that out but it occurred to me that it would be a wise idea to include it so long as it can be done subtly. I can't seem to make it work without feeling like I'm bragging.

Amanda

[angesa01]

Honestly, I think it is dangerous to directly mention a faculty's name if you haven't previousl established contact with them. If you have emailed, or met at a conference, or if you are somehow connected to the faculty in question, go ahead. If you only know them as a name on a website, it seems presumptuous.

[ridgey]

Honestly, I think it is dangerous to directly mention a faculty's name if you haven't previousl established contact with them. If you have emailed, or met at a conference, or if you are somehow connected to the faculty in question, go ahead. If you only know them as a name on a website, it seems presumptuous.

I'm not sure that I agree. Obviously, you can't claim someone you've never talked to expressed interest in you. But you could observe that there is overlap in the approach taken or topic or whatever.

[fuzzylogician]

Honestly, I think it is dangerous to directly mention a faculty's name if you haven't previousl established contact with them. If you have emailed, or met at a conference, or if you are somehow connected to the faculty in question, go ahead. If you only know them as a name on a website, it seems presumptuous.

I have to disagree. At least in my field it's uncommon to contact professors before applying but it's expected that you mention professors whose interests intersect with yours when you establish fit. It's not at all presumptuous.

[samjones]

i'd like to echo the opinion that mentioning that a prof's interests dovetails with your own is perfectly fine, even if you haven't been able to engage over email, in person, or any other way with the prof in questions.

i think it's a really great idea to seamlessly work into your SOP the fact that you have engaged over email, in person, or any other way with a prof of interest/relevance. i think it's a good idea to seamlessly work into your SOP that you've taken advantage of relevant resources at the school of interest (profs and colloquiums included). i just got done reading some of the successful SOP's posted in another post in this section of the site, and many of them mention profs of interests, the fact that they've talked to profs of interest, and/or the fact that they've taken advantage or plan to take advantage of other resources in the program, department and/or institution.

[dzk]

This is extremely field-specific, and occasionally, even program-specific. The programs I am applying to do not allow for input from outside the admissions committee on who is picked and rotations are required. You apply to the program, not to the faculty mentor. In this case, there are no pros to naming specific professors, but I was advised by several professors that naming names could potentially alienate someone.

Neuroscience programs tend to have specific departmental cultures... a place like MIT, for example, has TONS of professors working on learning and memory. If you even try to name specific people in your statement if you're applying to MIT for learning and memory, you're not going to come across more positively than simply expounding upon your interests in detail. It doesn't show refined interests by naming two of twenty professors working on different parts of the same problem, it shows naivety and tunnel-vision.

In contrast, most humanities programs seem to have less specialization than this, so it would make loads of sense to name the one professor who is working on 17th century Italian literature.

Edited December 4, 2009 by iggy