Is it worth it to apply to programs that only have one POI?

[Ilikekitties]

Just wondering....because a lot of departments (in my experience) want you applying to the department, not to a person, if that makes sense.

Edited October 1, 2016 by Peanut

[rising_star]

While it's true that you apply to the department, it's also true that you'll need to form a committee with 3-5 faculty in your department. Having only one POI can be dangerous because if things don't work out with that POI,* then you find yourself in a very bad position. When I was applying, I made sure I had at least two POIs in each department and several other people who could reasonably serve on a dissertation committee on my topic.

*The POI could leave for another institution, become ill, retire, decide they aren't taking on students, etc.

[TakeruK]

In addition to the reasons that rising_star mentions, sometimes, you will find that you just cannot work well with the faculty member you had in mind. If the faculty member isn't doing anything wrong (i.e. just a difference in style) then usually the best path forward is to just change advisors. You want to have multiple options at each department. Also, even if the faculty member was deemed to be inappropriate and sanctions are taken, it's generally true that the student would want to work with someone else anyways. 

[bioarch_fan]

The only problem is that it depends on your subfield in anthropology. While both TakeruK and rising_star are correct that you should have other options in case your POI can no longer serve as your advisor, it is sometimes impossible in anthropology to have more than 1 POI in the department. For example, my subfield in bioarchaeology is a relatively small field and most anthropology departments (if they have a bioarchaeologist on staff) only have a single professor I can work with. I am lucky because a new bioarchaeologist came on staff the same year I started (this year), so if something goes wrong with my first POI, then I have a back-up. But sometimes that's not possible for some people. If you're in the same situation as me, you might want to just make sure that department is where you are meant to be. Talk to your POI a lot, that's what made my choice for me. My POI and I talked on the phone a couple of times, sometimes for more than 30 mins to an hour. That sealed the deal on me coming here. If you have any questions at all about this then please let me know because I can attest that the majority of departments only have a single professor that works on similar things that you want to. 

[TakeruK]

That is a good point about subfields. In my department, there are only 7 faculty members, and for any particular topic, there is usually only one professor. However, if you don't limit yourself to just a subfield or just a topic, then it's not hard to find more than one professor that could serve on your committee or be an alternate advisor.

So I just want to say that while the advice to find more than one POI is always important, I hope people don't misinterpret that as meaning "if you can't find more than one person who can help you study topic X" then you shouldn't apply to that department. Many small departments or fields aren't going to hire more than one faculty in each subfield. Instead, when I say "find more than one POI", I actually mean "when looking for schools, find places where there are more than one professor that works on something you're interested in". My primary interest might be subfield A but I would also be excited to work in subfields B and C. So, I might apply to places where Prof. X is the only person working on subfield A, but the department also has Prof Y and Prof Z working in subfields B and C. So I would have 3 POIs at that department!

[Ilikekitties]

Yes, all of these reasons make perfect sense. I'm just not sure who could reasonably advise me on a committee. I'm in the realm of cultural/environmental anthro with human-animal relationships and I'm interested in animals as food, so Idk how "close" someone would have to be to this because it is more of a niche thing in anthro. A lot of anthropologists do work with environmental conservation and environmental political economy stuff, but their focuses are different. I'm interested more in categorization of animals/food, a la Mary Douglas and taboo stuff. But, like, no one (who I've seen at least) studies that exact thing.

 

Any you know, there's a chance that I'll change my interests anyway, so I don't wanna put too much stock into the specifics. I'm not *just* interested in taboo stuff relating to animals and food...

Edited October 3, 2016 by Peanut

[rising_star]

You don't need someone who studies exactly what you want to study! You need someone who can understand your project, ask good questions about it, and challenge you to deepen your thinking about your own project. If someone is already doing exactly what you want to do, then there's no real point in doing that research, is there?

In terms of your committee, it sounds like an environmental anthropologist would definitely be appropriate given your interests. A second person could bring regional expertise (that is, they focus on the Western USA, Latin America, Eastern Europe, or whatever region it is that you're interested in). A third might be have expertise in the theories you're utilizing or drawing on in your research whether that's political economy, Foucault, etc. 

[bioarch_fan]

And don't forget that you CAN bring in outside committee members or readers. A committee member can be from anyone outside of your department (at least that's usually how it is). So you could choose someone in the biological sciences, history, or if your school has an agricultural studies program even that, to help cover all of your bases. And not all departments allow for outside readers from another university, but that's always a question you could ask your POI at the school your applying to when you get accepted.

Maybe with something like your interests you would want someone from biological anthropology to help with any biological constructs of this relationship, a cultural (environmental) anth for another part, and another cultural for the regional area. There are ways to work it out to where you'll have more than one person that does something similar to what you want to do. I'm adding an archaeologist more than likely that focuses a lot on statistics since my proposed project will center heavily on stats.

But again, you won't have more than one POI more than likely for your study of interest, but don't forget that anthropologists change their research interests readily, so email POIs and talk to them about what you want to study. See if they're interested in the research and if they, as well as the department, can help you with this research topic.