Princeton's Department of Politics vs. Woodrow Wilson

[Chapati]

Maybe a bit late in the game but I'm confused about the overlap between Woodrow Wilson and the Department of Politics as it relates to listing POIs on my application. I'm applying to the Politics department, but just noticed that a lot of the professors I was interested in working with hold positions through WWS, even though they're listed as faculty on the politics department website. Is it okay to list them as POIs? Do they also advise Politics students? Or is it a hard divide like Government/Kennedy at Harvard? Any input would be very appreciated.

[Determinedandnervous]

Most likely, it's fine. It is more fine if the person is a professor in the Politics department with a courtesy appointment in the WWS, but I don't see how this is an issue. 

[CarefreeWritingsontheWall]

If they are listed as a faculty member for both the politics department and WWS, you're fine. Most of the department is cross-appointed, unlike HKS or Georgetown's SFS. It's much more like GWU's Elliott School.

On a side note: there is mingling, but in practice most politics PhD students will only occasionally audit a WWS course (some are half-term) and the public policy PhDs will only take a few core courses in the politics department. The MPAs/MPPs are largely people you only run into in housing or at more general-audience events, as they are restricted to WWS courses. Occasionally a Politics PhD will have a TA position in WWS as well.

[MyWay]

8 hours ago, CarefreeWritingsontheWall said:

If they are listed as a faculty member for both the politics department and WWS, you're fine. Most of the department is cross-appointed, unlike HKS or Georgetown's SFS. It's much more like GWU's Elliott School.

On a side note: there is mingling, but in practice most politics PhD students will only occasionally audit a WWS course (some are half-term) and the public policy PhDs will only take a few core courses in the politics department. The MPAs/MPPs are largely people you only run into in housing or at more general-audience events, as they are restricted to WWS courses. Occasionally a Politics PhD will have a TA position in WWS as well.

 

It is a little bit off-topic but what about HKS and Gtown's SFS? I just realized that many professors at Harvard and Gtown whom I want to study with only hold positions in HKS and SFS (Tarek Masoud at Harvard, Joseph Sassoon at SFS, to name a few). Should I apply for the public policy PHD program at those schools or...?(And SFS doesn't even have a PHD program offering...)

[CarefreeWritingsontheWall]

On 2016-12-14 at 3:06 AM, MyWay said:

It is a little bit off-topic but what about HKS and Gtown's SFS? I just realized that many professors at Harvard and Gtown whom I want to study with only hold positions in HKS and SFS (Tarek Masoud at Harvard, Joseph Sassoon at SFS, to name a few). Should I apply for the public policy PHD program at those schools or...?(And SFS doesn't even have a PHD program offering...)

Well, the division there is stronger. For HKS, I would recommend applying to the public policy PhD. While most departments will allow you to have one external person on your committee, it looks bad if you apply to a program asking to specifically work with people not in it (a bit like applying to Berkeley for political science and then asking to work with a bunch of economists). I realize I'm saying this after HKS' deadline, but it's important to know that PhD's in public policy are also quite different from traditional academic programs. Each school is a little bit different.