What if SOP research interests change later on??

[eilonwy21]

I think the more that I work on my applications and my statement of purpose, the more layers of anxieties arise >____> I am wondering - what if the research interest I am delineating in my statement of purpose changes later on, if I get into a program? Does anyone know to what extent things like that are flexible? I've heard that programs expect you to develop/change your interests anyway, so its okay. But then if schools accept you according to how they see you fit into their program - then if those interests change, what happens?

Edited November 15, 2017 by eilonwy21

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

I wrote a letter of intent for my MA that spoke of working with alzheimer's and dementia patients. I ended up doing a project on digital communication and online communities. Things change and it's expected. No one ever mentioned the change or was upset with me about it. 

[TakeruK]

I have not heard of any program that will use an applicant's SOP against them if they change interests later on. Of course, any one of us has only their own experiences.

But what you write in your SOP does matter a little bit. At some places it will matter more than others. Some schools don't really care what you write in your SOP in terms of research interest content because their goal is to just admit students and then figure out who will do what later. At these places, they would evaluate the research-interest part of your SOP as your ability to write about a research topic you want to study. How well do you frame the question and motivations? What do you know about the resources available?

At other places, you might be admitted directly into a lab or research group so your SOP is extremely important. For one school I applied to, students are admitted with a funding commitment from a prof so my offer letter said that I was admitted with funding to specifically to work with Prof X or Y (I had to choose). In that case, since your funding is tied to your advisor/supervisor, then while you are not held to the letter of your SOP, you'll still have to work on something in the same general area since your advisor/supervisor controls your funding.

There are also in-betweens where you are not admitted to a specific group but you do have to find a group (and funding) within some time frame (maybe 1-2 years, after some rotations etc.) So in this sense, you might be able to stray from your SOP even more. However, if the department admitted students in some proprotionality to faculty research interests, if you try to drastically change interests, you might find that all the spots in those groups were already taken by other students originally intending to work in those areas. But some of those students may also switch so it might work out.

Summary: It is very unlikely that you will required to work on the specific/exact research topic you write about in your SOP (usually it may not even be possible to work on exactly what you propose). Depending on how funding and advisor distribution happens, which is specific to each program, you may have leeway to work on a topic related to what you wrote about or maybe even something completely different. The more your funding is tied to a professor's grant or other research money, the less leeway you have, generally. (Even if all of your income is not connected to a professor, you will still cost them their time so you still won't have complete freedom).

[Nico Corr]

I think it really all depends on the type of program you're in. From what I have heard anecdotally, No one really cares, or expects you to follow through with whatever your intended interests stated in your SOP. The important thing I think is to sound focused in your SOP and be able to tie your interests at the time of application to the program itself. Once you've gotten in, then you can work with advisors and professors to focus on a specific subject. At least that's how I would think it would be with more interdisciplinary programs. 

[Sigaba]

On 11/15/2017 at 12:37 PM, eilonwy21 said:

I think the more that I work on my applications and my statement of purpose, the more layers of anxieties arise >____> I am wondering - what if the research interest I am delineating in my statement of purpose changes later on, if I get into a program? Does anyone know to what extent things like that are flexible? I've heard that programs expect you to develop/change your interests anyway, so its okay. But then if schools accept you according to how they see you fit into their program - then if those interests change, what happens?

Think of your current specific interests like playing in a classical  orchestra. If you switch from one wood wind to another, it's unlikely that any eyebrows will raise. If you switch to another section, just be prepared to discuss the transition as part of your growth.

A jump to an entirely different group of instruments or genre may require you to convince Professor Eleanor Shellstrop otherwise when she sniffs, "That's not music, that's EDM."

[bananabear]

On 11/15/2017 at 3:55 PM, GreenEyedTrombonist said:

I wrote a letter of intent for my MA that spoke of working with alzheimer's and dementia patients. I ended up doing a project on digital communication and online communities. Things change and it's expected. No one ever mentioned the change or was upset with me about it. 

If your research interests changed so drastically, who supervised you? I'm guessing it wasn't the PI that worked on Alzheimer's and dementia? 

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

@bananabear for my MA, the program did not assign advisors at the very start. They assumed interests would change so it was more a process of taking the first courses and spending time in them to identify what you truly want to do. For them, the letter of intent is more about articulating that you are thinking of a project, how it fits in the field, and how it could be done. Secondly, they wanted a balance between the subfields for admitted students (broadly: cultural, physical, and archaeology) so, although I greatly changed my focus, I was still operating within my designated subfield (cultural) and didn't effect the balance of the cohort. 

The first semester was also used as a time to identify potential advisors and committee members. I was lucky in that I knew after getting accepted but before starting that I intended to refocus on digital anthropology (I'd just started getting traction in online communities and my writing was taking off so it made sense to continue in this field). I was also lucky that my MA was at the same school I did my BA, so I had a good relationship with a prof who does work in emerging technology and was open to a digitally focused project. 

[bananabear]

4 hours ago, GreenEyedTrombonist said:

@bananabear for my MA, the program did not assign advisors at the very start. They assumed interests would change so it was more a process of taking the first courses and spending time in them to identify what you truly want to do. For them, the letter of intent is more about articulating that you are thinking of a project, how it fits in the field, and how it could be done. Secondly, they wanted a balance between the subfields for admitted students (broadly: cultural, physical, and archaeology) so, although I greatly changed my focus, I was still operating within my designated subfield (cultural) and didn't effect the balance of the cohort. 

The first semester was also used as a time to identify potential advisors and committee members. I was lucky in that I knew after getting accepted but before starting that I intended to refocus on digital anthropology (I'd just started getting traction in online communities and my writing was taking off so it made sense to continue in this field). I was also lucky that my MA was at the same school I did my BA, so I had a good relationship with a prof who does work in emerging technology and was open to a digitally focused project. 

Thanks so much for the response. This is so helpful  

I'm applying to Ph.D. programs in Anthro from an MA in Ethics and have no idea if I'm articulating my thoughts well since I'm not too familiar with anthropological methods and theory. I hope they don't view that too negatively. Writing this SOP is killing me  If you are open to looking at a complete stranger's SOP, let me know! I can look at yours too!

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

I'm down to look at it @bananabear . Probably won't be able to look until next week though.

[bananabear]

1 minute ago, GreenEyedTrombonist said:

I'm down to look at it @bananabear . Probably won't be able to look until next week though.

Hooray!!!! No worries, I'm still in the process of editing it. I will message you next week

[Adelaide9216]

I agree. It's expected that your subject may change along the way. There is nothing wrong with that. It may actually show that you're flexible, thinking about what's being done out there and adapting to it all. But if you stay with the same research topic, there's nothing wrong with that too.