Knowing which prof. is interested?

[GoPokes]

I have a unique situation. Long time lurker, first time poster here.

So I have just received / accepted an invitation to interview at a Counseling Ph.D. program. On the application, I listed my desired mentor (Dr.X) and because I was required to make a second choice, I listed (Dr. Y) as a second preference even though our interests don't match up that much.

So I just noticed on the e-mail that I received from the University inviting me to interview that Dr. Y was CC'd on it. Now that I've already confirmed with them that I'll be attending the interview, should I expect that Dr. Y is the only one really interested in me / the one that chose me to interview, whereas Dr. X was not interested? Before applying I confirmed that Dr. X would be taking students for this coming academic year. I would MUCH rather work with Dr. X, so I'm kind of worried about this. Help?

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[KillerDiller]

If you're worried about it, you can email the department secretary and ask if you'll be meeting with Dr. X. There are other reasons why Dr. Y could have been CC'd, though. Maybe he/she is the director of training, the head of the department, or simply the prof. who volunteered to lead the admissions/interview committee.

 

[GoPokes]

If you're worried about it, you can email the department secretary and ask if you'll be meeting with Dr. X. There are other reasons why Dr. Y could have been CC'd, though. Maybe he/she is the director of training, the head of the department, or simply the prof. who volunteered to lead the admissions/interview committee.

Thanks for the reply. I suppose I should have mentioned that the e-mail states (direct quote) "You will also have a chance to meet with Dr. X and Dr Y, whom you selected as mentors.. etc)"


So I suppose it's good that they 'guaranteed' I would meet with both. I was just concerned about the CC, really.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Thanks for the reply. I suppose I should have mentioned that the e-mail states (direct quote) "You will also have a chance to meet with Dr. X and Dr Y, whom you selected as mentors.. etc)"


So I suppose it's good that they 'guaranteed' I would meet with both. I was just concerned about the CC, really.

Yeah, I agree with KillerDiller here. Given that they explicitly stated you'll be meeting with both professors, I wouldn't read too much into the whole CC issue. Maybe Dr. X was BCC'd or, as KillerDiller mentioned, Dr. Y was CC'd for any number of semi-unrelated factors.

 

[Ollie123]

If it says you'll be meeting with both of them I'd rely on that over the cc.

Chances are good Dr. Y is just serving as admissions coordinator this year, or something like that and is cc'd on all emails regardless of who the faculty of interest is.

 

[GoPokes]

Thanks for the replies everyone. As you all already know, this entire experience is extremely stressful and it's easy to obsess on one minute detail. I appreciate the advice, and it has definitely relieved me some stress.

 

[paramour]

Not that unique. I've seen it happen quite frequently over the years, where a second or third prof of interest was the one to extend the invite over someone's primary. You typically still have the opportunity to meet with the person you listed as your primary, so make sure you impress them more.

This happened to me during my interviews as well. I had my secondary or tertiary professor extend the invite. I accepted it because I would have still been psyched to attend the university as there were numerous folks with similar research interests. I had another program where a professor I hadn't even expressed interest in called to interview me (talk about a combination of excitement that I even had an interview with utter confuzzedness!).

In the meantime, even if you are not accepted by your primary, this does not mean that you may not have the opportunity to work with them at some later point. Many programs encourage collaboration across labs and/or allow students to also work in other labs to receive additional research experience. Although I was not accepted by my primary, he ended up being the advisor on a major departmental project requirement I completed. I've also worked with both of the other professors who I listed as potential mentors (primarily because one accepted me and I worked in that lab for 3 years and then switched to the other professor's lab during my fourth year).

Aaand, as someone mentioned, it could be as simple as the guy being on the admin committee and needing to be copied on all emails. We have some students who are confused when they receive their invites because they're from a prof who they did not express interest in and whose research is not anywhere remotely close to what they've indicated in their statements. He's the head of the committee though, so he takes care of everything... including those cursed emails.

There are all sorts of possibilities! Don't panic quite yet!

 

[GoPokes]

Thanks for the insight paramour. I guess I'm just concerned about how I should handle interviews, as I don't want to come across deceptive by conveying different research interests to Dr. X and Dr. Y when I meet each one of them.