Email from Non-POI professor

[jnjroach]

Yesterday I received an interview invitation. I was thrilled.

Today I received an email from another professor in the same program (not my POI) who expressed interest in talking about being my mentor during the program. While I have much more familiarity with my POI (the reason I picked her), this I now know that I have much more in common with this second professor.

Has anyone ever changed POI at this point in the process?

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[cara susanna]

I switched after interviews a lot.

 

[CheetahGirl]

Yesterday I received an interview invitation. I was thrilled.

Today I received an email from another professor in the same program (not my POI) who expressed interest in talking about being my mentor during the program. While I have much more familiarity with my POI (the reason I picked her), this I now know that I have much more in common with this second professor.

Has anyone ever changed POI at this point in the process?

Think back to your psych GREs: This is the classic foot-in-the-door phenomenon for both you and the university. You still need to "knock this person off their socks" to get an acceptance. The POI is just that, your person of interest. By stating that this person's interests align with yours, there is no real commitment until after you are accepted & your Program Director (or DOT) formally assigns you an advisor.

I happen to work with my POI (& now well-published, outstanding jr faculty person unknown to me before acceptance) for the first two years of my program, but my interests changed after I began my clinical work. My POI is now someone different for my dissertation (mainly because my POI retired after my 2nd year). These things happen all the time. You just have to be flexible and start weighing the university as a whole, the culture of program, level of training, placements of extern/internships, avg yrs to completion, kinds of dissertations/research (neuropsych, social psych, cogn-behav, dynamic, etc.) that are coming out of the program (assuming it's a clinical PhD/PsyD that requires independent research, which is always great experience for later teaching).


Research this new POI on the Dept website. Think about how this new POIs past research can inform your existing intuitive and possibly researched interests. Just go with the flow and make sure you stay solid in your interests during the interview b/c it's what you're bringing to the table. Good luck!

 

[Phd007]

Yesterday I received an interview invitation. I was thrilled.

Today I received an email from another professor in the same program (not my POI) who expressed interest in talking about being my mentor during the program. While I have much more familiarity with my POI (the reason I picked her), this I now know that I have much more in common with this second professor.

Has anyone ever changed POI at this point in the process?

I did that. At my current program I initially applied and interviewed with one professor but during the interview day, I realized my interests were more aligned with another professor. I simply stated this early in the day, was able to interview with him individually at the end of the day and was offered a position (and funding!) with him. I think it is perfectly acceptable. After all, you will be working with this person for at least another 4/5 years, you want be sure you are doing work that best matches your interests. And they want students that are into what they are into as well.

 

[BorntoRun]

Yup. I applied to work with one professor and was interviewed (and ultimately accepted) by another professor, who is now my PI. It worked out perfectly and I wouldn't change it for anything.

 

[jnjroach]

Thanks all!! I was surprised that a professor who was not my POI was interested - but delighted too!