Progams with two potential POI "fits?

[futureapppsy2]

---

Members do not see this ad.

What do you do when there are two faculty members that could be equal good "fits" in terms of your research interests? Is it taboo to contact both? Similarly, is it taboo to contact a second if the first is not taking students?

Thanks.

 

[thewesternsky]

Contact both, no problem. I talked to two potential professors of interest at four of the schools I applied to last year, and got into three of those schools. (The fourth school didn't interview me, but I seriously doubt that's because I listed two potential advisors in my statement of interest). If there's genuine fit in your interests, listing multiple people won't hurt.

 

[psyed4clinPhD]

I don't know how trued this is, but I read it is better to only contact one professor. What I read said it can be uncomfortable for professors to find out that a student contacted both of them and they are both vying for the same student when it comes time for admissions. Thus, if you do plan to write to both professors, you may want to keep this in mind and mention you like both professor X and Y's research.

However, if the first professor you contact isn't taking a student, I would certainly not hesitate to contact the other professor!

 

[krisrox]

Some professors I contacted also encouraged me to look at another faculty's research. Professors realize you're going to choose a program and faculty member based on fit, so they're not going to feel betrayed if you find another faculty member's research more enticing. That said, it's better to be open about this sort of thing rather than acting interested in one professor and then applying under another prof with better-matched research.

 

[Ollie123]

I don't think there is any harm in mentioning the other. Assuming they have related interests, they have to be used to people applying to both. If they freak out about it (and I know of a few schools/individuals where this might happen), its probably a pretty toxic environment anyways.

No idea if this was a "good" approach or not, but when that came up for me I brought up the idea of collaborating, explained how their two areas might intersect and where I wanted to go with it, and asked if they would be open to it.