Mentioning names of Professors in the Statement of purpose
August 17, 2009 by app2usadvisor
Filed under Statement of Purpose
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This post is based on recent user questions on our forums. Many applicants want to know whether they should mention the names of some professors in their essays or SOP – statement of purpose. (As in, I am interested in working with Dr. Smith because I find his work very intriguing.) This post is relevant for those applying for any degree program.
Before we move forward to the details, let us understand the concept of sabbatical. It is a type of paid leave which professors can avail after every few years during which they typically do interesting stuff like travel, writing books etc but most certainly do not teach or even be available in their university on a daily basis. Why is this important? If you are applying for fall 2012 and Dr. Smith is planning to take his sabbatical in 2012 – 2013, then your keen interest in working with him is not going to help your application. In other words, you were much better off not mentioning his name or any name. You carry similar risk in mentioning the name of those professors who may be retiring or joining other universities in the near future.
By now, hopefully it is clear that mentioning names without thorough information is a risky step, and you may never have the full information on matters like impending sabbaticals, retirements or resignations. Mentioning names can be helpful in some scenarios. There are programs like UIUC Computer Science which specifically ask name(s) of professors you want to work with. In that case, it makes sense to briefly mention with whom do you want to work and why. Mentioning names also gives an impression that you have done your homework and have not copy pasted the same SOP everywhere. So that brings up a very valuable point – if you are going to mention names in your Statement of Purpose, be sure not to copy paste blindly. Hopefully you got the idea why.
Applicants to MBA program may not find themselves in this dilemma. However if you truly believe in something like, “my reasons of applying to Columbia MBA program includes renowned faculty including Nobel laureate Dr. Joseph Stiglitz…”, then you may mention a name.
What do we recommend? app2us advisors strongly recommend that you read the department website and application instructions thoroughly to understand whether the program requires or recommends the applicants to mention the names of some professors. If that is the case, mention as many names as suggested after careful research, preferably in two areas of your interest. If there is no such indication, then mention your areas of interest – one or two – but no names.
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Since we would be in touch with the professor during the application process(prof.letting), maybe we can talk to him about the idea of mentioning his name in our SOP ???