Misjudged what department I should be applying to?
My first choice grad school says that it highly recommends prospective graduate students visit, so I'm planning a visit there next month. I was making up a list of professors I wanted to try to meet with while I was there when I remembered something: they're all listed in two departments, X and Y. Y claims that they are associate professors in Y and faculty affiliates in X. X has them listed as associate professors and doesn't say anything about any kind of affiliates. Early on, I decided that X looked like a better fit for what I wanted to study, so I didn't looked at Y's website for awhile until tonight, when I wanted to double-check that these professors were still there since some of the info on X's site is out of date.
So now I'm not sure I'm really applying to the right department. From my perspective, X definitely still seems like a better fit, and as far as potentially getting a TAship goes, I have a MUCH better chance of getting one in X than in Y because my background is in X-related things, not Y-related things. However, I'm wondering if the school will see it the same way, since all 3 of the professors who are doing what I want to do are, according to Y, members of Y and more loosely attached to X. I also haven't told any of my LOR writers which departments I'm applying to yet, so I could, in theory, switch if I had to. Who should I trust? Will it make me look like an idiot if I email someone and ask which department these professors are in? Who would even be the best person to email about them, if I could do so without looking like someone who doesn't know how to read a basic website?
ETA: I checked the author bios for two of them on Amazon and they both self-identify as being part of Y. I guess that means I'm applying to Y. Head, meet desk.
So now I'm not sure I'm really applying to the right department. From my perspective, X definitely still seems like a better fit, and as far as potentially getting a TAship goes, I have a MUCH better chance of getting one in X than in Y because my background is in X-related things, not Y-related things. However, I'm wondering if the school will see it the same way, since all 3 of the professors who are doing what I want to do are, according to Y, members of Y and more loosely attached to X. I also haven't told any of my LOR writers which departments I'm applying to yet, so I could, in theory, switch if I had to. Who should I trust? Will it make me look like an idiot if I email someone and ask which department these professors are in? Who would even be the best person to email about them, if I could do so without looking like someone who doesn't know how to read a basic website?
ETA: I checked the author bios for two of them on Amazon and they both self-identify as being part of Y. I guess that means I'm applying to Y. Head, meet desk.