Asking for advice on other graduate schools while asking to be in their program

[ms_octopus_lady]

Hello all.

I want to start applying to graduate school in the next few months, but finding ones that are right for me has been proving to be remarkably difficult and frustrating. I want to get a Ph. D studying behavior of cephalopods, and after months of searching online, I have only found three professors who are in that field in the United States

Comments

[endsindillusion]

if you really love cephalopods you don't need a phd to prove that you love them.

[embarrassedrose]

god I know you are just taking the mickey but this made me laugh out loud.

[aria_muse]

lol

[roseofjuly]

Ah, our resident bitter (non-?)academic.

[bastardsword]

I disagree strongly with the first commenter--you want to study cephalopods! Presumably, professionally! That's awesome. And requires a PhD. In cephalopod research.

I have no idea what to do about the e-mail, but--have you considered applying outside the country? As a Canadian, considering applying outside of Canada is pretty normal, but I know it's not so normal for Americans.

[mysticblossom]

Don't mind the first commentator. She's got a rep round here.

[cork118]

LOL, agreed.

[ms_octopus_lady]

I have considered it, but there's a problem with going abroad for school. My boyfriend and I have been together for almost four years and he wants to eventually become a lawyer and work in the United States. He can't go to a foreign country to get his law degree and then come back and be a lawyer in the U.S., unfortunately. So...that's why I would like to stay in the United States.

Additionally (and honestly, less importantly), a lot of schools don't offer much financial aid to international students, and I already have enough debt as it is from my undergraduate schooling. :/

[green_tales]

sorry, a little off-base from the question, but regarding your search: have you tried looking up recent papers on cephalopods, then considering the authors' schools as potential targets for application?

re: working with the professor or asking for recommendations..

Ideally, strike up a correspondance with him. Come off as an intelligent human. Tell him you're interested in his work, and would like to research cephelapods at the graduate level. Tell him that you had to look hard for his work. Then if he replies, discuss your qualifications with him, and then you can ask for recommendations on where else to apply.

just my idea =) Now, he might not reply to your email, so.. anyway. good luck =)

[bigoleplatypus]

Agreed. Express interest in his research and ask a question or two. Don't ramble on about yourself, but do say you're a student of X with such and such interests/experience and hope to do this research at the doctoral level.

Tell him you would love to apply to his university and ask what he is planning for his lab in 2010. And I think it's also fine to say something like "I have found that there are few places in the United States where such research is being done - would you be able to tell me about any other labs focused on cephalopod research, here or abroad, that I might also be able investigate?" Or something.

You don't have to get into your GRE scores or say that you're not sure you'll get in to his school so you want to apply elsewhere. You're just scoping out the field. Just make it sound like you have an interest and want to find out where there are other people who share it! Which is true :)

[keito_f]

I definitely would agree that you should look for other papers. Have you tried web of knowledge

[ms_octopus_lady]

Wow, thank you for all the great information! I really appreciate it. :)

[embarrassedrose]

I'm in a similar boat, having only one school I want to apply to because there are literally only a few professors in the country studying what I want to study and only one of those schools has a program that will allow me to do what I want.

Would love to hear what other posters have to say about only applying to one graduate school.

[pigfish]

I'll give you my 2 cents on applying to only one school: It's a gamble. If you're dead set on one and only ONE program, it's silly to apply somewhere else that you wouldn't actually go if it was the only one you were admitted to. But you need to be fully prepared for the possibility that you will not get in, and have a strong Plan B in mind.

[embarrassedrose]

Good call. I don't want to go anywhere else because I can't accomplish what I want to do anywhere else ... and yet if I don't get in I have no idea what to do. Damn.

[nemmadilemma]

I'm curious because of your pic: are you looking to study dinosaurs? (I could offer you some info, if you are.)

[chicamala21]

Additionally, you don't have to work with people who are that specific. If you can find people working on things that are somewhat related (for example, someone who specializes in animal behavior or in marine invertebrates), you can put together a committee that way. My adviser explained that for her PhD she studied coral diseases at my school. No one specialized in that at the time, but she did have one person who worked with corals in general, one who worked on coral conservation, and one who specialized in marine diseases on her committee. A girl who was a former masters student at the school I interned at this summer studied fish under a mentor who specializes in marine invertebrates. However, he also specialized in the genetic and molecular techniques that she wanted to use, so that became a good relationship. Just some ideas :)