Including High Energy Theory as a field of interest in my SOP?

[blue123]

Hi,
I'm a current senior in college, and am applying to grad. schools for fall 2022. I'm interested in high energy theory, and I have had some research experience in ads/cft correspondence, kaluza-klein theory, computational particle physics. However, I'm not certain as to which particular topic I might want to focus on during my PhD. Now that I'm writing my SOP, I'm concerned if writing something in the lines of "I am interested in high energy theory" would be too vague and thus, not helpful.
If you are in the field of HET, could you please let me know how you approached this issue in your SOP?
Any insight on the topic even if you are not in HET is greatly appreciated.

 

[Choppy]

I can't speak to the details of HET in particular, but generally speaking I think what admission committees are looking for in these kinds of statements is that you've done some homework and know what you're getting yourself into. They want to know that their program is going to be a good fit for you and that there's a good chance you're going to be successful as your study and when you move on.

It really helps when you can speak with people from the department... potential supervisors, current students, post-docs, etc. That way you can get an idea of what projects are ongoing and what projects are planned in the near future that you could get involved with. Ideally in an SOP it's nice to say something like... "During your open house I took the opportunity to speak Professors 1 and 2 from your HET group and ideally I'd like to work on one of the projects that we discussed."