The discussion focuses on crafting a Statement of Purpose (SoP) for Physics and Astronomy graduate school applications, specifically addressing the inclusion of multiple fields of interest. Participants agree that mentioning interests in both High Energy Physics (HEP) and astrophysics is acceptable, provided the applicant demonstrates relevant research experience. It is recommended to explicitly connect past research projects to potential future work with specific professors, avoiding the perception of "casting a wide net." The consensus is that a targeted approach, highlighting one sub-field per school while acknowledging multiple professors, enhances the application.
PREREQUISITESProspective graduate students in Physics and Astronomy, particularly those unsure about their specialization, as well as academic advisors and mentors guiding students through the application process.
While working on project ABC in group XYZ, I found that I really enjoyed (particular aspect of project), and so I look forward to undertaking similar projects under professor 1 in field 1 or professor 2 in field 2.
So, let me write them out explicitly since it'll be easier to communicate. I did a lot of research in HEP-ex, doing detector R&D (already published a paper, a couple more on the way with me as the corresponding author) and if I were to go to grad school and decide to do HEP, I'd probably continue doing this (my professors knows quite a few people at top schools who work closely with him). I did some research in astrophysics and am almost done writing a first author paper for it (this professor has good connections at Penn State). If I were to go to grad school for astronomy, I'd probably stop doing what I am doing with him and switch to observational cosmology instead.Dishsoap said:Does your research experience line up more with field 1 or 2? Or could it align well with both? Are the two fields closely related (or at least both either experimental or theoretical/computational)?
Dishsoap said:However, I did only choose one sub-field to explore in my SOP per school, though I sometimes mentioned multiple professors with whom I was interested in working.
I see, yeah, that makes sense. So I may just go ahead and mention that I'm interested in the two fields I listed below (I may also get some advice from my research professors on this). And yes, it would help if someone who has been on the admissions committees can give us their opinion here.Dishsoap said:In my opinion, there is no harm in mentioning both professors since you are well-versed in both fields. I think the only time it would be inappropriate is if it could be portrayed as you "casting a wide net", as they say, but I don't think you are in danger of coming across this way. I hope some of the professors here who have been on admissions committees can chime in as well.
My situation was different, as most of my undergrad research was in one field. I took a leap and mentioned professors whose work I thought was cool, despite not having experience in their field. In my case, had I said "my experience is in X but Prof. A in field A and Prof. B in field B do awesome stuff, so I might give that a shot!", I felt like they would've thrown my application in the trash.