<p>On one of my supplements, which I have already submitted, I mentioned my interest in working with a particular professor who works at the school in question, but very recently (after the submission of my supplement) that professor died of pancreatic cancer.</p>
<p>Will it be weird for them to read the supplement of a student who wants to work with a professor who is technically died now? Will they reason that since the professor is no longer alive I have no reason to go to their college anymore??</p>
<p>Any help? I don't want to be rejected because the professor of my dream school died.</p>
<p>Yeah it will be weird. But they’ll just look at your submission date and everything will be fine. What would have been even weirder is if you had talked about him like he was already dead.
Then you would be deemed a witch for prophesying the future.</p>
<p>Why would they hold it against you? Do they expect you to be psychic? No. Relax. I seriously doubt that your admission status will depend on any mention of anybody, dead OR alive, in your essay. </p>
<p>They have better things to worry about then whose name you put in your paper.</p>
<p>I asked about Pausch because we have a theory that every student that writes about him in the application essay is automatically denied admission. “We” being parents that have seen a number of students write about him despite “warnings” not to. That is all. I</p>
<p>If prof died after you wrote this, of course they will not hold it against you.</p>
<p>I have to say this is the funniest thread title I’ve seen in a long time–I had visions of a prof keeling during office hours and a panicked freshman madly using his laptop to seek advice from CC!</p>
<p>I thought it was going to be somebody who promised to write a recommendation, and then died.</p>
<p>For the OP, I think it’s best to do nothing. Perhaps if the professor had died months ago, and you just found out about it now, you might write an e-mail to the admissions office telling them that you just learned this, and that you feel bad that you wrote about him in your essay. But if he died after you submitted your application–and if it wasn’t well known that he was terminally ill–I think they will just pass over it. Certainly, don’t write them and identify a replacement professor you’d like to work with.</p>
<p>I think this would only be a problem if that was the ONLY reason you said you were interested in the school. Like, if you wrote your entire “why X college” response about this one dude. Otherwise, they can’t fault you.</p>
<p>You could phrase it as “I am interested in the late Dr. X’s research in Y and would like to work with his team”. Someone’s gotta be continuing his or her research, so you might as well talk about it. R.I.P.</p>
<p>Edit: Oh, you already submitted it. You should be fine.</p>