<p>I'm researching PhD programs in Political Science for this upcoming fall. I'm looking for schools that have faculty members in my specific research interests, but how many should I ideally be looking for?</p>
<p>I believe my research interests are fairly narrow and I'm finding most schools only have 1 or 2 people that teach courses or do research in my field.</p>
<p>Is this enough? Obviously I'm looking through their work and plan on mentioning their names or contacting them come admissions time, but I'm a bit concerned about the schools that only have one person.</p>
<p>Is there a consensus out there about this? Is this cause for concern?</p>
<p>I would be very cautious about it, to be honest. What if that professor retires? Dies? Switches to another university? Heck, even a sabbatical would be inconvenient. All of these things happen frequently. I too am in a niche field, but I would be uncomfortable with fewer than two or preferably three professors with related interests. It also helps to be exposed to different methodologies and thoughts; grad students with a heavy reliance on a single mentor run the risk of becoming academic clones. </p>
<p>On a purely practical note, you’re more likely to get in if you appeal to multiple interests and have several professors pulling for you.</p>
<p>I also think it’s good to have 2-3 professors who could advise you, just in case. Professors leave all the time for various reasons. I also think it’s good to see if other professors in the department have intersecting or tangential interests - remember that you do have to build a dissertation committee with 5 people, usually 4 from your department. You don’t have to pick them now, but it’s good to have people with some interests that touch on yours in different and interesting ways. Keep in mind that your interests also might evolve.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. Let me ask this question then… I want to give the schools the impression that I’m specific and I know what I want to do in terms of researching. I certainly have a ton of interests, some stronger than others, but I’m avoiding listing 4-5 things that I might want to research.</p>
<p>I’ll put it this way… I’m primarily interested in studying terrorism and subsequent counter-terrorism policies. But, outside of these topics come the closely linked fields of CBRN attacks, ethnic fighting, etc. If you want to look even further outward, you could find nuclear proliferation and deterrence in the mix. Outside of that, you might be getting even closer to Middle East politics and so on.</p>
<p>So my question is, would schools see me as not prepared if I list research interests as: terrorism/ct policies, nuclear proliferation and deterrence, Middle East politics?</p>
<p>This obviously gives me a better chance to find professors closer to my research interests.</p>