How many professors do you reference in a grad school personal statement?

If 7 professors have the same interests as you do, you are probably defining your interest too broadly, as grad school is about subspecialization. We do not want to see a list of seven professors with no explanation of why these professors’ subspecialties appeal to the applicant.

For example, if you are interested in American history, and 7 professors in the History department are Americanists, then you should certainly not name all 7 in your personal statement. That’s too broad.

You must narrow your interests. Are you interested in 19th century American history? Let’s say only 3 do 19th century. Are you interested in economics and gender in the Gilded Age? Let’s say only 1 does gender, and 1 does economics in the Gilded Age. Now you’ve got 2 professors to mention.

But there is one more thing. You have got to READ what these professors have written. (Not every single thing, but pick their major book, or latest article.) Only then will you know if their METHOD as well as their AREA will dovetail with your interests.

Best wishes to you!

When I applied to graduate school I mentioned as many professors as there were who did my research (which wasn’t many honestly, my research is pretty rare) or as few as one, it just depended on the program. If there are many professors who do what you want to do, I would mention them all briefly and talk about the tremendous opportunity there for you due to all of the research that is being done. You could also contact one of those professors and inquire about if/how they work together. If you find that they work in a team, that is something you could mention in your personal statement as being valuable because you get to learn from several experts in their field.

i’m not sure i might consult with it as a “Marxist thesis”, yet I see no rationalization why you are able to no longer communicate it. the only situation may be in case you’re already confident that Marxism is sweet and others are incorrect – you’re saying which you discover many courses insular, and that i’ve got not got any doubt that they are, yet then you definately ought to be certain your ideas isn’t already made up in yet another direction!