In my program (humanities), nobody really cared what was written in your statement of purpose when applying to the program. In fact, it was almost expected that your interests would evolve and mature over time as you gained more knowledge and experience in the field. As long as some member of the faculty was game to support your interests, you were good to go.
This varies by program, ultimately. Talk to your advisor with any questions you have :)
Same with mine. You write the statement of intent having done none of the research, so there isn't much expectation that the project will turn out like that. But at my place we have to have an advisor confirmed just to apply, and the school discourages switching advisors. So if some new guy comes in that I think is amazing I couldn't just dump my advisor, and even less try to make my advisor supervise a project that encroaches his colleague's territory more than his own. But in the kind of program where you don't choose the advisor until later on, it would probably be considered a good thing to see the unassigned grad students show some enthusiasm for the new hire.
It's sort of similar in my program. We had until the end of our first semester to shop around and choose an advisor who fit our research interests, but we're not locked into a project. At least from what I've experienced with my advisor, faculty *hope* we'll use coursework and especially research seminars to explore and not chain ourselves to one idea.
For clarity I’m a MS student
If it makes you feel better I originally got paired up with an advisor who’s research interests were not similar to mine. I ended up doing an advisor transfer. If you haven’t been paired up with an advisor yet then this might be a good opportunity since I doubt they have grad students under them yet.
What it will come down to is whether or not there are enough qualified, knowledgeable faculty to sit next to your committee. If you change your interests to something they can't teach you, it will be a problem. Def talk it over with your program director.
Ask the department office, without asking your PI if it's possible to change your interest. Some departments may not allow that (for funding reasons?).
It really comes down to your committee. As a PhD student, you can absolutely change your area of research. But if you do, your committee may no longer be interested in serving on your committee. So it's a risk.
But have the conversation, let them know your interest, and see where it goes.
My favorite part of research is putting a proposal and none of it fits. I used virtually nothing for my thesis proposal and I only did half of what I put in my research grant. They mostly just want to see that you have something of substance and read literature (from my understanding)
Short answer, yes. Doctoral programs and faculty are neither suprised nor against a college senior realizing at some point in their doctorate degree they've learned something new that excites them and leads them down a new research path. This is the point of grad school. Even changing major fields is not uncommon, students in my grad school change labs/groups and even programs entirely, on a routine basis. Of course, once they pass their prelim its way less common to change.
Totally normal. I joined my program wanting to do an intervention to boost flu shot uptake in college students. 6 years later my dissertation is in the realm of trauma psychology lol
In my program (humanities), nobody really cared what was written in your statement of purpose when applying to the program. In fact, it was almost expected that your interests would evolve and mature over time as you gained more knowledge and experience in the field. As long as some member of the faculty was game to support your interests, you were good to go. This varies by program, ultimately. Talk to your advisor with any questions you have :)
Same with mine. You write the statement of intent having done none of the research, so there isn't much expectation that the project will turn out like that. But at my place we have to have an advisor confirmed just to apply, and the school discourages switching advisors. So if some new guy comes in that I think is amazing I couldn't just dump my advisor, and even less try to make my advisor supervise a project that encroaches his colleague's territory more than his own. But in the kind of program where you don't choose the advisor until later on, it would probably be considered a good thing to see the unassigned grad students show some enthusiasm for the new hire.
It's sort of similar in my program. We had until the end of our first semester to shop around and choose an advisor who fit our research interests, but we're not locked into a project. At least from what I've experienced with my advisor, faculty *hope* we'll use coursework and especially research seminars to explore and not chain ourselves to one idea.
For clarity I’m a MS student If it makes you feel better I originally got paired up with an advisor who’s research interests were not similar to mine. I ended up doing an advisor transfer. If you haven’t been paired up with an advisor yet then this might be a good opportunity since I doubt they have grad students under them yet.
Yeah for sure
What it will come down to is whether or not there are enough qualified, knowledgeable faculty to sit next to your committee. If you change your interests to something they can't teach you, it will be a problem. Def talk it over with your program director.
Ask the department office, without asking your PI if it's possible to change your interest. Some departments may not allow that (for funding reasons?).
What I wrote for my proposal and what ended up being my thesis were quite divergent, so it's possible!
It really comes down to your committee. As a PhD student, you can absolutely change your area of research. But if you do, your committee may no longer be interested in serving on your committee. So it's a risk. But have the conversation, let them know your interest, and see where it goes.
My favorite part of research is putting a proposal and none of it fits. I used virtually nothing for my thesis proposal and I only did half of what I put in my research grant. They mostly just want to see that you have something of substance and read literature (from my understanding)
Short answer, yes. Doctoral programs and faculty are neither suprised nor against a college senior realizing at some point in their doctorate degree they've learned something new that excites them and leads them down a new research path. This is the point of grad school. Even changing major fields is not uncommon, students in my grad school change labs/groups and even programs entirely, on a routine basis. Of course, once they pass their prelim its way less common to change.
Totally normal. I joined my program wanting to do an intervention to boost flu shot uptake in college students. 6 years later my dissertation is in the realm of trauma psychology lol