I am going to applying to grad school this fall, mostly for chemical engineering. There is one particular school where they have 4 professors in chemical engineering that match my interests extraordinarily well (I do not use this phrase lightly), and a few other professors in chemical that are also very interesting to me; however, there is one professor in another department that is working on exceptionally unique projects that I am even more interested in. I would really like to work for this professor, and have a diverse undergraduate background so I think I would possibly be a good fit. Is it considered okay to apply to the chemical program and also state that I would like to work with the other professor? This way I could still be considered for other professors in case my top choice does not work out. Or should I apply to the other professor’s department and just hope the department does accept me? I am worried about doing this route since I have often been advised “not to lay all my eggs in one basket” when deciding where to go for grad schools and picking professors.
You need to give a bit more information. What is the other department? Have you looked into this school to see if cross-department advising is encouraged or not?
The other department is a nuclear engineering department. The school site doesn’t say whether cross-department advising is encouraged
Call up the Graduate College or the Department and ask.