Need to contact professors at every school I am applying to?

[mseph]

I am planning to apply for the fall 2015, in political science with sub-field of international relations.

 

I am currently a MA student and in the beginning process of writing a thesis in international economy (and global inequality), particularly international institutions that are critical to global economy such as World Bank, WTO, IMF, etc. And this is what I would like to continue to research into (even though I am still open to any research subject related to global political economy).

 

As I research grad schools that I might be interested to apply, I see faculty members doing research on these institutions or sharing similar research interest as mine. In statement of purpose, you would have to state whom you would like to work with at particular school, so I was wondering if you need to contact the faculty members that you are interested to talk to before applying and then mention them on your statement of purpose?

 

Does anyone have experience of applying to PhD programs and can comment on this? Your advice would be greatly helpful. 

[victorydance]

No, you don't. It's up to you whether you do or not. Many won't reply, the vast majority of emails will not lead to anything. In political science, faculty members have no say in the admissions process (unless they are on the admission committee of course).

[mseph]

Thank you! So you can just still mention them on your SoP without actually contacting them?

[AuldReekie]

Search through the forum as there has been a lot of discussion about this. The consensus seems to be that it probably won't matter for admission. However if there's only one or two people at an institution you want to work with it might be worth contacting them to make sure they're not planing on moving on next semester. 

[mseph]

Thanks! I didn't know that others are having the same question, slightly relieved that I am not the only one. I will definitely search through the forums and it will help me gain some insight on this issue. 

[MiroslavBass]

Actually it depends. But mostly it doesn't work. Just make a good SoP and you're in!

[YoungR3b3l]

Theres no absolute yes or no to that question. In my perspective, I see that if your application in a specific school isnt very strong, the likelihood of contacting a faculty member to show your interests in their research, if it didnt benefit you, it wont hurt.

For international applicants, almost everyone i know who is in a grad school of political science, without their in touch and contact with program faculty members, the chances of them being admitted wouldve been weak and minimal.

So it really depends on some cases yes Id say its a must, in some cases it wont hurt, in some cases its almost needless.