Thanks everyone for the replies! So I guess I haven't been doing it wrong; just my approach is not quite right. YIKES. This may be a large part of my issue; even my follow-up e-mails have been at the times you listed. Thanks! I'll definitely be more conscious of my timing. Sure! I've contacted a mix of POIs that have advertised and not (1/2 advert responses, 0/2 non-advert). Here's a 'formula' for one that I sent to a POI who had advertised, and I was REALLY interested in working with, but didn't respond even after 3 follow-up e-mails: [4 sentences introducing myself]
[4 sentences explaining interest and how it relates to your lab]
[7 sentences explaining a research idea I have]
[2 sentence tagline]
Here's one for my most recent contact, who responded within a day referring me to a colleague better suited for my interest (to which I agree): [2 sentences introducing myself]
[2 sentences explaining interest and how it relates to your lab]
[6 sentences explaining in-depth interest and research idea]
[2 sentence tagline]
From what I'm getting from other people, even that is too much... how the hell am I supposed to convince someone with barely any explaining? Yeah, I'm looking at Spring 2015 or Fall 2016 at this point (unfortunately). WELL THEN. I think this might be it. The MINIMUM I've sent in an interest e-mail was about 15 sentences/lines. I'll check out the post you're referring to. Should I be bothering to explain my interests? Or should I say "our interests relate" or "I'm interested in project X"? Thanks again everyone! Sounds like a congrats to the FIU position, shadowclaw!(?) It sounds very similar to the position I had sated, but then rejected - the professor sounds eager.