ck926

It's known as a good program, but not one of the top in my field. My advisor does research that is extremely unique to the field, and I have only found one other program that researches something even similar. I have worked in other research labs before (in my field), and I'm confident that this is what I want to continue researching. As for looking into what the top researchers in my field do; most of them research things that are more commonplace in the discipline. I'm still applying to other schools with similar research, but I just want to get the conversation going early on so he knows that I'm at least interested.

I'm currently in my last year of undergrad, and will soon be applying to PhD programs for the fall of 2014. I've always been advised that it's a good idea to seek out potential mentors, and email them to get a conversation going. However, I already work with the advisor who is my first choice; I am a research assistant in his lab, and he is my chair for my honors thesis. His research is completely in line with what I want to do, and we get along well on a personal and professional level. I know it seems like it should be easy to bring up since I already know him so well, but I feel like it could be awkward just saying so out of the blue. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to bring up the fact that this program is my first choice, and that I would like to work with him?