I am planning on applying for schools focused on political economy of development this fall and was advised by several professors to contact professors at the schools I was looking at who did research in my interest. Is this a good idea? and what should i be saying? Should I say I am introducing myself and that I am interested in working with them or do I need to be more subtle and just ask questions about their department and the school? I am looking at Princeton, MIT, Washington, Brown, BU, NYU, Cornell, JHU. Any others I should look at?