Inspekt

Are there mostly women on this board? (most of the schools are 70-80% women) Where did you all apply? Good luck to all!

I did not apply to natural science or applied sciences so they may have a different view on this. One of my mentors has a PhD in chemistry (long story) and he has told me this is acceptable. Ask one of your professors what they think. In fact ask 2 or 3, maybe the one you ask might hate talking on the phone. I said to ask them if they would be willing to correspond by email or phone. Doing it that way gives them an option as to what they are most comfortable with, and of course they can not respond at all. Obviously if you come off as demanding anything you are a Doosh and they will probably ignore you. Have some tact. Besides in about 5 minutes of phone convo you can get 20 emails worth of information. What is more of a pain in the ass for these people 5 minutes on the phone or 20 emails?? If they are interested you will know immediately and can extend the conversation. If not, keep it short and sweet and say thank you for your time. If you have nothing but BS to say they will see right through it. Yes, you will make a bad impression if you are not prepared. Be thoughtful, genuine and passionate - they love that stuff because they know you will be able to stick out 5 years of hard work if you enjoy what you do. By requesting this way I talked to at least one person in every program to which i applied. They are all top 10 programs for my field. You guys on this board crack me up being so paranoid. I've heard a lot of things, too, but what actually gets results is totally different. *****One more thing to think about from a prospective student POV - If your prospective mentors treat you like crap BEFORE they have your money (or give you their money), just imagine how they treat you once you are already locked in. Remember at this point they should be recruiting and getting you interested in the program so you apply....****

I have heard from 2 schools in the last 5 days. The results came via email - 2 interviews.

Absolutely you should contact professors ahead of time. I sent a short introductory paragraph, a sentence or two about my research interest, and I asked if they would be willing to correspond by email or phone. Of course I didn't hear from everyone, but I did get responses from 50-60% of the folks I emailed. On top of that, everyone with the exception of one school (Stanford), was willing to talk with me by phone. I asked for 10-15 minutes of their time, and almost every call resulted in a 30-45 min conversation because we got along so well. Look you need to speak to these people in person. Sure you might match research interest wise, but if you don't get along talking would you really want to have this person as your mentor for 4 or 5 years? Calling gives you immediate information and you can rule out advisers pretty quickly from their tone/temperament alone. You can get a great sense of the program from how they talk about it and if you pay attention you can pick up on important buzzwords for each school. Trust me it works. The faculty remember you. You can name drop in your statement of purpose, "speaking by phone with Dr. xxxx, I was able to gain a sense.." etc. Slip those buzzwords in. I promise they will remember you. Yeah you can be scared but what is that going to get you? Nothing ventured is nothing gained. There is absolutely no advantage from not calling, but a huge advantage if you call/email and you connect. If you are new to this start with your bottom choice school so you can learn, hell call a school you aren't even interested in. It's a confidence builder. And it works. I have 2 interviews, and I'm waiting on my 6 other schools... with fingers crossed.