Contacting potential research supervisors

[MathStat]

Apologies in advance if this common question has already been answered here before. 

What is the best way to contact professors whom we'd like to work with? I'm thinking of sending a short e-mail summarizing my background, saying what I like about their research, asking them more about it and whether they'd be taking future graduate students. Does that sound like a good strategy? Should I be making an intelligent comment about one of their past papers to show I've actually read some of their past work? 

I've heard mixed things on whether to contact professors before being admitted, so I'm wondering what the best practice is for the field of statistics. 

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

[Stat Assistant Professor]

In the field of Statistics, you are typically accepted by the department and then you choose an advisor after you pass quals. You aren't accepted into a professor's lab or research group, so it's not nearly as essential to reach out to professors. Many people who get admitted to the top programs in this field never reached out to individual professors.

I would proceed with caution. If you're going to do it, you had better make sure you *really* know what you're talking about (i.e. you actually read one of their papers and you can discuss it at a somewhat sophisticated level). If you have credible research experience that aligns with the professor you're interested in working with, then I think it's fine too... not strictly necessary and I'm not sure how much it will affect your chances in admissions, but if you can have enough familiarity with the professor's work (and more broadly, their research area) to discuss their research, then maybe it's okay.

[cyberwulf]

I wouldn't bother; it's not worth the time.