Contact professors in grad program before applying

[SomeNerd]

Hello, 

I saw online that some people have contacted professors in the grad program that they are applying to before the application season even started. Does it really matter to do so in stats program application? Does that make a difference in the decision, let's say, for PhD admission? 

Thanks in advance for your response.

[Geococcyx]

Obligatory:  I'm in this application cycle too, so if the smart folks end up posting in here, then my answer might as well be moot (and it might be moot regardless).

You get admitted to departments rather than to professors' labs, so there's not too much reason for individual professors to care particularly about any contact you have with them, regardless of how nice or intelligent you appear when you talk to them.  Other past applicants have asked about both contacting professors and about name-dropping potential advisors in your personal statement, and as I recall the answer has pretty much always amounted to "you'll be fine, don't contact them/namedrop them".  

Edited February 27, 2019 by Geococcyx

[hnn12]

I think contacting professor in advance matters much more in disciplines such as Computer Science, where students are admitted to professors' lab (and thus funded by professors). In such cases, you are likely to get in if the professors really want to have you in their labs. In Statistics, it is the departments that make admission decisions. That said, I still dropped professors' names in my SOP and so far, they have always appeared in my interviews (if there was one).  

[SomeNerd]

13 hours ago, Geococcyx said:

Obligatory:  I'm in this application cycle too, so if the smart folks end up posting in here, then my answer might as well be moot (and it might be moot regardless).

You get admitted to departments rather than to professors' labs, so there's not too much reason for individual professors to care particularly about any contact you have with them, regardless of how nice or intelligent you appear when you talk to them.  Other past applicants have asked about both contacting professors and about name-dropping potential advisors in your personal statement, and as I recall the answer has pretty much always amounted to "you'll be fine, don't contact them/namedrop them".  

Thank you for your reply.

When I went through the homepages of professors, one stats professor stated "Do not e-mail me about graduate admissions in Statistics at UW-Madison. Admissions are handled by the departments, not by individual faculty." So I assume it would be the same for most programs. 

[SomeNerd]

12 hours ago, hnn12 said:

I think contacting professor in advance matters much more in disciplines such as Computer Science, where students are admitted to professors' lab (and thus funded by professors). In such cases, you are likely to get in if the professors really want to have you in their labs. In Statistics, it is the departments that make admission decisions. That said, I still dropped professors' names in my SOP and so far, they have always appeared in my interviews (if there was one).  

Thank you for the comment, that explains a lot. By the way, did you drop the names of the professors that have similar interests with you (without contacting them)? 

[bayessays]

For statistics, this is not likely to help you.  Many professors post warnings on their website not to do this, so I would recommend against it.