Stats PhD - contacting potential advisers

[mathfriend]

Having read the pinned post on research statements, I am still feeling uneasy about indicating potential advisers in my statement of purpose.

The conventional wisdom in just about any other field seems to be that you should reach out to and engage in a dialogue with potential advisers before writing your statement of purpose . Is that really not the case in Statistics? I've tried emailing a few professors whose research called out to me, but I haven't had a response. I'm wondering if I need to write more compelling emails, or if this just is not an approach that works in Stats.

So far, only a few of the programs I'm applying to ask you to specifically indicate who you'd like to work with - should I do it anyway for the rest? Is it risky if I say that I'd be interested in working with someone and it turns out that person isn't taking grad students currently? It feels like a difficult balancing act: I want to write with enough specificity to demonstrate maturity in the subject, yet I don't want to pigeonhole myself. 

Thank you!

 

[cyberwulf]

1 hour ago, mathfriend said:

The conventional wisdom in just about any other field seems to be that you should reach out to and engage in a dialogue with potential advisers before writing your statement of purpose . Is that really not the case in Statistics?

Yes, it's really not the case in (Bio)statistics.

It's fine to name drop a few faculty in your statement. Or not. It just isn't going to have an appreciable effect on your results.

[mathfriend]

Thank you for the sanity check.