Harvard Sociology Contacting Professors?

[ilovecats1997]

Hello all! Are any of you applying to the Harvard Sociology Ph.D. program for F21? The website says "In the interest of treating all applicants equally, the Sociology Department at Harvard University has a policy of not scheduling meetings between faculty and prospective doctoral students until admissions decisions have been made."  For all of the other schools I am applying to I have sent out emails to professors and have had nice correspondence, but does this mean I am not allowed to contact anyone at Harvard at all? I know that people mostly email to learn more about faculty and to get their names known, but I can't see a reason to email if there is no meeting involved. 

 

Thanks so much!!!

[lkaitlyn]

Some schools (Stanford being the prime example off the top of my head) really prefer that you not email faculty. However, I think there's a difference between emailing and "scheduling meetings" — Stanford just flat out tells you not to email at all. So I'd say if your email generally asks to Skype or something similar, I'd remove that request, and instead ask a question that can be answered in an email. (This all said, I never applied to Harvard, so take this advice with a grain of salt.)