Reaching out to POIs after applying

[zoees]

Hi everyone, hoping this isn't a dumb question... I had an insane semester (as I'm sure many of you did as well) and I barely had time to apply, much less do the extra legwork. I've been thinking about reaching out to POIs now/before the spring semester starts, both to try and make up for not contacting them earlier and to try and get my name fresh in their minds. The issue is really that I don't know if that's acceptable. If it is, what do I say? "I've already applied and I'm interested in your work"?

[PsyDuck90]

I wouldn't. It's not required to email POIs, and honestly only recommended if you have specific questions for them that cannot be answered by reading their lab or program pages. They know you're interested in their work by the fact that you applied to work with them. I would leave it as is at this point.