Advice for reaching out to POIs?

[birthofthereadership]

Hi all! 

I'm currently in an Art History MA program and starting to think about PhD applications. I've heard some general advice about reaching out to POIs but was hoping to ask this group for any suggestions. What should be included in an email? Is it a good idea to suggest a conversation, or just stick to an expression of interest and see if they suggest that? 

Thank you in advance! 

[emerald_hedgehog]

When I applied last year I focused on outlining my research interests/proposed PhD project and only mentioned where I'm from, ie. that I'm doing an MA at X institution.

 

I will say that my MA supervisor went very heavy on telling me that I NEED to be talking to POIs, as in they should be having a Zoom/phone call with me, not just an email exchange. I found that his advice was not only unrealistic, in some ways, but also seems to be directly opposed to the fact that most profs....just didn't have time to talk. Out of the 7 that I contacted, I only had Zoom calls with 2, and these were the ones where I made it farthest (waitlisted in one, accepted into the other). 2 profs from prestigious schools completely ignored my emails, 1 sent me a generic "thanks for your interest, apply and we'll see how it goes!" without even addressing me by email, 1 told me she doesn't speak to students until they're accepted, and another generic email. Notably the more prestigious the school the more likely they are to brush you off, so I thought I'd mention this just so that you know what might probably happen, as a lot of people make contacting POIs sound like a "make-it-or-break-it."

 

Ask them if they'd be willing to speak with you about the program/their research. I hope you have better luck than I did in hearing back and speaking with people!