Contacting a Prof in a Different Area?

[newms]

Hello all,

I have been contacting professors at schools I'm interested over the last few months, but I've always contacted profs who's work is related to my interests. At one university however, I asked an admissions related question, stating my interests and that I had already contacted a prof in the area I'm interested in. The Director of Graduate Admissions replied and answered my question, but he also suggested I make contact with a particular prof who is from the same country as me. I'm not sure if I should do so because this prof's work doesn't seem to match my interests at all, and if I were to contact him I'm not sure what exactly to say. Anyone has any suggestions?

Thanks

[adaptations]

I think I've commented on this before and will echo my earlier advice. If you don't have anything specific or relevant to ask the professor, then I wouldn't contact them (it is a waste of both your time). If there are specific things that the professor will be able to answer that the admissions person couldn't, then go for it (regardless of sub-field).

[newms]

That's exactly what I was thinking. It found it a bit weird that the Director of Graduate Admissions suggested that I contact this other prof since we were from the same country even though our interests were different.

[repatriate]

Perhaps the admissions officer meant that you should ask about general application procedures rather than area-related topics?

It still seems like a stretch, but perhaps if norms in the two countries are very different, the faculty member from your country could advise you about mistakes that you might make that you wouldn't even be aware of making. For example, it may be common in country A to reference an applicant's non-research related qualities (e.g., manners, community involvement, etc.) in a LOR but in country B, this kind of information could be taken as evidence that the referee did not have enough to say about the person's research skills. So someone from A applying to schools in B might want to advise his referees to exclude such information. The faculty member in question may have some knowledge about such differences.

Of course, depending on your own knowledge and experience and on the academic cultures in the two countries, that kind of advice might not be needed or helpful.