Follow-up Email to Professors

[Application_Overwhelmed]

Hey all,

So, about a month ago I contacted a few professors asking about their research and the possibility of studying under them, etc. I have yet to receive any reply. What are all of your thoughts on sending a follow-up email to professors? Would this be a bad idea? I'm just thinking that with the holidays and everything, my emails might have just gotten lost in the shuffle.

Additionally, in my application that is due next week (NYU Wagner) there's a section asking which faculty members I have been in contact with. Would it be bad form to say I have contacted these professors and haven't received a reply yet? I want the admissions committee to see that I have attempted to get in contact.

I would appreciate any of your thoughts.

Thanks and good luck to all of you!!!!

-AO

[Strangefox]

Hey all,

So, about a month ago I contacted a few professors asking about their research and the possibility of studying under them, etc. I have yet to receive any reply. What are all of your thoughts on sending a follow-up email to professors? Would this be a bad idea? I'm just thinking that with the holidays and everything, my emails might have just gotten lost in the shuffle.

Additionally, in my application that is due next week (NYU Wagner) there's a section asking which faculty members I have been in contact with. Would it be bad form to say I have contacted these professors and haven't received a reply yet? I want the admissions committee to see that I have attempted to get in contact.

I would appreciate any of your thoughts.

Thanks and good luck to all of you!!!!

-AO

I would send the follow-up letters at once. Those letters that you have already sent could have indeed been lost. Do not wait till the deadlines. Contacting profs after deadlines is considered a bad idea. Sending follow-up emails isn't.

And I am not sure that you can write that you have been in contact with a professor if he/she has not answered you yet.

Good luck!

[Gradoom]

Hey all,

So, about a month ago I contacted a few professors asking about their research and the possibility of studying under them, etc. I have yet to receive any reply. What are all of your thoughts on sending a follow-up email to professors? Would this be a bad idea? I'm just thinking that with the holidays and everything, my emails might have just gotten lost in the shuffle.

Additionally, in my application that is due next week (NYU Wagner) there's a section asking which faculty members I have been in contact with. Would it be bad form to say I have contacted these professors and haven't received a reply yet? I want the admissions committee to see that I have attempted to get in contact.

I would appreciate any of your thoughts.

Thanks and good luck to all of you!!!!

-AO

I would follow up once too. But do not expect to much. A professor once told me that he gets a few of these every day and does not even bother to look into them. Even if they are on the same school they might not bother to answer (happened to me a couple of times). At the end there are some professors who absolutely follow up everything and the ones who decide to contact once they have been given your application by the committee. I prefer the first kind as I expect them to be similar in style as an advisor too.

[Application_Overwhelmed]

Wow, thank you both for the advice! I sent a follow up email right away and received an automated response saying they will not be in the office until late January. I had a quick panic attack and then 30 minutes later got a response from the professor. Such a relief! Now I can put on my application that I have been in contact with that professor, phew!

Thanks for the help!

[Lantern]

Sounds like you're already resolved your issue in the proper manner, but just wanted to add my experience from last year. There were a few professors that I didn't hear back from after I sent the first email. When I sent a follow-up email, some replied promptly with apologies for not getting back to me sooner, and some never did reply. It can't hurt to politely try a second time. Good luck!