In the end, how many professors will you have emailed for the admissions process?

[InquilineKea]

I think I'm going to end up emailing 25-35 professors.

[eklavya]

I think I'm going to end up emailing 25-35 professors.

i think i might have emailed 15, but most of these were backup profs, in case things didn't work out with my first choice profs. at the end, things did turn out with one of the professors i wanted to work with. so, life is good!

[Bukharan]

Oh dear. I think I have e-mailed about 30-35 professors for admissions purposes.

Looking at this now and evaluating all my correspondence critically, I would have probably not got into ANY of my schools, if I haven't e-mailed.

If I may grant a piece of advice for next year applicants: Thou shalt disturb the faculty!

[Matilda_Tone]

A grand total of one. (Which made me happy, because I hate having to bother people).

Well, two if you count the Professor I had to email asking for a LOR.

Only applied to two schools, and had dicussed my options with the POI at one of the schools in person.

[neuropsych76]

Oh geez, at least 40 or more. And about 5 or 6 of those I've talked to on the phone for 30 minutes or more.

It helped me narrow my school list down and definitely only helped me (even though I received many rejections from the POI's i talked to)

Actually, every professor I talked on the phone with I either: didn't apply, got rejected, or withdrew my application lol. But, it was good experience talking to other POI's and getting a sense of what to talk about in regards to the program and research.

The funny thing is I only had a few brief emails to the school I'll most likely be attending and I knew from those that a) it was one of my top choices, and i would fit in there well.

I'm a huge advocate for contacting potential POI's!!

[jmacnomad]

hmmmm. Interesting question!

I'd say about 15-20.

[plop23]

hmmmm. Interesting question!

I'd say about 15-20.

Just 1. XD

[jendoly]

1, and it was the professor whose offer I ended up accepting. (background: applied to 6 schools, accepted to 5.)

[eco_env]

29 contacted, 14 phone/in person interviews, 0 acceptances, 2 waiting.

[newms]

I emailed about 10. The interesting thing is that my main PoI at the school I'll be attending, while he wants me in his group and is likely to be my adviser, didn't respond to my initial email. So you never know.

[eat.climb.love]

Two to ask if they would take people straight out of undergrad (1 year out of school but I mean really, essentially I am still a young pup!) and three for a recommendation.

One actually e-mailed ME to tell me about the program once I applied. This prof was actually a POI that I neglected* to mention in my SOP. Oops!

(And by neglected I mean I was interested in her research but just FORGOT to include it in my SOP. I thought I had but I guess the billion proofreads missed that one.)

Edited March 28, 2011 by eat.climb.love

[farnsworth]

I sent about 20 emails this time. Probably 13 last year.

[ogopo]

Just one. Then again, I only applied to one school. If I had discovered GradCafe before I applied, things would have been different.

[Mal83]

0...I included a name in my top choice school application because her expertise in Eastern European affairs is of great interest to me, not so much to do research with her, but just to take her classes. I was waitlisted...I don't think that had anything to do with not talking to professors before hand because I'm going for a professional degree in International Development, it's not research based. I guess if I had tried to contact her it could have helped, I don't know. I was accepted to my safety school for Global Affairs without even mentioning anyone let alone talking to them. Still waiting on my second choice..didn't get a hold of anyone there either.

Edited March 31, 2011 by Mal83

[waddle]

10-15, out of which all but ~3 responded.

Edited March 31, 2011 by waddle

[hardcrashxyz]

6 - 10. Heard back from all but 2.

[Behavioral]

Maybe 10 or so. It's not as common for prospective students to e-mail individual professors in my field -- I came from a Psychology background, though, so I was ready to start emailing dozens upon dozens if needed, though.

[jagssss]

I did not email any of them,i am new 2 gradcafe,i dont know how it goes,i am an international applicant.Hope it is not too late and who am i to call,is it my dept .?Pls help me out i have not heard from any of them(Canadian schools).Thanks.

Edited April 1, 2011 by jagssss

[Bimmerman]

I didn't email any professors before I applied; hell, I didn't even decide on going to graduate school until about a month before NSF applications were due. I ended up getting in everywhere I applied, all top MechE schools.

So...I don't think it's necessary. I emailed professors after meeting with them on visit days as a courtesy thank-you type of thing, but I never emailed anyone asking questions about research, funding, and so on. It probably wouldn't hurt, but I didn't bother/think about it.

[Slorg]

Zero.

It's annoying to get emails from student who haven't even been admitted yet. Many professors' websites explicitly say to not email them.

[eco_env]

Zero.

It's annoying to get emails from student who haven't even been admitted yet. Many professors' websites explicitly say to not email them.

If they say not to email, don't, but otherwise- at every grad school advice talk I went to I was advised to email professors in programs I'm applying to. Don't ask questions you could answer for youself- the questions are meant to show that you are aware of their research interests and that you are interested in their work. I found emailing useful for narrowing down the list of schools I applied to- I only applied to schools where there were at least 2 people who would consider accepting me/didn't outright reject me in their email.

[InquilineKea]

Ah, interesting. Do professors sometimes email other professors about their students? (say, if a professor wants to introduce you to one of their colleagues at a department you're applying to)

[Dr. Juice]

hmmm...well, i'm an English major, and for all the programs i applied to, disclaimers were given on their sites about not contacting the faculty.

[allisonkermit]

This year I contacted three, heard back from two and got admitted to those two programs which were my only two applications. I'm in bio and I can't imagine deciding on a school without getting a really strong feel for the PI I'd be working for and their lab group. If you won't work well with someone your PhD is going to be a nightmare. For both PIs I extensively emailed back and forth, had a phone conversation and then talked with them extensively at the prospective student weekend (outside the scheduled interview time). I do agree that you shouldn't be asking questions you can find on the school's/department's website, but you should find out the PI's advising style, how on track their students are with their research, what funding they have for project's you're interested in, etc.

[psyentist4good]

I only emailed the professors that I was really, really interested in working with. So it was about 10. I got really nice and helpful responses from them, even the ones who were writing to say they weren't accepting students this fall.