contacting professors - can someone walk me through it?

[frankdux]

please give me advice on the procedure. (i'm referring to contacting potential professors i would like to work with at a phd program i would like to apply to)

1. when to do it

2. what exactly to say

3. how to follow up on not getting a response

etc.

thanks.

[rising_star]

Depending on your field, you may not want to do it all. If you need to be in a certain lab or get a commitment from a certain professor, then you should make contact.

1. When to do it?

When you feel prepared. When you have questions to ask that only that person can answer. When you're pretty much committed to applying to that school and have read all of the available information about your program on their website. Any questions about the program itself, funding, admissions procedures, etc should go to the DGS (Director of Graduate Studies, aka Graduate Coordinator at some schools) and NOT to whichever professor you're interested in working with.

2. What exactly to say?

No one can tell you exactly what to say. You need to be polite and brief. Explain your interests and why you're contacting that person. Have some specific questions besides "Are you taking students?" If you don't have any specific questions or a particular reason to make contact (other than doing it because you hear it's the right thing to do), don't send them an email! I cannot stress that enough.

3. Whether or not to follow-up on a non-response is a personal choice. I didn't but then I think I only ever had one professional that didn't reply.

[mangotime]

Put together a brief paragraph that highlights your research interests and why they may be of interest to the professor. Think of it like a brief pitch for your skill set. If possible, get an introduction from a friend or colleague who knows the professor personally. Don't ask any questions other than "are you taking students?" Don't ask any questions that are rudimentary. If the professor is interested, hu will contact you.

[Ferrero]

Adopt a hostile tone; demand from them a commitment to be on your committee, then you have a "bid" going into the admissions process. If they say they can't evaluate your profile, ask them how they can possibly handle evaluating their student's work. If they ignore you/stop responding, flood their in-boxes with follow-ups, CC'ing the department chair, graduate director, and dean of the college (perhaps even the student directory as well). They will admire your perseverance, tenacity, and boldness.

[demondeac]

Adopt a hostile tone; demand from them a commitment to be on your committee, then you have a "bid" going into the admissions process. If they say they can't evaluate your profile, ask them how they can possibly handle evaluating their student's work. If they ignore you/stop responding, flood their in-boxes with follow-ups, CC'ing the department chair, graduate director, and dean of the college (perhaps even the student directory as well). They will admire your perseverance, tenacity, and boldness.

y'know, it's amazing, because I did exactly that, and I didn't get in anywhere. I was thinking of waiting in the parking lot for them to get off work this year so they would have to talk to me.

[docstudent]

[nabh's questions above should really be on a different thread]

Regarding frankdux's questions, I think everyone else has pretty well hammered them out, but all I would add is that if you can make a "warm contact" versus a cold one (e.g., via introduction from another professor, or at least referencing some common acquaintance you share), that would make the situation less awkward and increase you chances of a genuine and positive response.

[torakichi]

It also never hurts to show that you have read some of their own work. If you can, make reference to some of their books or papers when telling them about your research interests.

If they don't reply, I remember Donald Asher's book recommends sending the message again after some time (I'd say at least a week or two), with a line like "I am not sure if you received my email blahblahblah". If the resend doesn't work either, the book says, print it out and send it through ordinary mail.

[solefolia]

Depends on the program. Certain programs encourage contact, others don't really specify, some programs don't expect you to have a potential advisor picked out ahead of time (I know some Bio programs take you through lab rotations your first year and you're introduced advisors that way), so it's your best judgment. Most of my programs encouraged contact.

I sent out three e-mails a couple weeks ago and got two encouraging responses. One has yet to reply, but having worked with a few "e-mail-phobic" profs before, I realize sometimes things get lost in the shuffle. (It was also one of my least "personal" e-mails; I worry the lack of response might have been because it was not super specific/did not mention any of their particular work)

In my e-mails, I basically just introduced myself, said I would be applying to their university, briefly mentioned some of the research I've been involved in, mentioned my research interests and said I felt like our research interests were a good match, would they be taking on students in the Fall, etc.

I've heard mixed opinions (as with most grad application process advice) as to how in depth the e-mail should be. I've heard a brief introduction, mention of interests, and inquiry as to whether or not they are taking students is all you should send. But I've also heard that you should ask specific questions about research, their lab, etc. Use your best judgment based on the program and the person.

I personally found it a bit nerve-wracking. I'm the type of student who spends ages typing out e-mails to make sure I've got good e-mail etiqutte down (and probably over-thinking the e-mail in the process), but it really is a motivator when you get an encouraging response. I've got a phone call with a prof on Monday

Good luck!

[Nardo]

Something along the lines of "Hello, I so and so and such and such background. I have been researching your program at blankety-blank and I would be appreciative is you would share what opportunities you have for graduate students to get involved.

The approach is more for a science/research based programs. Hopefully that's what you're looking for.

[timuralp]

Hrm, most professors I know would not reply to any emails/ways to reach them until you're actually accepted at the school. The idea is that perusing the recent publications will give you a good idea of their work and if you want to consider coming, you should talk to them after you're accepted, since before that it's a waste of everyone's time. see here for examples of what I mean: http://www.crhc.uiuc.edu/~yihchun/faq.html or http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~bnoble/prospective.htm. Maybe this is field specific...

[weeble]

To piggy-back on the original question, I'm working on emails to send to faculty I would like to work with, and I'm wondering what I should put in the subject line of the email. Maybe I'm overthinking this, but I'd love any advice you all can give. Also, how have you all approached the issue of contacting multiple faculty in the same department? My best guess is to send individual emails and include a line saying "I have also contacted Professor X, as I am also interested in the research s/he is conducting on ...". This is assuming that the two faculty have similar research interests. How does that sound?

[t_ruth]

Hrm, most professors I know would not reply to any emails/ways to reach them until you're actually accepted at the school. The idea is that perusing the recent publications will give you a good idea of their work and if you want to consider coming, you should talk to them after you're accepted, since before that it's a waste of everyone's time. see here for examples of what I mean: http://www.crhc.uiuc.edu/~yihchun/faq.html or http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~bnoble/prospective.htm. Maybe this is field specific...

but then how do you know if they are accepting students the year you are applying? I didn't think this post was about asking them what a prospective student's chances are (like the subjects of your links), but instead if they are accepting students, right?

[demondeac]

When gauging the probability of professors emailing you back, I think it is important to understand that disparate fields will likely have different expectations as well as different responses. In the religious studies field, professors I have emailed responded quite quickly, even within an hour or two. Hard sciences will have different expectations than humanities, so take that into account when contacting/not contacting.

[timuralp]

but then how do you know if they are accepting students the year you are applying? I didn't think this post was about asking them what a prospective student's chances are (like the subjects of your links), but instead if they are accepting students, right?

One way to do this is to look at how many students the professor has and how many are graduating/nearing graduation. The point is that most of the ones in computer science will simply tell you to apply and that they are always looking for good students. This is probably field specific, but here you're not expected to be set on an advisor and usually given a year to find one. All of the good schools in the specific subfield you're interested in will most certainly have multiple qualified faculty members in it and you should have multiple in mind when you apply. Once you are accepted, some of them will contact you about possibly working with them. At least that was my experience. Also, asking faculty members in the field at your school will give you a very good idea where you should apply and who might be looking for students, who's on sabbatical, and who's, god forbid, ill and is definitely not looking for students in the coming year or so.

[t_ruth]

It definitely varies by field then, that wouldn't work for my field - you have to make sure there is someone with matching research interests, and the only way to do that is to write (unless the school has kindly put a list of who is accepting students, which some do).