EECS PhD, contact Professors?

[grex]

How important is it for you to list professors whose research you're interested in and/or contact (via phone or email) these professors? This is with respect to an EECS PhD program. I haven't done either, and was wondering if I should be doing so? How much would it hurt not to, and is this something most people generally do when applying for grad school?

[limeinthecoconut]

I am not quite sure if the advice I give will be useful, but in humanities, you basically list some faculty, to demonstrate fit between your research interests and the university's faculty. I did not contact all the people I listed, but I listed them to indicate my interest in any case. Oh well... Your guess is as good as mine.

[timuralp]

Here's some advice from an EECS professor at Michigan and here is one from a professor at Illinois. Basically, the story is that you should list a couple of professors in your SOP whose research interests you to justify your application to the department. Until you're accepted, most professors won't care to talk to you, especially if you don't actually have any questions or your questions are like "oh, what are the odds of getting in?" and "can you help me get in?". You could ask them about specific research they're doing, but otherwise, don't bother. Once you are accepted though, you will probably hear from faculty who's interested in recruiting you as his or her student. At least that was my case. You can also contact faculty at the schools you were accepted to, to talk/meet with them and figure out if you'd be interested in working in their group.

[grex]

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the info! I didn't mention any profs in my SOP but I guess that shouldn't make too big of a difference.

[leogk]

I applied to 20 schools (CS, ECE), and most of them are chosen because professors I contacted said "highly entourage to apply to our schools." That guarantees at least I'm not going to be rejected merely due to no slots this year. Of course, I don't think contacting may get me in but it doesn't hurt anything.

[timuralp]

I applied to 20 schools (CS, ECE), and most of them are chosen because professors I contacted said "highly entourage to apply to our schools." That guarantees at least I'm not going to be rejected merely due to no slots this year. Of course, I don't think contacting may get me in but it doesn't hurt anything.

20? That has to be expensive. The standard reply from any faculty is "we encourage you to apply". It pretty much says nothing. Here's a pretty good outline about applying and selecting schools from a professor at UMass, which is in the top 10 for AI and top 20 for Systems. Even though the target audience is international students, the statements are true about admissions in CS in general.

[leogk]

I didn't contact professors to know my odds of getting in but to know whether they have "opening".

If they said "highly encourage to apply", it means they have openings, and

some professors replied they would be on leave so not hire new students.

Those are exactly what I wanted to know before applying.

I totally understand that it's their right to select the best student among their candidates pool, and it is not necessarily me.

(So, I don't want to beg admission.)

As a by-product, I had two interviews with professors I contacted. (Of course, I didn't I ask my odds but just talked about how we can align our research interests.)

Yeah, I agree that 20 is a big number. But no recomenders of mine did not say it's too large (ALL of them are professors in US)

given the fact that these days CS admission is extremely competitive.

[timuralp]

Well, I just can't think of 20 schools that actually do what I'm interested in. I heard "highly encourage you to apply" even from professors who were not actually looking for students themselves, but there may opening in the group - which is usually the case for any reasonable size group

The thing is that most students coming into CS have a vague idea of their interests and few know for certain the person they'd like to have as an advisor. Moreover, a lot switch advisors. In general, if you can find an advisor after 1 year, you're in good shape. This paves way for the general response of "yes, you should apply", because, well, they have nothing to lose and realize it's not even certain you'd work with them.

Glad you ended up with two conversations, although wouldn't the professors research interests be obvious through their publications and their students publications? Consider asking how many students they like to have on average and how they interact with them. Maybe save those questions until the point when you're accepted.

P.S. I'm not sure where the US comment came from...

P.P.S. sample generic responses:

1. In general, we are always looking for great students in general (not

necessarily specific to any projects), so I encourage you to consider

applying to XYZ. the group is large and there are always exciting

projects going on.

2. We

[leogk]

I think my case is not ordinary because I already have MS, three internships, and two top conference papers.

I have a couple of very specific professors in each school I'd like to work with.

I don't want to change my field, so it was quite important for me to know whether the specific professors have openings before applying.

In my case, contacting looked like successful - all except one gave me a kind reply, about half of them recognized me, and had two interviews until now.

20 is a big number, but my last year experience has me do it.

(I applied to about 6, but all of them rejected me.)

These days, I would say the CS admission is like a war....

[timuralp]

Ah ok, I apologize. I was saying all of the above for people applying for PhD from undergrad. I'm sure two publications from top conferences would get you in the door in a lot of places, or people would be familiar with who you are, etc. Good to clear that up

[akhil28288]

I think my case is not ordinary because I already have MS, three internships, and two top conference papers.

I have a couple of very specific professors in each school I'd like to work with.

I don't want to change my field, so it was quite important for me to know whether the specific professors have openings before applying.

In my case, contacting looked like successful - all except one gave me a kind reply, about half of them recognized me, and had two interviews until now.

20 is a big number, but my last year experience has me do it.

(I applied to about 6, but all of them rejected me.)

These days, I would say the CS admission is like a war....

It looks like my situation is sort of similar to what yours was. I would really like to have a discussion with you regarding my application process. Is there an email id that I can write to you on? Any help will be highly appreciated. Thanks.

[tkulk]

If you know what you want to do, I would highly advise you to contact professors. However, don't send them generic emails. Be specific, read their papers and most importantly ask intelligent questions (try to think of new ideas with regards to those papers).

[Pauli]

However, don't send them generic emails. Be specific, read their papers and most importantly ask intelligent questions (try to think of new ideas with regards to those papers).

So true. I know for a fact that professors that get generic requests for join their labs have led to those professors automatically deleting those e-mails.