How has contacting professors before applying worked out?

[InquilineKea]

http://www.quora.com...uate-admissions gives a pretty realistic view of what happens in physics.

On the other hand, though, what if your email isn't a generic email? I was very careful to identify the professors with similar research interests as me, and my questions were mostly research-based questions rather than application-based questions (the only application-based question I asked was "are you taking new students next year?"). I also showed them some of the research I already did (and what I was planning to do) in each of the separate emails

A couple of the professors I contacted even offered to let me call them.

I'm just wondering - how rare is this in general? And can it really help with admissions?

The one thing is that my research is pretty specialized (so there's usually only one faculty member working on it at each and every school who's into what I'm into - although I could definitely spread out). So now I feel unsure about naming more than one professor on my app (or emailing more than one of them). I already know who my first choice is, so I do feel that it might be futile to email another one at the same university (for things other than research questions).

But you do work with a committee, right? In that case, is it still wise to contact multiple professors? My research is specialized, but I have extremely interdisciplinary interests (so I can find something interesting out of anything that's science-y)

Edited September 29, 2011 by InquilineKea