e-mailing DGS's with questions about their program/faculty?

[silfeid]

I have some local schools (4) that I'm intent on applying to for entry into their MA/PhD programs in history. I have a history and German double major from a good liberal arts college and an MA in German Studies from the University of Minnesota. GRE scores are good. I want to do German history, obviously, but just where and when my focus is, remains undecided. I have some notions of what I'd like to do, but am not married to any single are of study/research.

I am planning on e-mailing the DGS of the schools that I intend to apply to in the coming weeks, rather than e-mail many individual professors. I intend to outline my background and some of my research interests and ask whether they think these will fit in well with their department and faculty. Is this a good idea? Do people normally/often do this? Would it be better to go straight to the profs? I'm not sure how to proceed, but the autumn is wearing on and I need to act soon.

[ktel]

I think that could make the wrong impression. To me it sounds like you're essentially e-mailing them and saying "Am I a good fit here?" when you should be telling them that you know you are a good fit. What you should be doing is researching your butt off to know exactly what professors interest you and fit with your research ideas so that you're coming in from a very informed position. From there I don't know who is best to e-mail, as I am not in that field. For my field it's best to e-mail profs directly.

[Kitkat]

I am with ktel on this. If you have researched your schools, you should have a good idea of why you think that you are a good fit. I also don't think that email the DGS is a good way to figure out if they think you are a good fit. The person you would be emailing might not be the best person to tell you that, will probably know that, and automatically flag you as not a good applicant if you go that route. It might be better, as ktel says based on your field, to email profs. In that case, say something like, this is why I think you and I would work well together, what do you think, can we talk more about it? The profs generally have a better idea if what you want to do works well with what you do, even if you are in a field where you might not work with just one adviser. It just might change on how you approach them in getting to know them better.

I know that getting in that getting in touch of lots of professors is a lot of work, but I feel like if you really want to get into grad school, it might be worth the effort to make contact with people. If anything else, the professors more then the office staff will fight for you on adcomms for you to get in, if they have you on the fence when deciding.

[Eigen]

I agree with the previous two posters- don't contact the DGS asking if you're a good fit, and with who.

It can come across like you didn't do your homework on the department, and so don't know which professors you would be best to work with, and are fishing for someone to do that work for you. Wading through papers and bios can seem overwhelming, but it's really worth the time.

You want to e-mail people after you've familiarized yourself with their work and can talk about it knowledgeably. You want to tell them and convince them that you're a good fit for them, not ask them.