MaximKat Posted January 25, 2009 Posted January 25, 2009 I have been accepted (yay!! ) and now have a letter from a prof proposing to ask him questions about his research or university in general. What do you think I should write to him? Ask about his research? I don't think that I can come up with clever questions, and asking trivial questions which demonstrate that you haven't read his papers before asking is not a good idea. General questions? Shouldn't I ask them to the admission officer? Just thank him and don't ask anything? I am afraid that he will think that I'm uninterested. So, what would you do in this situation?
t_ruth Posted January 25, 2009 Posted January 25, 2009 Have you read any of his articles? I'd at least read a few and then see if you have any questions that naturally arise. You can always ask what he is currently working on? Maybe ask what your role would be if you are going to be assisting him with his research. Ask a question about methodology? and Congratulations!
Hopelessly_Neurotic Posted January 25, 2009 Posted January 25, 2009 If I were you I would focus less on trying to impress him and more on asking questions that you really want answers for. Brainstorm. I'm sure you must have questions about the program and the prof's work. Read articles and do some research on the program itself and make a list. But try to keep your questions more general -- no need to ask him about some obscure finding in one of his research papers My approach would be to take some time to settle down a bit first and really try to get an understanding of the program and the prof's work and then ask questions. Again, it's not about impressing him, but rather about gaining some insight!! And if you only have a couple of questions, that's fine. You can always follow up later with more. If you really feel like you have nothing to ask at this point, or aren't ready, then maybe just let him know that you are going to read up on the program and take a look at some of his work again and will be contacting him with questions. That should be more than fine. Good luck!!!
rising_star Posted January 25, 2009 Posted January 25, 2009 If this person is your potential advisor, you want to find out how they interact with their grad students. Ask about mentoring, ask how involved s/he is in the writing process (proposal stage, dissertation stage), ask if there are group meetings with all his/her students, ask how many current students s/he has and at what stage they are, ask if s/he publishes with his/her students. Ask about the departmental atmosphere. And, most importantly, ask for the contact info of some of his/her grad students. Faculty never really know how their grad students see them so best to get it straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak. Hopefully that gives you a few things to ask. I actually asked all of those things of every prospective advisor and used the answers to rule some of them out.
socialpsych Posted January 26, 2009 Posted January 26, 2009 I have been accepted (yay!! ) and now have a letter from a prof proposing to ask him questions about his research or university in general. What do you think I should write to him? Ask about his research? I don't think that I can come up with clever questions, and asking trivial questions which demonstrate that you haven't read his papers before asking is not a good idea. General questions? Shouldn't I ask them to the admission officer? Just thank him and don't ask anything? I am afraid that he will think that I'm uninterested. So, what would you do in this situation? MK, congrats on your acceptance first of all!!! I was a little surprised by some of the responses to this thread, since I'm in a similar situation, so I asked some current grad students and profs I know for advice. What they said was that I shouldn't worry about seeming uninterested. If I really don't have any questions, there is no need to be in touch before then. I am planning to get my questions about her mentoring style etc. answered when I see her and her students in person. One relevant detail: the program that accepted me has a visit weekend in about 6 weeks, and I said I'd go to that. Do you have plans to visit the campus? Since I already told the prof I would visit, we have concrete plans to communicate again in the future, so I just don't need any other info from her right now. Definitely, definitely respond to his email if you haven't already, but you shouldn't feel pressured to keep up a conversation if there is nothing you want to know about right now.
ohheygradschool Posted January 26, 2009 Posted January 26, 2009 I'm not from USA, so no visits You could always call, right?
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