POI Importance?

[Hotspur]

Hello all,

I have a question about the importance of contact with a possible professors of interest, so this is aimed at those who are already in grad school or have been admitted. I only made the decisions to apply for PhDs quite late in the cycle (as I only ended up receiving the funding to do my Master's course late...long story). The knock-on effect of this that I found myself with too little time to build up a real rapport with any possible POIs, and I was hesistant to try to approach others as I felt that with my applications already submitted it would seem obnoxious; like I was begging to be noticed. I was curious to those admits whether or not they found they tended to only get accepted to places where they had built a relationship with a POI or whether a good application was enough... I consider my stats and experience to be competitive.

Thanks for your help!

[once]

I don't think it's crucial, although I know that there are people on here who will disagree with me. For the three acceptances I received, one POI I didn't contact at all or even name in my SOP (it was pretty obvious based on my interests that I'd want to work with her), one I emailed but only because the website said it was "strongly encouraged", and one I was put in contact with after talking with a current student but we only exchanged one email at the most.

So.. it varies. I wouldn't stress yourself out over it.