Is this normal or is it just me

[pessimist1234]

The programs I've applied to have been telling me to email and strike up conversations with professors etc. I haven't heard a thing from any of the professors I have emailed. Ive been expressing my interests and relating them to their publications and their interests. Would this affect me getting in?

[We regret to inform you]

If they respond and strike up a conversation at this point in time, then it's more likely a positive thing, but still far from a guarantee. Some professors are more talkative and friendly than others, so it's hard to tell for sure. If they don't respond then I could imagine 2 reasons: 1. they're too busy or 2. they looked at your app and know you probably won't be accepted so they won't waste their time.

At this stage, if you are just now trying to contact professors for the first time, it might be a little too late to have an affect on the outcome of your application (for american schools at least). I've heard of students contacting professors as early as the summer before they apply. I tried contacting people between october and december and I got back a couple of responses, but a lot more didn't respond.

For me, one person who responded back wrote me a very positive email in january and made it sound like i'd be a good fit for the program, but then i was rejected about 6 weeks later. Another person from another school also sent back a very positive email back in october and i was eventually accepted to that program in february.

I got back another positive response from another program but haven't heard anything. And for two other programs nobody replied back to me.

[finknottle]

Well, not adversely at least. You might not be better off than what you were before mailing them, but you aren't any worse off either. Not unless you have been writing absolute drivel to these professors, which I'm sure you haven't been. Most of these guys are extremely busy, and the hard truth is that unless you have off the wall stats and some published results, they might not take your seriously and not invest the time or effort to reply to your mails and reciprocate the interest. You can't do much about it either. Not at this stage at least. So just hope for the best. Besides, from my experience at least, even if you get the cursory reply from them, it doesn't mean much. Like I said, unless you are the golden boy/girl and they are really interested in working with you, most mails will have the disclaimer that they find your interests relevant, but they don't offer admissions personally. There is a committee that decides things and that's that.

Edited March 3, 2012 by finknottle

[pessimist1234]

Thanks, I even asked the GPO officer for the department if it was typical, and asked if this would affect the decision. Normally he responds to my questions but he hasn't responded to this. It seems like if I had no shot because of this he would let me know.

[TropicalCharlie]

Pessimist - At this point, you just have to wait and see. Like finknottle said, you're not worse off than when you started. How early did you begin contacting poi's? I contacted mine about a year before I applied just to get an idea of their needs for grad students in the coming year, and 90% of those contacted have been responsive. I can sympathize with the lack of responses and how you must feel, but there is nothing to do but wait at this point. Good luck

[pessimist1234]

Good point. I started emailing them about a month ago.

[pessimist1234]

Also I asked the GPO for the department if this is typical, and would affect my chances to get in. Normally he responds but he has not responded to this email. To me that says I have a chance. If I didn't I would hope he would tell me I needed to find one as a condition of acceptance.

[sansao]

The programs I've applied to have been telling me to email and strike up conversations with professors etc. I haven't heard a thing from any of the professors I have emailed. Ive been expressing my interests and relating them to their publications and their interests. Would this affect me getting in?

Did you receive a message of some sort suggesting this? I know I started contacting people at the end of Summer, with a pretty good response rate. But certainly none of the programs I applied to sent me any type of message explicitly telling me to do this (beyond the faculty telling me I was doing the right thing when they responded).

[pessimist1234]

Yup faculty at all three schools told me

[sansao]

Then you should definitely do this. Don't harass them, obviously, but talk to everyone you can find whose research is a decent fit. Also be as patient as possible, it took some of the faculty (whom I emailed in August) until October to get back to me. They really are that busy. Good luck!