Writing interesting professor... ?

[alr234]

Hello,

I'm not sure this is the right place in the forum, but it has to do with my decision, so I guess it's fine posting it here.

I have received several offers for next year and a university in particular has been very helpful, sending me contacts, students as well as faculty emails. The program coordinator told a teacher about me, whose interests are similar to mine, and send me his email so I can contact him. I'd love more insight on the program, but that professor probably has better things to do and I can ask students about it. As the coordinator went through the trouble of giving me the teacher's email information, I guess I should write him : but I've never done this, and don't have anything particular to say..

Have any of you ever written to professors to let the know you exist or are interested in their work ?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you

[ci1717]

All the time. Networking is extremely important in our field; I take any and all opportunities to meet/talk with any professors I can. In my mind this is an essential skill to develop if you want to be in a good position to get a job down the line. Email him - be genuine about it and sound professional.

[Physwimic]

Look into specifics about his research, and ask him questions about it. Professors love talking about their research, and if his research interests match yours, you should be able to come up with questions. This is a chance for you to gauge wether you could work with this professor as a mentor, so you should try to judge how he interacts with his students, as well as his unique way of approaching research. Also, you may be able to get his insight into how he thinks the program to which you have been accepted can benefit you. I found that a lot of professors had interesting, albeit biased, insight into the pros and cons of programs. And as ci1717 said, this is an excellent chance to network and set up future contacts.