Grad schools w/out faculty-student mentorships

[tomdam]

Greetings everyone. I hope this is in the right section.

I am applying to an MS program in Environmental Science & Policy that does not have a faculty-student mentorship model. If accepted to the program, I will be assigned a committee, but that is all. This makes me confused about how I ought to approach contacting faculty.

I have found a couple professors at the school who are doing research I would like to be involved in. But, I'm unsure if and how I should contact them. The reasons I would like to contact the professors are (1) I would like to learn more about their research, (2) I would like to learn about any opportunities to get involved in the research pending I am accepted into the program, and (3) I would hope that establishing good contact with a professor might give me an extra boost when it comes to admissions time.

But unless #3 is true, I don't see how contacting faculty would help. I can learn about their research after (hopefully) getting accepted. If it turns out that their research is not something I would want to do, I still want to go to the school.

Most specifically, i would like to know if trying to establish contact like I have described would be seen as excessive or unnecessary to the professors. Is there a standard protocol in this situation for contacting professors?

Thank you fro the help!