Should I mention that I contacted this professor?

[acrosschemworld]

A while ago I emailed this professor because he is my top choice at his school. I wanted to see if he will accept new students at all, so I don't apply for zero spots. My email sounded like this: "I am applying to your school because I am interested in your work because it combines my interests in X and Y. Are you taking any students next year? I was hoping to ask you in person when I went to your talk at Conference X last week, but I didn't because (practical aspect why I left)." He got back to me along the lines "Yes, I will accept new students and please apply. I am sorry we didn't meet. Please let me know if you have more questions about applying." I never emailed him back because I had no questions I couldn't fgure out the answers myself online. I generally did not go out of my way to contact professors mostly because I think I have a pretty good application and don't want to sound like I am trying too hard, and because I am usually good at finding information on my own.

Now the application asks if I have discussed my application with any professor. Does this situation count? Would listing him do more good, or make me sound like "I try too hard"? I don't want to mention going to his talk in the SOP because it is not what made me interested in his work, so if he matches my email with my application he will see that I am interested enough to have gone there.

[iowaguy]

In my communications with profs, I have tried to ask them questions when they leave it open-ended for me like that, after encouraging me to apply. You can talk research ideas, program specifics, etc. With a couple of profs I have had phone conversations following an email exchange such as the one you describe. If you can't think of any questions you would like to ask your future advisor that is a bad sign, IMHO (and I think it can be interpreted that way by the prof as well).

After talking with them about research ideas, either on the phone or in detailed emails, you can say in your SOP that your proposed research is a good fit for their lab (or maybe you find out that it isn't). Either way, IMHO you should try to have more contact with your potential/future advisor than just a casual email exchange... I actually have traveled to meet with 3 different POI's at 3 different universities, for example...

[acrosschemworld]

Thanks for the feedback. I did not say I couldn't think of questions, but that I figured out the answers on my own. My questions about his recent past research are answered in his papers. His short-term future directions are listed on his website, and he talked about his plans at the talk I attended. And his plans are such a good match for him, that I am excited to pursue them just as they are. I don't need to talk to him about making small adjustments to fit my needs better. As far as the application process, it is listed in detail on the department's website.

Anyway, I understand why what I did may seem counterintuitive to a lot of people. I would have definitely emailed him if I had a legitimate question I couldn't find the answer to. But if I did a mistake, I can't go back in time and fix it. Emailing him back now after 2 months would probably be kind of rude and hurt me more. So I am asking again the question: what to do under my circumstances? To rephrase my question, does my brief email exchange count as having "discussed my application" with him or not?

[Bearcat1]

You mentioned wanting to apply and he encouraged you to do so. So yes, you discussed your application with him. And since you went to his talk, it might remind him of your email exchange to have that on the application, which should be in your favor.

I agree with iowaguy, however, that more interaction is better. And if you found all the info to answer the questions you had on the website, then better to come up with additional questions to continue the interaction. They don't necessarily have to be things you really want to know. Or, next time maybe an email with a "thank you, found all the information I needed on the website but if I have any further questions during the application process I'll be in touch" would work so it doesn't seem like you're not interested.