Confused by response from PoI

[bedmas]

I emailed a prof that I'm interested in working with for my MSc - included information about certain papers of his that I read, the topics that I'm interested in, as well as my CV. He replied within a few hours, but the response is somewhat confusing to me. More or less:

"Thanks for your email. Yes, I am accepting graduate

students, but I don't have the initial say in acceptance to our

department.

Admission to our department for the graduate program is on a

competitive basis. You need to complete the application procedure,

send in the letters of reference etc. Once these are available, the

Graduate Studies Committee reviews all applications to decide which

student to accept. After acceptance, students are assigned to faculty

members. So you need to pass this first hurdle.

If you have further questions about the initial process, please

contact the Chair

of the Graduate Studies Committee, ()

In the mean time, I'd be happy to discuss research ideas with you. If

you want to talk in person, this week is best...(etc)"

Maybe I'm just being paranoid/discouraged because this is the first email i sent out/the first response I've received... Mostly i'm confused by his description of the admissions process, which I know in great detail. I'm also worried that since he mentioned it is competitive, my CV led him to believe that I would not be competitive.

The offer to talk in person is nice, and he went into more detail about when he is available, but I don't live in the province where the school is located and definitely can't afford to fly in right now, especially not this week.

Basically I'm confused if this is a good response or not. I'm getting mixed feelings about it and just really unsure. I think I might just be overreacting!

Any advice is appreciated!

[Quantum Buckyball]

fill out an application and let him/her know that you're interested and you'll be submitting an application soon.

You don't need to talk to him/her in person at this moment. It won't hurt if you live nearby the school but since you don't, then I probably won't bother with it unless he or the department is offering you to fly/drive there.

[kaister]

I don't think this is personal. The POI probably just wanted to let you know that they don't have a say in who gets accepted, as every school has a different approach to admissions. They also probably get a lot of emails trying to cozy up to them in order to gain favor in admissions so they are just making it clear to all prospective students.

It's a typical response, don't worry. It sounds good that the POI is open to talk about their research with you, so you might want to take advantage of that!

[emmm]

I don't see where you get that he does not think you would be competitive. He is working on limited information and he does not have a say in who gets admitted. He just does not want to give you the impression that he is sure you are going to get in. It IS competitive, You should already know this, and be applying to appropriate schools given this (i.e. number of programs, range, etc).

[bedmas]

Thanks guys. I've started the application process, and I didn't mean for my email to come across as if talking to him would get me admission - i'm well aware of the competitiveness and i'm obviously not relying on one email with a prof to get me into a program. i guess i was mostly confused because i wasn't asking him about the application process, but i see that he was just clear about it.

[Bearcat1]

One of my recommendation writers, who sits on an adcom, told me some horror stories about crazies who contact professors before the applications are due, then don't get in, and send harassing emails about how so-and-so led them to believe they would be accepted. It sounds like he's had that kind of experience. I got a similar response from a professor I contacted, and when I spoke with her by phone, she was lovely and didn't even mention it. I think it's just a disclaimer for would-be crazies.

[Dotlock]

Hello!

I'm a first-generation student, so I'm still grappling over the 'politics' of applications and all that. How would you define "cozy up" to the professor? I've been in contact with my prospective PhD supervisor - asking her to read over my SSHRC proposal, asking a question about whether I should get a LOR from the linguistics or English department, and even to read over my statement of intent (all of which she's been 'glad' to do). In my last email I *may* have gone too far, asking if I could possibly, if it wouldn't cause problems, volunteer to work on an exciting project that's being done in the department. However, my aim hasn't been to "cozy up" to the professor...maybe just get a better feel for the department and get all the help I can! Besides, if I don't get accepted, I'll probably volunteer to help with the project anyway because it interests me a lot.

What would be going too far? (Besides the obvious, like harrassing the professor!)

[iowaguy]

Basically I'm confused if this is a good response or not. I'm getting mixed feelings about it and just really unsure. I think I might just be overreacting!

IMHO, it's a pretty good response. At least he is taking on new grad students (I have received some emails saying they aren't and that is basically the end of the discussion).

I would pursue conversations/discussions about potential research topics since he left the door open for that - it's a way to show you're serious about grad school and have some ideas of your own, professors like that! If you're geographically close, don't underestimate the power of meeting someone in person - I did that with a couple of POI's and I think it really helps. Best of luck!

[bedmas]

I wrote back to him explaining that i couldn't make it out to the campus at this time but I would be interested in phone/e-mail discussion... and he wrote back almost right away apologizing for the confusion (he meant phone/email) and "I wasn't expecting you to come to (city) (!)" Now I feel silly but that also makes waaay more sense.

As for cozying up to profs... I'm not really sure what it entails. I think it's good to have had initial contact with a prof, especially if you're going to list them as someone you're interested in working with, as long as that doesn't lead you to believe that automatically guarantees admission? I'm also a first-gen student so I'm not too sure. I guess I want to keep it professional and not ask for too much help - that's what this forum is here for, IMO, and I don't want them to think I'm clueless on my own!

[bedmas]

That being said - I think the application politics for a MSc in Statistics and a PhD in English are probably quite different!