screwed up, didn't email any profs--is it worth bothering now?

[jbeld]

Hey y'all,

 

So, as an MA applicant, I was talking with other grad school applicants pretty early in the process, and the consensus seemed to be that blindly emailing professors you would like to work with just for an MA program was sort of unnecessary. So, I didn't. I talked about some professors I would want to work with in my SOP but didn't reach out to them specifically.

 

This week, I'm perusing a department website and it says something like "applicants are strongly encouraged to reach out to professors they are interested in working with shortly before they apply." WHOOPS. I feel like this was a pretty big mistake in my application for a school I actually really care about, and I'm sort of freaking out about it.

 

The question: is it worth attempting to make contact at this point? I'm not even sure how I would frame a question posed to them at this time, given that I'm neither a prospective applicant looking for more info or an admitted student looking for details. Is there anything I can do to make this better this late in the game? (App was submitted mid-December.)

 

If it helps at all, the decisions for this program seem to go out late February.

[steven.a14]

I'm also an MA applicant this season, and I chose not to e-mail any POIs. I think that it is far more important for PhD applicants who will be working on a more one-on-one basis with an advisor to do this, whereas MA students (at least in my field) are exposed to a fairly broad range of topics and professors. Now, if you have any doubts about a university's program or how it fits with your interests that you think a professor could answer, then by all means go for it. But this long after you submitted your application, just writing to touch base may be perceived as disorganization on your part.

As a side note, and this may or may not be the case for you, I noticed that at least two of my programs had added NEW information to their department websites only a couple of weeks before applications were due (one changed the required length of the writing sample, and another significantly changed the description of the program). Perhaps this suggestion about contacting POIs wasn't there the first time you looked? Either way, I wouldn't worry about it...

[Seeking]

While it helps in the sense that it establishes contact with the POI before you apply and s/he knows your profile and anticipates your application, it doesn't quite ensure acceptance to the program. The acceptance will depend upon the kind of applicants' pool they have got and how many they can take.

 

So, while it would have been better to contact the POI before you applied, especially for schools that mention it on their websites, if you didn't do so, it may not appear right if you contact them now, when the applications are being reviewed.

 

If you informally know from some friends, administrative staff or professors at those schools that the ad-comms haven't begun reviewing the applications, you may contact the POIs, telling them you have mentioned them in your SOP and of course you understand that competition is stiff and you may not get selected.

 

But if the application review is in process, it's not appropriate to contact the POIs or anyone else on the ad-comm. 

[Switching Geertz]

I also chose not to contact POIs for my masters applications, mostly because it only occurred to me a week before my deadlines and I didn't want to seem unorganized. I regret not taking advantage of the opportunity to make a more personal connection, so I hope it won't make too much of a difference. I also couldn't think of a single thing worth asking any of them about.

[sr0304]

if the website encourages contact, go for it--now is fine. regarding the other schools--whatever. some profsesors hate to be contacted during decision-making time because it feels so contrived. your application, cv, statement, and letters of rec should be able to speak for themselves without you sending an email

[woosah]

Did the department's website distinguish between the admissions process for masters and PhD programs? It could be that the suggestion of contacting faculty was more geared toward PhD applicants.

[stillalivetui]

I also regret not emailing all POI's, although I did speak with one briefly. I had the same mindset that as an MA applicant, I didn't need to reach out to all of them. Nothing to do now, but just wait and see how it unfolds.

[jrockford27]

I'm in the humanities.  I had coffee with two of my three recommenders, both of whom have sat on admissions committees, and I asked them "should I email professors in the programs I'm applying to?"  

 

Both of them told me, essentially, "don't do it unless you have a genuine question you want answered.  It doesn't really matter, though, unless you're obnoxious, it can't hurt you."  The way one of them said it (and he was a history prof, mind you) made it sound like it was a bit of a waste of time to do so, unless it was a really good question.

 

With that advice in mind, during the process, I've emailed one prof in applying to 10 schools, and it was the director of graduate studies about a legitimate question about which sub-program I should apply to.

 

Take that for what it's worth.  I've heard it's a bit different in the sciences.

Edited January 23, 2013 by jrockford27

[ciistai]

Also Humanities student (Classics) and didn't email anyone besides a professor whom I already knew from doing field work at an institution that wasn't my undergraduate uni - but then again the app for that school required me to make some contact with my POI. Otherwise, as an MA applicant I felt much the same way - I would be working/ learning from many profs so there's no point in pestering them to just jump up and down and wave my hands to get them to know I exist if I didn't have a specific question. I did attend a big conference in January and didn't do much networking there either... it's THAT I'm regretting, not the emails!