Teacher Contact, What Do

[PhDerp]

A professor from one of the universities I applied to (my current university!) said that she's new to the school and was interested in my CV, but saw I hadn't applied to work under her. She asked me to let her know if I was interested in any of her research projects. And I am!

 

The thing is, I'm still waiting to hear back from other schools. So I responded with a vague message saying that I am interested, but need to wait to hear back. (Quite frankly, I'd be delighted to do this research... but I've been at UMass forever and want to leave!) She never responded to this message. =/

 

Should I wait until other schools have contacted me, then message her again? Or should I message her now (it's been over a week) to reaffirm my interest, perhaps going into more detail about the projects? Is UMass going to think worse of me for waiting on this? Am I pretty much in at this point, or not? This is all so confusing!

 

Also, why did no one tell me about this in any "preparing for grad school" talks on-campus?! =P

[PhDerp]

Wow, I made a dumb title for this post...

[compiler_guy]

You should probably be polite and contact her again after a while, don't appear to be stressed. It is OK to wait even more than a week, say in the range of 2 weeks. When you contact her, you might want to show serious interest in her research projects that could lead to a formal offer, just in case you don't get any offers from other schools.

[PhDerp]

Thanks! I think I'll email her again at the end of the week. UMass started sending out acceptances... I'm nervous, haha.

If nothing else, I got into their master's program. Maybe I can work with this professor if that's what I end up doing?

[Stressica]

Also, why did no one tell me about this in any "preparing for grad school" talks on-campus?! =P

 

Haha, I second that. I love your user name -- it captures the confusion so well.

 

I am not a PhD applicant, and really the worst person to give any advice on POI correspondence, but for what it's worth, I think compiler_guy is right. It's great to get a personal email like that. I also think that it's perfectly acceptable for a student to say he or she is waiting until decisions are sent to commit to any program or group. I imagine it happens all the time, especially in the middle of the season. Delivery and expression of interest matters, and it sounds like you're on it. Don't worry too much about not having received a response. Even professors I'm close to don't always respond to emails where I'm interested (project, class, program, gardening tip) but waiting for more information to come in.

 

Congratulations on the master's admit, too.

[PhDerp]

Haha, I second that. I love your user name -- it captures the confusion so well.

Haha thanks! I thought it would fit this forum.

Don't worry too much about not having received a response. Even professors I'm close to don't always respond to emails where I'm interested (project, class, program, gardening tip) but waiting for more information to come in.

Congratulations on the master's admit, too.

That's a good point! I won't read too much into it. I'd like to think this isn't abnormal. Maybe when I do contact her, I'll ask if she wants to meet in-person since I'm in the area anyway?

And thanks! It was a weird kind of application, kind of an automatic acceptance, but I still count it as a success, lol.

EDIT: Typos, and I added a few words for flow. Stupid phone posts

Edited February 13, 2014 by PhDerp