Is it a good idea to contact professors at the prograrms where I applied to?

[mona90]

I have come across several posts in this forums where applicants either contacted professors at the department where they had applied to or were advised to do so.

I have never heard of this before.. I have applied to some top schools in Public Health. Do you advise me to contact the professors and what are the pros vs cons of doing so? 

Is there a preferred way to approach them, like specific questions to ask?

 

Thanks,

Mona

[Kismet1992]

It depends really on whether you've applied for a Masters degree or a PhD. It's not at all necessary to contact them if you're only doing a masters, but with a PhD it's important to contact professors with similar research interests to you.

 

If you contact professors, you can gain a better understanding of whether their research objectives are similar to or compatible with yours, making it easier to make a decision on which school and program is the best fit for you.

[holykrp]

Yes, it's a good idea. You can use that opportunity to both introduce yourself and use the information in your statement of purpose. What I typically did was reached out to the program contact and asked them some questions as well as if they had any professors who conduct research in my area of interest. Then, depending on how the conversation went, I reached out to some professors. I suggest scheduling a call with someone at the school, be it a program representative or professor, to discuss the program and visiting if at all possible. You want to demonstrate your interest in their program. This will give you more material to customize your SOP.

[slaNYC]

Yes, it's a good idea. You can use that opportunity to both introduce yourself and use the information in your statement of purpose. What I typically did was reached out to the program contact and asked them some questions as well as if they had any professors who conduct research in my area of interest. Then, depending on how the conversation went, I reached out to some professors. I suggest scheduling a call with someone at the school, be it a program representative or professor, to discuss the program and visiting if at all possible. You want to demonstrate your interest in their program. This will give you more material to customize your SOP.

I would warn against calling schools and asking if they have professors who conduct research in your area of interest. That information should be on school websites. Faculty and staff alike are crazy busy and I'm afraid it might reflect poorly on you and suggest that you don't really know anything about the school and worse that you are not capable of doing your own research. What is more, they might feel that you are wasting their time. That's just my two cents. 

[holykrp]

I would warn against calling schools and asking if they have professors who conduct research in your area of interest. That information should be on school websites. Faculty and staff alike are crazy busy and I'm afraid it might reflect poorly on you and suggest that you don't really know anything about the school and worse that you are not capable of doing your own research. What is more, they might feel that you are wasting their time. That's just my two cents. 

 

Sure, you have to tailor your strategy to the particular school, but you definitely want to introduce yourself somehow to demonstrate interest. For example, I saw a lot of professors' profiles that had my general research interest, but didn't have a whole lot more info on what particular diseases they were researching, so I asked admissions if they knew of anyone researching that particular disease. Several times there were no professors researching that disease, but they were able to provide me with information on other opportunities I may have in that area, such as adjunct faculty or people with joint appointments, or maybe possible practicum opportunities. One school introduced me both to a professor (who further detailed opportunities with other professors) as well as a student who did a practicum in my interest area. Another school introduced me to a professor in that department as well as an affiliated physician at a local hospital (I also visited that school). Other schools were more direct and referred me to specific web pages.

 

Don't harass anyone, but asking thoughtful and pointed questions showing that you have a clear and genuine interest in that particular school and program can definitely be helpful.