one email three pois?

[Quickmick]

Hi all! I am reaching out to some pois via email and have tailored them to the individual while maintaining the general nature of my interest. These people will probably chat and if my name comes up I would hate for them to get the impression that I am being some kind of chameleon or something to come off as a good fit. So I thought about sending an email to three people at once. This would mean the email would be less 'tailored' yet then everyone would be on the same page. I wonder, too, if this would seem cold/impersonal or even lazy--all things I obviously want to avoid.

 

has anyone considered this? good idea? bad idea? terrible idea?

thanks!

[MarineBluePsy]

Do not do this.  You'll look as if you were too lazy to consider them as individuals and write separate emails.  If you're going to contact all 3 of them, then write 3 unique emails.  If they do happen to talk to each other and your name comes up then they won't say "yeah they said the exact same thing to me" which would be bad.

[Quickmick]

got it! thanks!

 

[ashiepoo72]

I agree, don't do this. You want to tailor at least part of each email to the person you're emailing (the fit part!). Anyway, I found it the case that some POIs ended up forwarding my message to other profs in which they thought I might be interested. It's better to let them do it if they so choose than to do it yourself.

Edited January 16, 2016 by ashiepoo72

[SunshineLolipops]

I sent extremely brief and similar letters to POIs asking only if they were accepting students , although in separate emails each time.  If they replied (nearly all did)  and were accepting students , I tailored my 'thanks for replying ' email to indicate why I would like to work with each individual professor.  Some, rather surprisingly, turned into running conversations, and others didn't. My first email was so simple with such a bare bones description of my interests and methods, that I didn't worry too much about coming off as cold or impersonal .  I also only wrote to professors who were clearly interested/published in my specific field.  One thing that got better than expected results was including a link to my undergraduate thesis.  Several actually looked it over and seemed to like what they saw, but I certainly did not try to pressure them to read it.  We'll see if that approach paid off, but DEFINITELY make sure that your correspondence is brief, professional ,and free of grammatical errors . 

[TMP]

Treat them as individuals.  They each operate differently at many levels.  You need do this right the first time around because you will continue to treat the professors you're working with as individuals over the course of your program (if nothing else, it will be very, very clear once you start preparing for your comprehensive exams!!!).

Professors do talk a fair bit about students and applicants because they do care about their field and its future.  If your chosen POIs are in the same field, they're likely to be reviewing your application together anyway.  Right now, you don't know the dynamics of the department so best to be ignorant until you get in and learn how professors socialize with one another.

[Quickmick]

All good points. I would mention that I sent out a couple of emails that were similar in form yet tailored to specifics, and got a quick reply. It did say 'interesting background' which was encouraging (I guess lol)  also said the email was getting cc'd to the other person I mailed! As @TMP mentioned its probably best to be ignorant. I'm sure this type of cross pollination happens pretty often as the higher we go the smaller our circles become. All in all, in this case, they would both be good 'fits' for slightly different reasons, and while trying to make some connection I hope I was able to gently convey that this is the type of community I would like to be a part of. So many little things we (I) fret over that in the big picture probably don't mean much--just can't help sometimes worrying that a slight err to some is a gross faux pas to others. I guess all I can do is be myself, be honest and polite, and see how it all works out.