Faculty showing interest

[captiv8ed]

I know we have talked about the fact that people get into programs without contacting faculty. But what about the other side? How much does it help to have a faculty member who is interested? Let's put on our speculative caps, or for those who have been through the application process, please give your insight.

Let's say you are a candidate who has a strong application, with maybe one or two weak spots.

How much weight does it have when a faculty member says they are very interested in the research you want to do? What if there are two people who are interested in your work at one school? Or if a dean or a chair wants to work with you?

Anyone care to speculate, add their own scenarios, or their own tales of hope and rejection?

[LateAntique]

For what it's worth, I've been told by several professors at my top choice that meeting them was a very smart move because they like to associate a face with an application. The chair told me that she and the DGS would both be remembering me fondly when they met to decide(her words). So, I think/hope it makes a difference - I'll let you know in about 6 weeks.

[socialpsych]

I know we have talked about the fact that people get into programs without contacting faculty. But what about the other side? How much does it help to have a faculty member who is interested? ... How much weight does it have when a faculty member says they are very interested in the research you want to do?

You have made a slip between "contacting faculty" and having "a faculty member [say] they are very interested in the research you want to do." Contacting faculty does not at all guarantee that someone will really take an interest in you, nor does not contacting them mean that no one will be interested! In fact, that is the only way (to my knowledge) people get in to PhD programs: by having one or more faculty members take an interest in them.

If your direct contact with faculty has resulted in some people saying they are very interested in you, then obviously that's a good sign, but it probably just means you have gone through the process of sharing your research interests earlier than other applicants who may not have contacted faculty beforehand. Your SOP is supposed to convey precisely the same information as your contact presumably gave to faculty, and I don't think there is any (or much) magic in getting there first.

Does that answer your question?

Regarding how much of an extra boost you get from having a dean/a chair/multiple faculty interested, that seems to me to depend on the nature of the department and especially the structure of funding. First of all, often your funding comes from a specific professor, and which profs get funding in which years is not really up to them -- in those cases, whether or not the chair gets funding for his/her own students in a given year may not be up to the chair, so whether or not your POI is the chair may not matter. Also, in some programs you are really expected to work with just one prof, and in those cases I don't think having two people interested in you would help -- but in other cases it probably would.

[captiv8ed]

I am not saying that the act of contacting is what might put you over the edge. But the thing is, if you don't contact anyone and then you don't get in, you have no idea if someone was interested or not. Does that make sense?

So I guess what I am looking for is stories of people who have applied in the past and have has faculty members say they are interested in their work but then that applicant gets turned down anyway.

[dissatisfiedsocrates]

I am not saying that the act of contacting is what might put you over the edge. But the thing is, if you don't contact anyone and then you don't get in, you have no idea if someone was interested or not. Does that make sense?

So I guess what I am looking for is stories of people who have applied in the past and have has faculty members say they are interested in their work but then that applicant gets turned down anyway.

When I started applying, I was advised that contacting professors is not a necessary step (potentially not a huge advantage in admissions), but was helpful in a few ways. The most helpful factor - although potentially too late at this point for most applicants - is figuring out if a potential advisor is even planning on taking students in the next year. This can help you cater your SOP to relevant faculty. The second way is putting your name out there so that the professor has an intro to you and can look for your applicant if she is interested in you based on your correspondence. Faculty members need to sort through a great deal of applications, and this may help you avoid getting lost in the shuffle. Having said that, I doubt that not contacting professors would hurt you - I don't think anyone who chooses not to take this path should be too freaked at hurting their chances for admissions. Besides, contact through email that comes of as poorly written could actually leave the professor with a worse impression than no email at all.

[rising_star]

I know we have talked about the fact that people get into programs without contacting faculty. But what about the other side? How much does it help to have a faculty member who is interested? Let's put on our speculative caps, or for those who have been through the application process, please give your insight.

Let's say you are a candidate who has a strong application, with maybe one or two weak spots.

How much weight does it have when a faculty member says they are very interested in the research you want to do? What if there are two people who are interested in your work at one school? Or if a dean or a chair wants to work with you?

Hmmm... two different things here. First, I'd be wary of having a dean or chair as an advisor as they are often incredibly busy with administrative duties and may not have much time for working with graduate students.

Second, I think the effect on your application really depends on how the department does admissions. At my MA program, it would be to your benefit to have a professor interested in working with you since someone has to say they're willing to advise you in order for you to be admitted. Here (where I'm doing my PhD) admissions are done by the committee and students aren't admitted to work with a particular professor. So having someone interested in your may not come into play.

[captiv8ed]

When I started applying, I was advised that contacting professors is not a necessary step (potentially not a huge advantage in admissions), but was helpful in a few ways. The most helpful factor - although potentially too late at this point for most applicants - is figuring out if a potential advisor is even planning on taking students in the next year. This can help you cater your SOP to relevant faculty. The second way is putting your name out there so that the professor has an intro to you and can look for your applicant if she is interested in you based on your correspondence. Faculty members need to sort through a great deal of applications, and this may help you avoid getting lost in the shuffle. Having said that, I doubt that not contacting professors would hurt you - I don't think anyone who chooses not to take this path should be too freaked at hurting their chances for admissions. Besides, contact through email that comes of as poorly written could actually leave the professor with a worse impression than no email at all.

I understand those conditions and the fact that it isn't necessary. But I also know that there have been grad cafe'ers who have had successful correspondence with faculty, and I am trying to start a thread for us to obsess over what that means.

[socialpsych]

So I guess what I am looking for is stories of people who have applied in the past and have has faculty members say they are interested in their work but then that applicant gets turned down anyway.

Yes. Happened to me. Probably happens a lot. Imagine if you were a prof -- there might be a lot of potential students each year whose proposals are interesting, but not all of them can get an offer...

[captiv8ed]

Yes. Happened to me. Probably happens a lot. Imagine if you were a prof -- there might be a lot of potential students each year whose proposals are interesting, but not all of them can get an offer...

Thank you! That is the kind of dream-crushing, depressing news I am looking for.

[socialpsych]

Do yourself a favor and don't entrust anyone at GC with your dreams! (: We're just trying to keep it real here.

Edited December 24, 2009 by socialpsych