Emailing English/Humanities Faculty

[sjcAustenite]

Hi all,

I've seen a lot of discussion on here regarding reaching to potential faculty advisers to see if they are taking on new students. For the hard sciences, I think that makes total sense. I, however, am applying to English PhD programs, and I was curious if anyone had tried this (successfully) as part of their application. Several of the programs I have looked at have made it clear that, until you've made it through two years, don't even think about dissertation advisers.

Additionally (surprise second question), I am already acquainted with several members of the English grad faculty at one of my top schools. Is it kosher to reach out to them in any way, or what that be inappropriate?

Thanks! 

[Bleep_Bloop]

3 hours ago, sjcAustenite said:

Hi all,

I've seen a lot of discussion on here regarding reaching to potential faculty advisers to see if they are taking on new students. For the hard sciences, I think that makes total sense. I, however, am applying to English PhD programs, and I was curious if anyone had tried this (successfully) as part of their application. Several of the programs I have looked at have made it clear that, until you've made it through two years, don't even think about dissertation advisers.

Additionally (surprise second question), I am already acquainted with several members of the English grad faculty at one of my top schools. Is it kosher to reach out to them in any way, or what that be inappropriate?

Thanks! 

From what I can tell, e-mailing faculty isn't that important when you're applying to a humanities program because it's not a grant-driven, lab-based field where individual faculty need to have the funding to take a student on. I didn't (and wouldn't recommend) cold e-mailing faculty because they likely won't answer you anyways. I don't think it's a bad idea to reach out to contacts you already have, however. From my experience that's fairly common...if they know you and can vouch for your personally (have seen your work at a conference, etc.) that goes a long way. Obviously have some genuine/important questions in mind when you contact them, don't just write for the sake of writing because it'll be pretty obvious that you're just brown nosing. Some faculty have told me about times they've received e-mails from prospective students who just "want to know more about the program", or who just ask basic stuff that's listed on the department's website. Not something you want them to remember when they read your application in a couple of months. Again, that might seem obvious but it happens far too often. 

[Glasperlenspieler]

I've definitely seen people argue both sides on these boards. My general takeaway is that it's very unlikely to help you but it also probably won't hurt unless you do something to make yourself look like a fool or annoy the person you contact. Based on this I've tended not to contact professors, although I think there are (at least) two cases where it could prove helpful. The first is if you suspect that a professor you would like to work with is likely to retire or move to another university in the next few years. In that case it is probably a good idea, to (discretely) inquire about whether he or she will be taking on new advisees in the coming year(s). The other situation is if you are genuinely uncertain about whether a given program is a good match for your research interests. These are cases where emailing a professor probably won't make a difference in regards to whether you will be admitted, but it could help prevent you from wasting time and money on applying to school where you probably wouldn't be admitted or even want to attend on the basis of fit.