Dissecting an email scenario

[Azsy16]

Hey guys, I'd like to know what you think of this:

So, I've made the first contact with my POIs a while back, and they've mostly replied. A few of them have expressed additional interest, asking me to send over my SOP, CV, the research questions I've in mind etc. The thing is, I've not heard back since my reply (nearly 2 weeks ago), and I'm not sure if it's a matter of their being busy or their being uninterested. I know that my GRE and GPA are decent, but my research experience is somewhat sparse. At the same time, my reply email was quite long, so it could be that it's taking them a while to craft a reply. And of course, I get that they're not obliged to reply at this stage after all, so my paranoia of their losing interest upon seeing my details might be ill-founded. That said, one of them did reply to say that I'm a competitive applicant, but I tend to fixate on the negatives...

Am I right to fret about this?

[Quickmick]

I don't know, maybe? When I was exchanging emails with POIs if I wanted to get a response, I made sure I asked a question in my email. Did you give them a reason to write back? Maybe you sent them what they needed, and if they don't have questions about it, why would they write back?

[Azsy16]

2 hours ago, Quickmick said:

I don't know, maybe? When I was exchanging emails with POIs if I wanted to get a response, I made sure I asked a question in my email. Did you give them a reason to write back? Maybe you sent them what they needed, and if they don't have questions about it, why would they write back?

Hmm I'm hoping it's this. They asked for my details and for me to propose the question (that I mentioned I had in mind on first contact) so I replied with those. But I did mention that I'd be keen on hearing more about their future research plans.

[TakeruK]

Don't fret about it. They got what they needed so they probably felt no need to write back. They probably stored your email until a time where they need to refer to it. 

[Blackwater]

I would not worry too much about it. Given that it is the beginning of the semester a lot of profs are at their busiest. If there are any questions you still have I think it would be fine a few weeks (4ish) after you sent the last email to follow up with them. That being said, I would only contact them if there was important information you need to know before deciding whether or not to apply to that school.

[breadwinner]

I'm not sure whether this is normal in psych, but I was asked by all the profs that replied to my emails to have phone interviews with them. If you feel like you want to email these people again to verify their interest in you, you could do so under the pretense of asking to have a brief phone discussion of the research topics in their labs and/or the structure of the program. If they accept and the conversations go well you'd have a better chance of sticking in their minds as well.

[St0chastic]

Just wanted to chime in.  Aside from sending brief messages asking whether PIs were accepting students, I didn't reach out to anyone I applied to.  This didn't seem to affect my chances in any way, so I wouldn't worry about this too much.  Professors are busy people and have overflowing inboxes, so I wouldn't read into a non-response too heavily.  

Edited September 24, 2016 by St0chastic

[Azsy16]

Thanks guys. I guess if they need to know more, they will probably get back to me around December. Seeing as I've already been encouraged to apply, I don't want to risk annoying them with follow-up emails that have no actual questions. 

[lewin]

On 9/24/2016 at 9:52 PM, Azsy16 said:

Thanks guys. I guess if they need to know more, they will probably get back to me around December. Seeing as I've already been encouraged to apply, I don't want to risk annoying them with follow-up emails that have no actual questions. 

Sit tight. Independence and the ability to not obsess about something that you can't do anything about (e.g., paper under review) are valued traits in a graduate student.

[lewin]

On 9/24/2016 at 3:19 PM, St0chastic said:

Just wanted to chime in.  Aside from sending brief messages asking whether PIs were accepting students, I didn't reach out to anyone I applied to.  This didn't seem to affect my chances in any way, so I wouldn't worry about this too much.  Professors are busy people and have overflowing inboxes, so I wouldn't read into a non-response too heavily.  

A mentor of mine said he disliked any contact beyond the "are you taking students?" type because he saw it as students trying to curry favor and bypass the application process. My judgment is that this is a minority opinion, but also that students should keep it in mind when considering whether to flood their POI's inboxes.