Emailing POI's

[ellieotter]

Hey guys, I have waited to email POI's to see if they are accepting students till this month since they're more likely to know about funding. Some of my POI's have indicated on their website if they are accepting a student but I have decided it's time to bunker down and get to writing out good email drafts to send out to all my POI's in the next week.

Does anyone have any tips on what I should include in my "reaching out" email? I don't want to send a novel but I want to get across how interested I am in working with them. Secondary note, does anyone have any tips on what I shouldn't include when writing them out? Thanks!

[St0chastic]

In my opinion it's best to keep things short and to the point.  The general format is something like this:

Hi [insert professor's name],

My name is [so and so] and I'm a prospective graduate student planing on applying to your program.  I have done research on [blah blah] using [this and that method, technique, analyses, etc.].  I became aware of your work and have found that it relates to my research interests for [this and that reason]; given how well your research lines fit with my interests, I am very interested in the possibility of working with you.  Are you considering accepting students this upcoming academic year?

Thank you for your time,

[Your name]

Obviously you can tweak it to make it sound better and more professional, but I would keep to about that length for the initial contact email.  Once you receive a reply you can follow up with more information or specific questions.

Edited October 6, 2016 by St0chastic

[t_ruth]

Yes, short and sweet is best. I'd also include a CV. It's best to have also read one of the professor's articles.

I don't know that I'd send something like the above example. Some of the wording is a bit reversed: how well your research fits with my interests, etc. You want to show them that YOUR interests fit with THEIR research

[St0chastic]

1 hour ago, t_ruth said:

Yes, short and sweet is best. I'd also include a CV. It's best to have also read one of the professor's articles.

I don't know that I'd send something like the above example. Some of the wording is a bit reversed: how well your research fits with my interests, etc. You want to show them that YOUR interests fit with THEIR research

Yeah, good point.  I quickly typed that up as an example of what you might want to include.  You would obviously want to send out something more polished.

[Volo]

Do anyone have any ideas on how to approach a faculty member if they've already indicated in their bio page that they are planning to accept a student in this application cycle? I do want to introduce myself and make a connection, but I'm not sure what direction to take with the e-mail.

[songofgallifrey]

3 hours ago, Volo said:

Do anyone have any ideas on how to approach a faculty member if they've already indicated in their bio page that they are planning to accept a student in this application cycle? I do want to introduce myself and make a connection, but I'm not sure what direction to take with the e-mail.

I was wondering this too. I plan to email something to the effect of "I think your work on x topic is fascinating and my research interests would be a good fit. I see that you are accepting graduate students this year, and I am writing to ask about your current research interests and plans for future projects." And so on. That way I'm still being proactive and also making sure that the information on their website isn't stale or that they aren't planning to pivot to a different topic in their upcoming publications. Thoughts on that approach?

Edited October 13, 2016 by songofgallifrey

[St0chastic]

1 hour ago, songofgallifrey said:

I was wondering this too. I plan to email something to the effect of "I think your work on x topic is fascinating and my research interests would be a good fit. I see that you are accepting graduate students this year, and I am writing to ask about your current research interests and plans for future projects." And so on. That way I'm still being proactive and also making sure that the information on their website isn't stale or that they aren't planning to pivot to a different topic in their upcoming publications. Thoughts on that approach?

Personally I think this is a good approach.  Just be sure to provide a little bit of background info on yourself as well (past research experience mostly).

[Volo]

3 hours ago, songofgallifrey said:

I was wondering this too. I plan to email something to the effect of "I think your work on x topic is fascinating and my research interests would be a good fit. I see that you are accepting graduate students this year, and I am writing to ask about your current research interests and plans for future projects." And so on. That way I'm still being proactive and also making sure that the information on their website isn't stale or that they aren't planning to pivot to a different topic in their upcoming publications. Thoughts on that approach?

I think I'm going to go in this direction too. Thanks for the idea.  Happy to see someone was wondering the same thing.

1 hour ago, St0chastic said:

Personally I think this is a good approach.  Just be sure to provide a little bit of background info on yourself as well (past research experience mostly).

Thank you!!

[Azsy16]

I'd suggest reading 2-3 of the publications of greatest interest to you so that there's stuff to write about. Seeing as I've gotten reasonably interested responses for the most part, I'll share my POI email format:

Dear Dr. LastName,
 
I am a 4th year B.Sc. student who is currently completing a XXX at the XXX. Specifically, I am working on addressing XXXX. I am writing to ask if you will be accepting applications for new graduate students in 2017. I am writing to express my desire to work in your lab as a fall 2017 graduate student (if it already says they're accepting).
 
In general terms, I am deeply curious about how people XXXX. Consequently, I find multiple aspects of your research highly interesting. Your piece, e.g., regarding various interpretations of the XXXXX (XXXX, Year). Likewise, evidence for a XXXXXX challenge the current accounts of XXXXX (XXXX, Year).
 
My XXXXX, etc. can be made available at your earliest request; I am more than glad to expand on my details if you so desire. Should you be interested, I have a few potential research questions in mind that I can propose here. Thanks very much for your time.
 
Sincerely,
MyFirstName

 

Hope that helps. I didn't attach any files for this first contact, but it's really more of an aspect left to your own discretion.

[songofgallifrey]

I've sent out a few emails asking if POIs will be accepting PhD students in the upcoming cycle. I think my language is clearly asking if they are going to be taking on students in an advisory role, but the only responses I've gotten seem to misunderstand my question. They think I'm asking whether the program itself is accepting PhD applications. Am I not being clear? Here's an example:

"Dear Professor X,

I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to ask whether you will be accepting graduate students in the upcoming Fall 2017 cycle. 

~Short paragraph with my academic background and current work that applies to my research interests~

 

As a PhD student, I am interested in studying x. Your research and policy work on x fascinates me, and I hope to contribute to this scholarship on x.

 

Thank you very much for your time and consideration, and I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Best,

 

~Me~"

[St0chastic]

49 minutes ago, songofgallifrey said:

I've sent out a few emails asking if POIs will be accepting PhD students in the upcoming cycle. I think my language is clearly asking if they are going to be taking on students in an advisory role, but the only responses I've gotten seem to misunderstand my question. They think I'm asking whether the program itself is accepting PhD applications. Am I not being clear? Here's an example:

"Dear Professor X,

I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to ask whether you will be accepting graduate students in the upcoming Fall 2017 cycle. 

~Short paragraph with my academic background and current work that applies to my research interests~

 

As a PhD student, I am interested in studying x. Your research and policy work on x fascinates me, and I hope to contribute to this scholarship on x.

 

Thank you very much for your time and consideration, and I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Best,

 

~Me~"

I think your message is perfectly clear.  I would shoot back a quick one sentence message asking whether they specifically will be able to take on a new student in the upcoming year.  My guess is professors are skimming your message.  The more information you include the more likely they are to make a reading comprehension error, so keep things short and sweet.

[songofgallifrey]

@St0chastic thanks for the feedback, that's helpful. I wasn't sure if emailing them to clarify would be annoying, but I'll give it a shot with a quick one-sentence message like you suggested.

[DBear]

I've been told by many successful applicants to keep the length short enough they don't need to scroll

My format:

Greetings from xxxx, I'm interested in applying to xxxxx program.

My question is whether I'd be a good 'fit' as my research interest in general xyz. In particular, I would like to focus on abcdefg. After reading your book etc, I decided to contact you directly, hope you don't mind.

I have a BA in xxx, MA in xxxx. 

Thank you for your time.

 

Something like that. For the title I used:

Greetings (and a quick question) from a prospective grad student.

 

That's not verbatim what I wrote but that's pretty much it.

[t_ruth]

21 minutes ago, DBear said:

I've been told by many successful applicants to keep the length short enough they don't need to scroll

My format:

Greetings from xxxx, I'm interested in applying to xxxxx program.

My question is whether I'd be a good 'fit' as my research interest in general xyz. In particular, I would like to focus on abcdefg. After reading your book etc, I decided to contact you directly, hope you don't mind.

I have a BA in xxx, MA in xxxx. 

Thank you for your time.

 

Something like that. For the title I used:

Greetings (and a quick question) from a prospective grad student.

 

That's not verbatim what I wrote but that's pretty much it.

I don't know, as a PI, I might not look kindly to the question as to whether someone would be a good fit. I'd want them to have an idea from the website and my articles already as to whether they are--this would show me they'd done their homework. PIs want to be wooed a little too

[DBear]

7 minutes ago, t_ruth said:

I'd want them to have an idea from the website and my articles already as to whether they are--this would show me they'd done their homework. PIs want to be wooed a little too

Thanks for the feedback! I asked about fit as I'm applying to progams for which I don't have a BA or MA but will try to reword that and make it a bit more 'woo-ey' 

[teds2]

What do you do after the POI reply and said he/she is taking graduate students?  Is it a good idea to ask about his current research project and if he has any research projects already planned for the new graduate students?  

Thanks!

[t_ruth]

17 hours ago, teds2 said:

What do you do after the POI reply and said he/she is taking graduate students?  Is it a good idea to ask about his current research project and if he has any research projects already planned for the new graduate students?  

Thanks!

That sounds like a reasonable follow-up. They will usually indicate in their email as to whether or not they want to continue the conversation and will give you some openings for what to talk about.