Leading the applicant

[katalytik]

I realize that there are many people here who have contacted professors before applying. I have one I have interacted with for a while now (months) and he is not on the adcomm, but is very interested in me. He keeps saying that "admissions is not a concern", but from my standpoint I really am afraid to have any hopes. He keeps leading me to think it will be all good, but not sure what the hell to expect until I see an official email or letter.

Despite my wanting to say "Get me in somehow!!!!", I have kept an arms-length distance from asking him too many times. I feel like I am going to piss him off, but my anxiety sometimes gets the better of me.

Regarding your faculty contacts, have they helped or not helped this process? Not just regarding admissions, but also advising you about a career?

[quadsbaby]

I realize that there are many people here who have contacted professors before applying. I have one I have interacted with for a while now (months) and he is not on the adcomm, but is very interested in me. He keeps saying that "admissions is not a concern", but from my standpoint I really am afraid to have any hopes. He keeps leading me to think it will be all good, but not sure what the hell to expect until I see an official email or letter.

Despite my wanting to say "Get me in somehow!!!!", I have kept an arms-length distance from asking him too many times. I feel like I am going to piss him off, but my anxiety sometimes gets the better of me.

Regarding your faculty contacts, have they helped or not helped this process? Not just regarding admissions, but also advising you about a career?

I never asked my professors if they would help me through the admissions process. I assumed that if they really wanted to work with me, this was a given. I have of course asked for general advice, and it has been given to me. Not sure what else to say.

[anxiousapplicant]

I wouldn't know, because no one ever replies to me. I honestly think they see my email address from my school and automatically delete it.

[red_crayons]

I wouldn't know, because no one ever replies to me. I honestly think they see my email address from my school and automatically delete it.

I love that someone voted this totally benign (although, yes, not extremely useful) comment down.

[katalytik]

I love that someone voted this totally benign (although, yes, not extremely useful) comment down.

Yes, that is weird. But there are some who do not like plain comments, I think.

[anxiousapplicant]

Yes, that is weird. But there are some who do not like plain comments, I think.

Edit: forget it. that was useless anyway. No point in fighting back.

Edited February 19, 2010 by anxiousapplicant

[Diverchica]

I've had experiences both ways with profs I've contacted before applying/being accepted.

Last year I got rejected across the board, and at my first interview, my 'potential advisor' made it sound like she was trying to sell me the program and working with her. Saying, 'its a perfect fit, we will look forward to your app.' Then, the second interview, she brought her husband in (the other prof in her lab) and they played good cop bad cop on me! Pretty much scrutinizing me and testing me, asking me why I think i'm good for the program, telling me to apply elsewhere. Which, was all well and good, it was an interview.... but then she chose another student over me in the end and was sort of unprofessional about it. After being mopey for a month, hearing similar experiences from people regarding the same school, i realized I didnt want to work in such a cliquey environment anyway

that being said, all other faculty contacts I had were great.

I had contact with 4 this round, and each one was genuine, and gave me good mentor advice as well as application advice.

The ones that had no say in my admission (Duke MEM program) told me they'd love to work with me, looked at my stats, and gave me their opinions on whether or not i'd get in

.

The others who were going to be my advisors (MS program) and would have a say over my admission, were very nice, told me how to make the best career choices project/program wise, and were very honest about where my app would go from there....

I think you should trust your potential advisor. If he says admission wont be a problem, then believe him, and wait for the results on paper. Dont hesitate to email him about your app status a few weeks after the deadline either. If he ends up going back on his word, you don't want to work with someone like that anyway.

hope this helps

[waiting2009]

I realize that there are many people here who have contacted professors before applying. I have one I have interacted with for a while now (months) and he is not on the adcomm, but is very interested in me. He keeps saying that "admissions is not a concern", but from my standpoint I really am afraid to have any hopes. He keeps leading me to think it will be all good, but not sure what the hell to expect until I see an official email or letter.

Despite my wanting to say "Get me in somehow!!!!", I have kept an arms-length distance from asking him too many times. I feel like I am going to piss him off, but my anxiety sometimes gets the better of me.

Regarding your faculty contacts, have they helped or not helped this process? Not just regarding admissions, but also advising you about a career?

Did the professor know your grades, GRE scores, resume, LORs, and read your personal statement when he talked to you? If not, better not to assume anything and wait for that letter. And even if he knew, he didn't know about the other applicants. Maybe a lot of very qualified people applied. Maybe some of them are backed by other professors. Maybe the admissions committee members don't like the professor. I don't mean to be negative, but there are many other variables in play. Getting into top schools is hard. This goes both ways, by the way. If you're accepted, it's because you deserve it and not because of the professor who likes you.

Good luck!

Edited February 19, 2010 by waiting2009

[bolani]

Did the professor know your grades, GRE scores, resume, LORs, and read your personal statement when he talked to you? If not, better not to assume anything and wait for that letter. And even if he knew, he didn't know about the other applicants. Maybe a lot of very qualified people applied. Maybe some of them are backed by other professors. Maybe the admissions committee members don't like the professor. I don't mean to be negative, but there are many other variables in play. Getting into top schools is hard. This goes both ways, by the way. If you're accepted, it's because you deserve it and not because of the professor who likes you.

Good luck!

So....I'll share my story. I have a school that i've been really excited about forever, and I got to meet my dream advisor 2 years ago at a conference. Turns out, he's the nicest person in the world....gave me his card. Well THEN i got to spend the summer up there. My current undergrad advisor had dinner with him @ another conference, told him I would be in the area. Dream advisor was excited that I would be coming up, and said to set up a time to meet with him.

Of course I did! At that point, he spent 2 hours walking me through admissions, the first year experience, what classes we would take, and answered any questions I had. During the application semester I got to see him two times more(2 other conferences), where the first one, I found him and asked him some more questions, said I was super interested in the school, and he invited me to come to the "Dream School Meet and Greet" thing....because "i was a friend of their school" . Then at the second one, he found me and told me that "he was really looking foward to seeing my application".

He gave me a lot of advice about other schools to apply to as well, what classes to take my senior year,etc. Never promised me admission. So I was a little nervous about getting my hopes up too much. But I don't regret making those connections at all....turns out he was selected to be on the adcomm that year so it couldn't have hurt!

(btw...i got admitted!)

Moral of my story: building a relationship BEFORE applying is really helpful...I did this with another professor at a school I got rejected to. This guy is insanely well known in my field, and he sent me a personal email telling me why I was rejected(it was very useful) and also wanting to stay in touch with me in the future,because he thinks I have a lot of potential. So now I have one more person in the professional world that might go to bat for me. :-)