<p>MolSysBio,
You’re not just shamelessly plugging your own group are you? :P</p>
<p>i wish i was plugging my own group man. but honestly, when i heard about this i was amazed as was my PI and the rest of my lab. i don’t want to ruin the surprise since it’ll be out in nature soon. but a hint: think of an analogy to stem cells in the context of cancer + wildly successful clinical trials.</p>
<p>Neuroapp-- you’re ahead of me, then! I contacted some faculty in October and heard back from half of them; One was a very terse “Yes, I’ll be looking to recruit new students” and another was friendly and informative but didn’t engage me further or ask about my research. I did have one faculty member who told me to mention her in my application and that “they” (ah, the omnipotent “they”!) would arrange for us to meet, and to get in touch if I ended up in town before then so I could check out the lab. I couldn’t actually make it down, though, so I recently sent her an email just to follow-up-- I should have asked if she would consider speaking over the phone, sigh…</p>
<p>I contacted a bunch of faculty (~10-12 total). All but 2 I think responded (so 12 or so responded), one was very short email, others were very nice! Some attached recent accepted but not yet published articles or talked about what they are doing that’s not mentioned on website or related to my interests and stuff. Or telling me that they are actually moving into different research areas altogether. Contact them if I was in the area (yeah right) or going to SfN. It was actually very nice. I wrote a decently lengthy email too, saying who I am/interests and my research experience. Actually took a lot of time (which is why I stopped quickly!!).</p>
<p>^That’s so great! Yikes, guys! I’m still bummed that the PI of my dreams (whose work introduced me to the field) didn’t respond to my email. I briefly introduced myself, mentioned my work with one of his colleagues, asked a concrete question about his ongoing research and then inquired if he was accepting new graduate students. No dice! Of course, I shook my fist at god and applied to the program anyway.</p>
<p>Guys, don’t freak out about not getting responses to your emails. My husband absolutely hates being contacted by prospective graduate students – he thinks it’s a waste of everyone’s time because he doesn’t make the decisions (and he’s the chair.) I’m sure he’s not the only professor to feel that way.</p>
<p>Each program operates slightly differently from the next. If you don’t hear back, it’s NOT a bad sign.</p>
<p>Thanks, Mom 
(I wish my actual mom would tell me not to freak out.)</p>
<p>
He’s not. When I asked about the necessity of contacting PIs I’m interested in working with, my professors mentioned they only ever get back to ADMITTED and COMMITTED graduate students who are asking for the sake of potentially setting up a rotation.</p>
<p>For that reason, my only potential PI contacts have been two professors who came to my school to guest lecture for a class I’m taking.</p>
<p>My undergrad PI also advised me not to contact professors – he told me if there was anyone I really wanted to contact, he’d email the PI himself and introduce me.</p>
<p>My PI claims he gets 100 emails an hour during the day. With that kind of volume, only essential emails get replies.</p>
<p>I sent 38 (!!!) emails + my CV to profs who had research closely related to my interests. I heard back from 24 (mostly enthusiastic; only a few were “negative”–no funding or interests not similar enough) and didn’t hear back from 14. So, I had a 63% reply rate.</p>
<p>Obviously it took a lot of emails (to 12 diff schools) to get the replies.</p>
<p>I only sent one to a professor in U of Toronto and that’s mainly because I’m required to do so as a non-Canadian applicant. (International applicants need to secure a sponsorship before they can submit their applications). I thought it’s gonna take forever and it would be very hard to find a professor who is willing to sponsor my application. Surprisingly, I got a super quick and positive response from the first professor whom I contacted, despite his big name. It seems that I need to add U of Toronto to my school list now.</p>
<p>Given the highly personalized nature of our training where you work basically as an apprentice for super low wages for an indeterminate period of time to enhance someone else’s career- I think that knowing that you can get along with that person ahead of time would be of value.</p>
<p>i emailed several professors through my network (friends of my professors / people i had worked with) and got favorable replies, such as professors contacting adcoms on my behalf. i think it could be a valuable strategy since there are definitely back doors into grad school.</p>
<p>Its not even so much a back door as much as getting information about the people you might work with for a long time. For one thing, if the one or two labs you really want to join don’t have space or funding for a new student, you might be wasting your time applying, although of course its up to you to decide. Its also good to see what current and future directions a lab is working on; a lab you weren’t interested in might be starting work that you love, or a lab that historically did stuff you love might be switching gears to something that doesn’t really interest you. At the very least, contacting professors will get your name into their head and will probably help get your application seriously considered.</p>
<p>^ Exactly. Besides to me, if they don’t have time to respond to a quick email - seriously, 5 seconds on their part (hours on mine, right), then PERSONALLY, that’s not really someone I want to work with for my PhD. Not 100%, but it gives me some idea - maybe I will in the end - but I personally know I don’t want to work with a big-name person who is never in the lab and actually training students. That’s just what I’ve realized from my own lab experience. Like I said, I also realized some profs aren’t doing what I really want to do/thought they were, or going in a direction that’s not of great interest to me. Of course, maybe they forgot or were very busy at that time point, or generally get bombarded with these emails but still train the students they have very well, of course. But I don’t think there is a loss in doing that. I emailed to profs even if I knew they have no say in my admissions (not applying to the dept of their primary appointment and just started their labs), but just to let them know I’m interested. It was a very nice exchange, and I was told me to email anytime I have questions or want to find out more. Definitely giving me a positive opinion… and I found out they know and like my current PI - which also makes me realize how small some academic circles are.</p>
<p>You should not judge possible PIs by their willingness, or lack thereof, to reply to your email before you have been accepted. Once you’ve been invited for an interview, the game changes. PIs are much more eager to engage in conversations, whether in real time or via email, once the applicant is more of a real possibility. Take Mollie’s PI: if he is getting all those emails, there’s no way he would want to invest the time in reading and answering email if 90% of those people will never make it into the program. </p>
<p>That’s not to say that contacting professors is a BAD idea – and some programs actually require it – but that you should not read too much into a non- or cursory reply. Those who do not contact are not at a disadvantage – witness Mollie’s success.</p>
<p>
Who does? To think that the lack of an e-mail response is indicative of what you’re suggesting is a grave mistake, however.</p>
<p>Tons of people do. I know some grad students who work in labs with the PI is never there because they are doing other things but the grad students like it. It gives them freedom to do side-projects and not have someone breathing down their neck - because the PI is established and not worried about their success… they already have it. It depends on how much guidance you want, and I guess also how much help you get from others. It also depends on your project - is it very tricky and hard, or relatively straight forward. </p>
<p>Well, like I said, it is not some rule. I didn’t contact a LOT of profs I am interested in, and I also didn’t cut anyone out if they didn’t respond. It is not some hard and fast rule. And I understand and agree with MWFN. This is just my own opinion. It is by no-means a fact, I don’t have data to support this. It is just how I feel. That’s all. At the end of the day, someone responding excitingly to my email and continueing a conversation, does make me feel like, hey - maybe this is someone I’d rather work with for my PhD. Again - not some hard fact, just an inclination and internal feeling. To be honest, I was very shocked at the amount of PIs that responded. I emailed people from Stanford - all responded, Princeton, Yale, etc…</p>
<p>
Exactly – he’s the most excited, invested interviewer you’ll ever meet. He just doesn’t have time to invest until he knows there’s a better chance the student might actually come work with him.</p>
<p>And in this case, I think it’s fair to say he’s not responding to emails because he’s too busy being in the lab training his graduate students. ;)</p>
<p>Okay, I’m officially done with applications! (Yeah, yeah, slowpoke-- But WHEW!)</p>
<p>I’ll report back in case of good news, but otherwise, please assume the worst I’ve already instructed all my friends to never mention them to me again, haha! I’m going to do what’s best for my sanity and stop checking CC and gradcafe until the REAL freaking out begins in late January/early February! Good luck everybody, especially my fellow neuroscience and psychology applicants!</p>
<p>Edited to add: Okay, you can definitely tell how relieved I am to be finished by how many exclamation points are in that post. Geez.</p>