<p>Hi, </p>
<p>I'm applying to PhD programs in computer science. I know some applicants would email their interested professors, discuss their research interests and see if the professors are currently taking on new graduate students. But I've also seen people say some professors may get annoyed because they may receive hundreds of emails a day and you won't have a good chance of getting a reply. </p>
<p>Is it really common for applicants to contact faculty members before they apply? Does it increase your chance of being admitted? Also, it's seems hard for me to discuss research with faculty members even if I contact them, since as a undergraduate I really don't have a focus area and honestly I don't have too much knowledge of my interested research areas...</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for any replies!</p>
<p>It is a good question and you stated the dilemma well.</p>
<p>My daughter was a CS PhD applicant as an undergrad, and she was told by her professors not to send emails. They said that the profs get deluged by international students who don’t know better, and they don’t appreciate it.</p>
<p>So she didn’t do it, except…
she was quite interested in one particular prof. She had seen him speak at her school. She did inquire if he was taking on students, as it didn’t seem so; she wanted to be sure. It started a nice, but brief exchange. She is studying there now, but she did get into other programs where she had no contact except for accepted student day.</p>
<p>Those are top 20 or top 10 programs, however she didn’t get into some schools that were much lower ‘ranked’, but had profs that she was interested in working with. That was unexpected. I am wondering if the lack of contact and expression of interest might have mattered there.</p>