I wanted to ask about contacting professors after submitting an application. I’m applying to a program in Education at a really prestigious school. The program, however, is a professional graduate program that doesn’t necessarily seem to focus on research. Even though it focuses on professions, rather than on research, should I contact professors whose research I’m interested in, even if I have no background conducting research in their field? My interest stems from professional experiences in the field. If you could help me out, I’d really appreciate it. Thanks, everyone!
A: We keep that information private. At any rate, spamming the committee would not endear them to you. For information on applications, see the Graduate Admissions Web page. For answers to questions not covered there, you can contact Graduate Admissions at gradadm@eecs.berkeley.edu. When you apply, be sure to include detailed information on any research you have conducted, including links to publications and good unpublished manuscripts. The committee often looks at these closely.
Q: Will sending email to professors help my chance of admissions?
A: No. Most faculty receive a large amount of email regarding admissions. An email contact will not persuade a faculty member to pursue an application. There is a place on the application to mention contacts with Berkeley faculty, but that refers to extended contacts—not just email contacts.
If you’re applying to a research-based program like a PhD or research-based masters where you’d be working with an individual professor, contacting a professor could help. In a professional education program where you’re not expected to be involved in research, I don’t see any benefit; the email would likely be ignored.
Yeah, I agree with nano. In research-based programs, contacting professors ahead of time via email could help, especially if you discuss your research interests and how they align with theirs in some substantive depth. At the very least, that could lead to an extended conversation that may end up taking place off email or something.
Even at a professional program where there’s a significant research component, contacting a professor may be a net neutral or small positive. For example, at my graduate university it was common for MPH students to contact professors to chat about research opportunities. Sometimes those MPH student were interested in pursuing PhDs later, and sometimes they just wanted to get involved in research for other reasons (they had to write a thesis, too, in many of our MPH programs). But if a student wasn’t interested in research then it was of no benefit to them to email a professor.
IF you are actually interested in doing research with these professors, I see no harm in contacting them about it ahead of time and chatting with them about possibilities, including potential RA support if it exists (although I wouldn’t lead with the RA support, more about the potential for assisting them in interesting research). If you aren’t interested in doing research during the program, then I’d advise against contacting them.
Thanks, everyone! And, thanks, juillet. Taking everything into account, I don’t think I’ll be contacting them. I did mention a professor whose research I was “especially interested in” in my cover letter, as it relates to the professional program I’m applying to, because of interests and personal experience, etc.
Another question I have is, the admissions director at the program I’m applying to has a web app where I can chat with her about the application or the program. Because I was too nervous about screwing up beforehand, I never contacted her to chat about the program prior to submitting my application. Is it pointless now to contact her to chat about the program, especially after I’ve submitted my application? Just wondering.
^I agree with preppedparent. I think it’s natural to be worried about all the things you could or should be doing in the mean time to try to boost your chances, but really, all you can do now is wait
