<p>Many faculty members explain that they are unable to handle the amount of emails from prospective students and therefore will not respond to those. But in some cases contacting faculty before applying seems faily advantageous.</p>
<p>Does it work adversely if I do not contact the faculties at the institutions I will apply to? (Especially when there is a space in the application where the applicant lists faculty members s/he has had contact with.)</p>
<p>i would like to know this too</p>
<p>My advisor told me not to both contacting faculty.</p>
<p>Is there any specific reason for that?</p>
<p>He said that usually the faculty member doesn't have much imput into the admissions decision.</p>
<p>For graduate admissions in many disciplines, it's an excellent idea to have had contact with someone on the faculty, and particularly to communicate a knowledge of, and interest in their research. At the graduate level, in fields like humanities, social sciences, and research-oriented natural sciences, the graduate faculty often makes the admissions decisions virtually independent of an admissions office. You really want an advocate in the room when decisions regarding admissions and fellowships/assistantships are made. </p>
<p>(Big law/med/business programs are a bit different. I don't have much knowledge about those fields.)</p>
<p>Basically, it really depends on the program. At many/most, the graduate admissions is done by a committee made up of faculty members in that department. When I applied, every committee was like this, so I emailed and met with faculty, sat in on classes, etc. There are a few that don't necessarily like the contact, so I've heard, but I figure if the professor is too busy to email me back, he'll be too busy to remember my name, so it won't hurt me. If the professor appreciates it and contacts me, I've made an important connection in admissions. And if there are a few out there who get so irritated that they remember my name and blacklist me in the admissions meeting, I don't really want to go to a program like that, anyway.</p>