<p>In a couple of my apps, I am asked to list names of professors I have contacted. Is contacting faculty prior to admission a normal thing? I suppose it wouldn't be so hard to send off an e-mail to a couple of professors, but I am not sure what to say to them. "Take me, please!"</p>
<p>A bit more seriously, I am thinking of just asking them something basic, like "As per your website, are you still actively engaged in [such and such area]?" or "Will the school be dedicated to this kind of research over the next five years?" or "Can you tell me more about your research in [such and such] or point me to current articles/resources where I can learn more about it?"</p>
<p>Are these good questions to ask of faculty?</p>
<p>yeah i was the one who started that thread. you are on the right track; what I generally do is give a brief intro about myself, my research interest, my interest in their work, and then ask whether they are accepting any grad students next year. you can also ask about what their current projects are and to give you an update.</p>
<p>i've contacted 2 professors so far (thanks to my ongoing laziness/senioritis), and both have been positive, so i guess my strategy is on the right track.</p>
<p>What do they say when they respond? I guess I'm confused about this whole thing. It's not like the prof can tell everyone, "sure, come here and work for me!"</p>
<p>one has given me an invitation to check out the lab, and the other one mentioned that he will note my name down or something, but that i'll have to go through lab rotations before deciding on an advisor.</p>
<p>what's so ironic about the first response is that i'm about 90% sure i won't get into that school, as their acceptance rate of int'l students is abysmally low relatively speaking.</p>
<p>crepusculo, good luck on your initial contacts.</p>
<p>Those are great responses though, I'll be lucky to get any responses like that. I got an auto-reply from one prof saying he has some kind of carpal tunnel syndrome and can't respond to any e-mails. I got another reply from a prof who seemed very nice and enthusiastic, but I'm not sure how that will help any. For the rest, I probably won't hear back until after the holiday. Good luck to you with apps.</p>
<p>How much contact is worthy of mention in an application? One of my apps has a section where they ask you to name professors that you have been in touch with. I feel a little weird listing someone when their response to my e-mail was pretty generic (glad to hear that you're interested in our research, etc.) I just don't think they would remember my name/profile immediately, especially since I'm sure this professor receives many e-mails like mine.</p>
<p>But... what happens if I DON'T list this professor's name, and they're on the admissions committee, and they DO remember me? Will it look bad if I didn't list this person's name in my app?</p>