<p>So I want to get my PhD in mechanical or aerospace engineering and I have some questions. How important is it to contact professors that I would be interested in working with? When I email them what should I say? How likely is it that they will even respond?</p>
<p>Email professors working on research/projects. Tell them you are interested in working with them on those projects, and was wondering if there is any opportunity for you to do so. Whether they respond or not is up to them.</p>
<p>The only good reasons to contact a professor during the admissions process are to (a) determine your fit and (b) establish a relationship. In both these cases you can only get the benefit if you have an interest in the professor’s work.</p>
<p>Ideally you should be starting your grad school search with a list of professors, obtained from recommendations, publication searches, and conference speaker announcements. If this is the case, GREAT!</p>
<p>If you are starting with a list of schools, you need to look through the faculty write-ups and start looking for similar interests. Then narrow that list down by scanning through their recent pubs, making notes about anything that strikes you an eliminating any professors who no longer excite you.</p>
<p>Once you have a list of approximately 1-4 professors per school, start contacting them. Briefly explain who you are, explain what you are interested with respect to their work, mention that you are applying, and then ask them some pertinent questions. The questions should fall into 3 categories: First ask them some questions about their research and how you will fit (make sure these are not answered on their website or other obvious place), second ask them some questions about grad life in the program or about the application process (some professors will respond better initially to questions beyond their own lab), and third ask them if they will be accepting any new grad students into their lab.</p>
<p>Many will not respond - send them a follow-up and then let it drop. Many are just too busy or annoyed to deal with emails from prospective students. Some will let you know quickly that they will not have an opening, thank them and ask them if they know anyone else in the department doing similar types of work who may be accepting students - they will know better than you will. Others will open up a real dialogue with you.</p>
<p>Some may refer you to a department secretary or other functionary - accept the brush off. Some schools may discourage contacting faculty pre-acceptance, but I have yet to hear of anyone outright banning it.</p>
<p>Be brief, concise, succinct. Ditto on don’t be disappointed if you get no response- it’s summer vacation, no interest in you, no spaces available in group and others wait until you’ve gone through the PhD application process for their university.</p>
<p>I would definetly contact professors. I have applied to schools where it is implied that you contact professors before applying. Some schools have outright told me that even though it is not listed as a requirement on their website, they will not make a decision on your application until you pick an advisor.</p>
<p>What about contacting Professors for Master’s programs? Is that a good idea as well?</p>
<p>It depends if the masters is a thesis program or not. If it is then you should contact professors before applying.</p>
<p>I agree with jtom - if there is no thesis, then there is no need or advantage in contacting individual professors.</p>