<p>Yeah, you should not send a flood of repeat e-mails. One e-mail/phone contact. If they don’t get back to you, then assume they aren’t going to respond and proceed accordingly.</p>
<p>My field is fairly small - there are, at most, two or three professors at any given school who specialize in it. Therefore, it was not a matter of mass-mailing hundreds of professors, but selecting a couple dozen to make first contact with.</p>
<p>You guys are the best, don’t let anyone tell you differently. ;)</p>
<p>One and done email. Absolutely. Got it. Despite what you’ve seen in this thread, I’m not the type to badger someone in high places, haha! And I’m definitely not mass-mailing the faculty either. In fact there are only 1 or 2 professors for each of my schools (7) that I plan on contacting, which is based off my research in industry. Any more would be way too much work I think. </p>
<p>Polarscribe, what did they write you when you didn’t get a “positive contact response”? Just curious. :)</p>
<p>I got some who were extremely non-committal, several who were interested but had no slots/funding available and others who didn’t think my idea fit their research plans.</p>
<p>The really positive ones wanted to talk with me in more detail and explore how I might fit with their program. I ended up having lengthy e-mail and phone conversations with several of them. As mentioned, my application was accepted at all seven of those departments. (Indiana, Missouri, Idaho, Maine, Clemson, SUNY-ESF, Ball State)</p>
<p>FWIW, not one professor said anything to indicate they were displeased by the existence of my inquiry.</p>
<p>I’m a bit confused. First you said this:</p>
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<p>but you aksi got all those nonhelpful responses too? (from your post above) Could you clarify?</p>
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<p>This seems harsh given how little they know about you, and is kind of my ideal nightmarish situation. I know they’re free to say whatever they want, but why not phrase it differently - let you down gently haha. Was this the 1 school you didn’t get accepted to?</p>
<p>I know I’m beating a dead horse at this point, and that my mileage will vary. Anecdotes are only anecdotes, but they always have a shred of truth and they’re also a bit fun. 
I hope you haven’t minded sharing as much as I just enjoy hearing your experiences. Thanks!</p>
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<p>Yes. I contacted professors long before submitting applications. In all but one case, I only actually applied to schools where at least one professor indicated an interest in my research proposal and qualifications. That one case, as I said, ended up being the one school where I didn’t get accepted.</p>
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<p>Actually, I’d much rather have them be honest and up-front about my qualifications, rather than lead me on and have me waste a bunch of time and money applying to a program where I would have no chance of admission.</p>
<p>It wasn’t always negative feedback, either - several professors said my pitch was interesting, but out of their realm of interest or expertise. But either way, the result is a school that wouldn’t be a good fit for me.</p>
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<p>No, as I said, I didn’t even bother applying to programs where professors indicated I wouldn’t be a good fit. The one I got rejected from (UW-Stevens Point) responded with a non-commital form e-mail, “I look forward to reviewing your application.” I guess they really didn’t.</p>
<p>To further clarify (I see now where I was unclear) - all seven schools which accepted me were the set of schools where I had made contact with professors before applying and received positive feedback and expressions of interest in my proposal.</p>
<p>I am about to start a faculty position in Neuroscience (in 1 week!), and I have been involved in admissions at my new university and also as a student member of the admissions committee in the program where I was a grad student.</p>
<p>These sorts of emails to faculty are extremely unlikely to affect your chances of admission. There is very little chance that a professor will get to know you enough through these emails to affect their opinion of you significantly. </p>
<p>You should email faculty if you have a specific question that that faculty member can answer. For example, if you are extremely interested in their research and knowing whether they are potentially accepting graduate students would affect whether or not you apply to the program, feel free to ask. If you are particularly interested in one research area or project and you would like to know whether that fits in with their research interests, feel free to ask that too. If you want to know who in the department might be working on a particular topic, you should make absolutely sure this information is not available on web pages, but then it’s probably okay to ask that as well. If you have a question but the outcome will not affect whether you’d apply to a specific program, it’s probably better to wait until your interview/acceptance when you will have much easier access to both faculty and current students.</p>
<p>Essentially, these emails should be about you getting the information you need to decide whether to apply rather than trying to impress anyone. Both of the schools where I have been involved in admissions asked about faculty contacts on their applications, but I cannot think of a single instance where these contacts made any difference in whether a candidate was accepted.</p>
<p>You should, however, do some research to figure out a short list (2-6) of faculty you would be potentially interested in working with, and mention this in your application. That shows that you have some research direction and that you take your application seriously.</p>
<p>Good luck, and let me know if you have any more questions!</p>
<p>Question: OP, what year are you? (If I missed this, sorry.)<br>
This is an interesting thread. However- am I wrong?- if you are grad school material, wouldn’t you have UG profs there to advise you, if your interest is legit and your qualifications are solid? </p>
<p>DH, a prof, advises kids: usually, grad school is about digging into a focus within your field. Define your probable focus and interests- or at least the direction- and what you might envision doing with your PhD. Find out who’s active in this field, where, and how strong the overall climate for this is, at those U’s. For some degrees, I’d add, what the major research funding is, the conditions of those grants, and what’s expected to come. For others, it might be about field work, practicums, funding for research abroad, etc.</p>
<p>Get an idea why those profs might want to work with you- your experiences, your angle, what you bring to the table. Only at that point, consider the next move- contacting some, for a brief, intelligent inquiry. </p>
<p>Perhaps OP has done all this. It’s not coming though in the thread. IMO, when you do your homework up front, it becomes obvious what few questions might benefit from a contact.</p>
<p>I graduated 2 years ago and have been working in industry for those last 2 years as a scientist. Most of my colleagues are not even PhDs. I never did undergraduate research nor did I consult my former professors about grad school. So you can see how far away I am from academia. </p>
<p>My undergrad GPA and GRE scores seem pretty average for the programs I’m looking at. The type of stuff that won’t necessarily hurt or help me.</p>
<p>So, in biosciences, you’ve picked some focus, have some idea of the right schools for that and what makes you an attractive candidate? You never did UG research…but something in the present makes up for that? (You were some sort of bio/sci major UG, right?) For some reason, you don’t (seem to) want to contact former profs, so you have adequate recommendations today? </p>
<p>I don’t mean to sound discouraging- sorry, not my intent. I mean to encourage you to get your ducks lined up before worrying about contact. Can you go back to former profs? Can you find someone local to advise you?</p>
<p>No worries. Maybe I do have more of my ducks lined up than I am letting on, as I don’t like to divulge too much detail like some students on this forum. But great questions.</p>
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<li><p>I was a biosci major. 3.5-3.6gpa. gre score between 1200-1300.</p></li>
<li><p>I have 2 letters of rec from my past/current supervisors at work. 1 is from an UG professor whom I’ve contacted recently.</p></li>
<li><p>I’ve been fortunate that the research project I was working on is related to my field of interest for graduate school. </p></li>
<li><p>I’m not trying to get into Harv, Stanford, Yale, NW, Princeton, or anything like that. </p></li>
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<p>I’m not really sure what I need an “advisor” for, other than the fact that my all these other kids in UG have advisors. To know which programs to select? I’ve kind of been doing that on my own for a long time. To know the applications process? Just follow the instructions online. To help me write a personal statement? I’ll get an editor but this is 100% on me. So I’m pretty independent and I’m serious when I ask what can an advisor do that I can’t? However, every now and then I have a question which is why I visit this forum. :)</p>
<p>That was all off topic but I hope that helps you get a grasp of me.</p>
<p>Got it. Now, we have something more than sucking up and worrying the contacts will be discouraging. Like this new tone and wish you the best.</p>
<p>Do you guys think it would be best to email with a school email address or with something like Gmail? I feel like some professors might not get the regular gmail addresses in their inbox but rather in their spam box. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Just wanted to echo a lot of the sentiments that have already been posted.</p>
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<li><p>I applied to biosciences grad schools this past fall, and I too was curious as to whether I should be contacting profs I was interested in working for. I did not contact anyone, and I still ended up getting into every school I applied to. I asked my PI at the time whether I should be contacting profs, and he responded quite strongly “NO! I get ten e-mails a week like that, and I delete them all.”</p></li>
<li><p>In some areas, you ARE expected to be contacting profs. I think this is especially true in ecology PhD programs. My ex-girlfriend was applying, and she said that at Berkeley and Duke, each ecology professor gets to admit one student of their choosing. Admitted students are expected to work for the professor that admitted them, and it is considered impolite to work for a different professor. If you don’t reach out to a professor before applying and at least speak with them on the phone, that professor is unlikely to admit you.</p></li>
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<p>Which would make sense to *not *do it for biosciences because you won’t even work with them for another year, if not at all, since you’re in rotation for 1st year. Thanks for the insight Sunkist.</p>
<p>I am also wondering about whether to email professors from my prospective grad schools. I am applying to Accounting programs and to Statistics programs. Pretty sure I don’t have to email anyone for the Accountancy programs, but unsure about Stats. The program is small, but not really focused on research… any ideas how I should decide?</p>
<p>monocomo, I may be no expert - after all I started this thread - but what I’ve learned in the past few days is that you should use the email to get information about a program. </p>
<p>It would help if you have relavent work/research experience. That way you could start by Googling whatever product/topic you’re working on and see if any universities/professors pop up with papers on the same product/topic. There may be a closer link than you think. By doing that you may find some really obscure programs you never even knew existed. Then you can email the professor and say … “I’m working on X, which I understand (relates to you somehow)…” It’s a great way to break the ice without seeming desperate or annoying.</p>
<p>Thanks for the answer, but that was kind of what I’m afraid of… I don’t really have specific interest, and I have no relevant experience. I just had a discouraging job search and realized a BS in Math isn’t good for much after all, and that I should try to get a MS in something more practical but still kinda math-y. So Acct. and Stats are what came to mind, but I am beginning to think that grad schools only want people who have very specific interests in one parts of the field. That’s not me. Should I just forget it? Or just forget Stats?</p>
<p>monomoco, grad programs (as opposed to professional programs) are very specific for ANY field. You do NOT have to have a very specific interest going in, but you do need to know at least roughly. I would suggest examining your undergraduate experience and seeing for which courses you had the best combination of interest and ability, and then trying to see which specialties seem to flow best from them. If you cannot narrow down your interests at all, then grad school is not going to be a good choice for you.</p>
<p>You might also want to consider looking the kind of job you want, and seeing which grad degree specialties might help you in that direction. There are also programs in some fields that are primarily for those transitioning in from other fields - they often lack the degree of specialization more common in grad degrees, and might be a better match.</p>
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<p>One professor advised me that, if you go to an American university, always use your school email. There’s more funding for American students, so using your school email shows that you at least study in the US, which would make you more desirable. That said, I didn’t really get many responses regardless of whether I used gmail or my school email.</p>