<p>Does anyone think that if I emailed a professor (with some questions, input, a little about me and why I’m interested etc) that I really aspire to take classes from, they would possibly put a good word in for me to the admissions office? Would it help and have you ever heard of anyone doing this and being successful?</p>
<p>uhhh sounds like a bad idea. a lot of colleges make a big deal out of discouraging applicants from contacting faculty. i.e. the whole thing about not sending supplementary materials to academic departments etc.</p>
<p>on the other hand, I contacted a Brown professor a couple weeks before submitting early (so granted, that might be a different situation altogether) and actually got to visit the class/chat with her for half an hour about things. And I got the feeling that it was fairly normal for kids to be contacting faculty like that...</p>
<p>again this was probably before the flood of applicants came in, though, so the rules of courtesy might be different. I dunno. But at the very least the professors at Brown are probably nice enough to not let it count AGAINST you</p>
<p>thanks sectrum. hopefully I'll see you at brown! how did you go about contacting the professor? I know exactly which I'd really like to speak to.. but It seems impossible to obtain an email address for her</p>
<p>You can do a directory search on the Brown website; plus, all Brown emails follow the same pattern: <a href="mailto:firstname_lastname@Brown.edu">firstname_lastname@Brown.edu</a>.</p>
<p>It's OK to contact a professor. I don't know where NewJack gets the idea that it is not OK -- my daughter emailed several professors at several schools when she was arranging campus visits. Those were all informational, though. I think it is unusual for a professor to take the initiative to get involved in the admissions process. You would have to really wow a professor for him/her to contact admissions -- and that's probably not going to happen as a result of a casual e-mail. </p>
<p>Faculty get involved in admissions when they are asked to evaluate a student's musical or artistic ability. Another exception, I suppose, is if you've done some significant scientific research you want her to look at.</p>
<p>Bottomline: if you have specific questions, want to discuss the department with a professor, go ahead and send an email. But don't expect that to translate into a more positive admissions decision.</p>
<p>sly, thanks so much for the reply. so, If i have a scientific abstract that won an award at a congress in vienna, i could write a science prof. and there mightttt be a chance of them contacting admissions but i shouldnt really expect it? I also have an art porfolio that I worked very hard on, and I'll do that same with that and an arts prof. </p>
<p>even so, do you think if they did talk to admissions, it would have an impact?
is it too lat in the game to do that now?</p>
<p>
[quote]
It's OK to contact a professor. I don't know where NewJack gets the idea that it is not OK -- my daughter emailed several professors at several schools when she was arranging campus visits. Those were all informational, though. I think it is unusual for a professor to take the initiative to get involved in the admissions process. You would have to really wow a professor for him/her to contact admissions -- and that's probably not going to happen as a result of a casual e-mail.
[/quote]
What I was suggesting was that schools discourage applicants from contacting faculty members for the purpose of boosting their chances; which is true. Hence, the whole deal with discouraging applicants from sending supplementary materials to academic departments. The way the OP phrased the question suggested that he or she was contacting the faculty member in hopes that it would boost his or her chances. Of course it's okay to just ask questions, but like you said, it won't boost your chances of acceptance.</p>
<p>Faculty members at Brown are very willing to hear from and/or meet with you to discuss (a) anything pertaining to Brown and (b) topics related to their fields. They do not, however, generally have too much interaction with admissions. In the event that a faculty person does contact admissions about you, admissions may or may not place significant weight on what the faculty member has to say. Admissions is part of but separate from the rest of the University; for the most part, faculty members' views are only of interest to admissions if admissions is on the fence or has department-specific questions about a particular applicant.</p>
<p>Good: Asking a professor a genuine question that you have interest in.</p>
<p>Bad: Asking a question for underlying obsequious reasons.</p>
<p>I don't know, I guess I just got the idea from reading someones post on the Swarthmore thread. They said that they did this, and the prof. put in a good word to the adm. office</p>
<p>Why didnt you send in the Art Supplement with your application?</p>
<p>I did and do not plan on doing anything else?</p>
<p>i submitted the app online</p>