Emailing Professors About Research

Applying to College
1

I’m applying for freshman admissions. I’m wondering if it’s appropriate or even beneficial to email a professor at a school that I’m interested in to ask about his/her research.

As background, I’ve been conducting scientific research that I hope to publish in an academic journal.

At college to which I’m applying, I wanted to contact professors who conduct research in the same subfield. Or perhaps those in a related subfield that seem like they have research that is very interesting to me. I was curious about generally if there are opportunities to work with them as an undergraduate

I wanted to contact professors: 1) to help learn more about opportunities to see if the college might be the ideal fit for me 2) if it can give me a leg up in admissions at all to relay my research interests to a faculty member who might be able to appreciate it, I wanted to take the opportunity

2

It is not a bad idea – the professor might invite you to come by his or her office if and when you enroll at the school.
I’m not sure this will help with admissions, unless you would write in your application materials that you have been in communication with Professor X and he or she has expressed interest in working with you. This matters more in graduate school admissions.

There is a chance that the professor might not reply to your email.

3

Thanks @CheddarcheeseMN for the suggestion to possibly incorporate any promising responses with my application