<p>Recently one of my teachers suggested to my class (all seniors) that we make contact with the department heads, professors, etc. of our intended area of study at the schools we were interested in to ask them personally about their program and show our interest in it.</p>
<p>His rationale was 1) We would potentially gain a lot of useful inside information on the program, which would help us decide whether the college was right for us and 2) Whomever we contacted would be impressed by our initiative and real interest in the program, and may recognize our name/put in a good word for us come undergraduate admissions.</p>
<p>While I can understand this sort of thing for a graduate student, I thought this would be perceived as inappropriate and unnecessary for a prospective undergraduate, and they would see it as little more than a shameless attempt to increase our chances of admission. </p>
<p>Anyone have experience with this? Am I totally in the wrong, or is this sort of thing frowned upon?</p>
<p>As a parent of a now-college freshman (and spouse of a college professor), our experience on this was – it depends on the school. When my son did overnights at midwest liberal arts colleges and wanted to visit classes during his visit, most schools requested that the applicant contact the professor in advance by email. That led to some wonderful conversations and experiences on campus – professors encouraged him to drop in to chat before or after class, several talked to him at length about careers in his area of interest, others simply responded with a simple “yes, you may attend my class on that day.” </p>
<p>I would hesitate to send an email to a number of schools, separate from any specific visit plan, to ask about the department etc. With so much information available on department and college websites – and I am speaking now as the spouse of a faculty member – it would be uncomfortable for professors to deal with individual inquiries. Imagine the 40,000 applicants to Northwestern or any of the Ivies, or even Wisconsin, where my son is a freshman – if even a small percentage of students made such inquiries, it would be burdensome and distracting. Although many people outside of academics have this notion that faculty sit around with little to do all day because they may be in the classroom less than 5 hours a week, the faculty I know have days as long and busy as I did when I was a lawyer in a major market. Dealing with individual emails from applicants – not even admitted students – for information available on the web, is not a reasonable expectation.</p>
<p>Bottom line – I think you are right to be sensitive that this could be over-reaching. Check with Admissions at your preferred schools to see what they suggest. Then, on your own, research the departments you are interested in, read the department newsletters to see who is giving talks, what seem to be the areas of strength and specialty. Look at course lists. Then, if you are on campus, you might be in a position to request a particular meeting. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>