<p>There's a professor who is doing really interesting research at my school, and I would really love to work him. I've browsed his papers, along with doing background research on his topic. Should I express my interest before school even starts? The problem is, I don't have any specific ideas of what I may want to do in his lab. Has anyone else done this before?</p>
<p>I’d wait until you start school. Just go to the professor’s office hours and go over some of the course material and bring up your interest in the subject and his work.</p>
<p>I’m assuming this is a large lecture hall type class. If the class size is less than <40 I think it’d be okay to email them before hand, but if the professor has hundreds of kids in the class shoot for a face to face meeting.</p>
<p>id definitely do face to face first. kinda awkward sending an email from, someone this profs never met</p>
<p>Wait… he might be flattered… But thats often a emotional warning signal to visible people. </p>
<p>He’s paid to be a professor when school is in session not whenever anyone wants to say Hi…</p>
<p>Wait until you get to school. Get settled for a week or two, figure out your schedule. Look up the professor’s office hours and then stop by! He may not be able to set you up right then but you can start to build a relationship with him so that he may give you a lab position next semester or summer.</p>