One positive coming out of the pandemic is the greater use of virtual admissions activities, so more students can benefit from these types of fortuitous connections…which historically advantaged those who were able to physically visit colleges.
Over the past 20 months many schools have gone far beyond offering just an admissions session, adding in things like student and faculty panels, as well as school/program specific sessions. In those sessions, college faculty/staff/students often tell applicants to contact them with any questions. Savvy applicants are taking them up on those offers.
When I toured colleges with my son a few years ago, we tried to visit departments (and participated in department-specific tours if available). These departments often made some professors avaialable for us to talk to. However, what OP asks is something different. S/he wants to email or speak to specific CS professors in AI at Columbia. These professors (at Columbia and similar schools) are likely to have lots of commitments, both on and off campus. Beyond their teaching and research obligations (which are more extensive these days because of the unprecendented interest in their specialties), they often have many external commitments as well. Not unlike some of their business school counterparts, they may serve in consulting/advisory capacity on a number of startups or well-established tech companies. They may be on the board of a few of them. A few of them may even have dual appointments (meaning that they may be leading some research groups at other companies in addition to their college professorships). They’re asked to give speeches at a lot of conferences…
The bottom line? OP will likely be disappointed if s/he intends to speak/email these professors.
“Their” admin assistants? I have no experience of a uni where profs have their own AAs.
Profs who are Director-level of an Institute/program and sometimes major funded projects, yes. Deans, yes- while they are Dean. IME all other profs have to mind their own email / personal scheduling / etc.
Going through the Admissions office is a good filter. If a prof chooses to participate in an Admissions activity and chooses to invite direct contacts that’s one thing. Telling motivated / genuinely interested possible UG applicants that direct prof contact is ‘savvy’ and stories about how it was a part of somebody else’s success story is another- on CC, where any hint of a tip is like catnip, it’s like declaring open season on profs.
(yes, there are departmental admin assistants - but only for department work, and ime they are very good at boundary setting!)
Yes, they typically share their admin resources, but I’ve seen a few of them (with their large research groups, probably significant sources of funding) having their dedicated assistants.
I agree OP’s unsolicited email is unlikely to be answered, that’s why I suggested they start with the AO.
With that said, the prof might answer the email and engage with OP. I’ve seen enough to know this does happen, some HSers even get research gigs this way. Many networking activities lead to a dead end, but some don’t…and that’s where opportunities lie.
I agree that there’re other, probably more productive, ways for OP to convey her/his interest. There’s obviously no harm making an effort, but s/he should also be realistic.
On the topic of administrators, profs in top programs sometimes do have their own admin person and direct interested people to that person on their website. See Econ profs at Harvard for example. Perhaps a couple of profs share one administrator. It’s something that recruited faculty can ask for as part of their compensation at top places.
But suggesting that high school students applying to places with very low acceptance rates should contact CS profs to demonstrate interest is a bad idea. There is a lot of spamming within CS as prospective students are sending emails indiscriminately to any faculty in hopes of getting a response. It’s the CS students who would be the best at this, right?
I think the previous poster is referring to departmental AAs. At all the colleges I’ve worked (both public universities and private LACs), it was the departmental AA who fielded these requests even if they were sent directly to the professor.
In my experience, professors are always happy to discuss their field with students who express an interest in it. But that’s totally separate from admissions. And they aren’t impressed with students who try to use them as a stepping stone into the college. If you know a professor well enough that they could have a discussion about your interests and work if an AO mentioned you then it might be worth including a little something in an essay. But if they have to check their email to try to figure out who you are and how you met then I wouldn’t bother.
If I’m in the building and see a tour, of course I’m going to put in a plug for my department and sell it a bit to potential students.
If someone emailed me about research question, I might answer briefly.
I’ve written letters of recommendation for my friends kids who wanted to be admitted to my department.
But I have to say I likely would not recommend a student who I know nothing about except they had the bold idea to cold email me based on a Google search of professors in the department or to ask a question about my major or research.
As a professor, I don’t have access to students applications or academic records beyond what is needed for my course. The only “pull” I have is writing letters of recommendations for people I know personally.
Your advice is not wrong, it is simply not what the OP is proposing to do.
What you are proposing is that a student visit colleges that they are considering, and find faculty who are interested in talking to them, and getting to know more about the field and/or the program. What the OP is proposing is cold-calling a professor at Columbia to “demonstrate interest, and getting to know some of the faculty”.
It is the difference between contacting a company and asking for an informational interview and cold calling management at a company to which you have applied in order to “make connections”.
What do you all think about this situation: a professor (head of a dept and honors program) from a T20 school initiating contact prior to ED admissions being posted? Is this a good sign? A worrisome sign (i.e. some sort of additional admissions loop)? All of the correspondence is being done through the AO, but it still seems very unusual considering the ED decisions have not gone out yet. Is this typical?