<p>I've sent out multiple emails to professors I would like to work for. I haven't gotten any encouraging responses. Note: These professors are arguably the most well known in their field. The schools I have sent out emails to are Caltech, Cornell, and Princeton. I am an engineering major and these 3 schools are probably in the top 5 in terms of selectivity (even though cornell and princeton aren't ranked that high in engineering). </p>
<p>My question to all of them was if they would be seeking PhD candidates for next Fall (Of course, that's not all I had in my email). </p>
<p>I'll paste 3 responses (paraphrased a bit):
1) "I will not be taking new PhD students. Sorry, but there is plenty of other work in <insert research="" area="" i="" am="" interested="" in=""> at Cornell. So I encourage you to apply."
This professor is my current prof's (prof. I'm doing research under) PhD adviser. My current prof. told me that he was on the verge of retirement, so I think this response was expected...</insert></p>
<p>2) "It's hard to say if I'll take new students (it'll depend mainly on how many i take from the incoming class), but I certainly encourage you to apply."
This one's from Caltech and knows my current professor quite well. </p>
<p>3) "I do not currently have any openings, but that could change if funding improves. If you are interested in waiting it out, you should think about applying to Princeton."
Idk why he mentioned "currently" since I'm applying for next Fall.
This prof. may also be retiring soon, but from his email, he looks like he's still taking students. </p>
<p>This is not a very large sample size, but these 3 profs are my top choices.. I don't have much interests outside of these professors.</p>
<p>Good news is that all of my emails have received a response. Bad news is that I haven't received any very encouraging responses such as "I would like to find more about you" or.... "I would be interested in having you." The latter may be a bit far-fetched since they can't find out too much about me from one email, but I haven't gotten a response that said they wanted to know more about me. Are these type of responses normal? Maybe my email approach is bad? (Hard question to answer since I didn't paste my email)</p>
<p>These are very similar to the email responses I usually send to potential applicants. I simply do not know my new funding and/or needs twelve months down the road. </p>
<p>1) Expected and not discouraging. Given the connection to your advisor and his pleasant response, you might want to ask him if there was anyone in particular he would recommend in the department. I know this guy may have been your top choice, but he is not the only game in town, and may have passed on the very work that excites you to someone else in his department.</p>
<p>2) Another not discouraging response. Some departments know who is going where by the time admissions is over, some will be filling lab spots all through the year. Apparently, his department is one of the latter. All you can do is apply and see what happens. But don’t be discouraged.</p>
<p>3) Translation: I want more students but am assuming you need funding, of which I have none. If you have your own, or are willing to gamble that I will suddenly get funding, then I would be happy to look at your information then!</p>
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Broaden your horizons. You can come back to this line of investigation later in your career, and still get a great education now in an interesting area.</p>
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Too small a sample size, and many professors prefer to find out that information from the application. I had some professors engage me by email, but most did not. And all my actual admits had similar initial contact as yours.</p>
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Yes.</p>
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Hard to answer since you didn’t post your email.</p>
<p>I’d be more concerned if they were giving you these responses after you were accepted to their programs. You shouldn’t really be applying anywhere you don’t fit in with at least a few professors, so if funding unexpectedly dries up with your primary choice you’ll still have a fallback that can hopefully take you in.</p>
<p>cosmicfish, what is your area of study if you don’t mind me asking? </p>
<h1>1 was my top choice out of any of the schools I’ll be applying for. The main area I want to work in is turbulence modeling, which is a very small and specific area. Cornell has a pretty big turbulence group, but the other faculty aren’t as well known.</h1>
<p>Would you guys say it helps dramatically if I received a response along the lines of “I would like to have you in my lab?”</p>
I started out in E&M but have since migrated over to optical remote sensing. I have actually done some turbulence analysis, and my dissertation is going to focus on a technique for sensing turbulence and other air flows in the middle atmosphere.</p>
<p>Have you been to CEDAR? Held over the summer, if you are applying in this field for 2014 admission or later I would recommend going - great place to meet potential advisors.</p>
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Yes. That is about the best response you can get from a potential advisor, since they will not commit to anything until they have seen all the applications.</p>
<p>When people say on here that it’ll be really beneficial to the applicant if one of the applicant’s LOR writers had a connection at the school, what do they mean by that?
As in, should I ask my professor to email a potential professor or would it be good enough for someone from the adcom to recognize his name?</p>
<p>cosmicfish, sweet, looks like an enjoyable dissertation topic? </p>
<p>I have not heard about CEDAR. I just tried looking it up on google, but I can’t seem to find anything regarding this.</p>
To be honest, “connection” can describe a whole range of possibilities, so it could be that your writer can talk to someone he knows and all but assure you a spot, or it could be that your writer really cannot help beyond suggesting some names. But it hardly ever hurts you.</p>
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Let your advisor(s) and writers where you are applying and to whom. They know what relationships they have and will decide on what amount of support they can and should provide.</p>
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I think so!</p>
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Here is the general CEDAR site, they do not have the specific site for the 2014 conference up yet, but it does show previous years:</p>
<p>1) If there are plenty of other researchers doing research in your area at Cornell, then maybe you should still apply? Either ask the professor who he recommends, or (recommended) do your own footwork and find out who else in the department will take the mantle from him.</p>
<p>2) This sounds like a field in which you may apply to the department as a whole, and then you select advisors in your first or second year. So he may not know because he doesn’t know how many students in this year’s (Fall 2013) class are going to be in his lab. It may be better to wait until a bit later (September/October) to see what’s up.</p>
<p>3) Ditto above.</p>
<p>If the professor hasn’t seen your CV, you will likely not get a response like “I would like to have you in my lab.” The most you’ll likely get is factual information about whether or not they are taking students in the upcoming school year.</p>
<p>cosmic, thanks! I’ll have to check that out. </p>
<p>juillet, I was considering attaching a resume in my email, but then I thought that might be a little too forceful.
I will still apply to Cornell. I was just a bit disappointed since one of the best profs. in the field will not be taking any new students.</p>
<p>Thank you for the suggestion RacinReaver. That’s a great idea. I’ll have to get into Cornell first.
I’ve heard from other professors that when professors retire they can still act as a primary adviser with their emeritus status, but it seems like most professors don’t and retire after they graduate the last of their students. </p>
<p>Another question I have is for the very top schools, do professors “often” admit students that they have never spoken to?
I don’t think many applicants email potential advisers until they are accepted, correct me if I’m mistaken.</p>
<p>Pretty much every professor I know admits students they haven’t ever talked to. Some applications ask which professors you’re interested in working with, and then have a space for 3-5 people. The program generally wants to be sure you have an idea who you want to work with, and they want to know you have some sort of plan for when you join. I believe most departments support students with a general fund for their first year, and then expect them to join a lab by their second year.</p>
<p>My department actually does interviews prior to admission, but that’s only for domestic applicants. Students not studying in North America are admitted without an interview, and are generally much more of a wildcard.</p>
<p>It can be difficult to have students as an emeritus professor if you’re an experimentalist. There’s a lot of lab knowledge that’s passed along student to student, and when it gets to the last few students, lab maintenance can become a huge part of what they do (this is what happened to me in my lab). It’s often easier to co-advise where a student may use one or two machines in their lab, but spend the majority of their time with a younger faculty member and in a group that’s a bit more active.</p>
<p>I am actually interested in turbulence modeling, which is computational. </p>
<p>Having said that, I would prefer that my primary adviser is present at the university most of the time, especially given that turbulence modeling is one of the most complex research areas out there. </p>
<p>I’m also worried about working with assistant professors because they are not tenured and may lack experience. </p>
<p>My backup option is TAMU (already received early admission for Fall 2014 and likely a university fellowship), which would only be for the MS program (The location - College Station is too unattractive for me to live for the duration of a PhD).</p>