<p>I'm from a Junior in Materials Engineering from Singapore and I'm almost done with my semester of study abroad program here in US. I'm planning to apply to grad schools next semester, so is there a point in visiting potential schools I'm interested in rather than just to visit their pretty campuses? </p>
<p>Keeping in mind that in fact I haven't really done much research into the schools to the extent that I have specific professors I'd like to talk to. Plus I'm pretty unsure at this point because my undergraduate research has been on one specfic area that's scattered among different engineering colleges at different universities, like in ChemE in one, ME in another, MatE for the remaining, you get the idea, which makes me unsure of pursuing my current research or just sticking to MatE programs. </p>
<p>I have several weeks to go around to visit schools before I return and this will be my only chance to visit before applying, I guess it wouldn't be that good to approach this halfheartedly either, anyone have any advice?</p>
<p>Look at schools you’re interested in, contact professors you’d like to work for, tell them your situation, and see if they’ll meet with you when you visit.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply, but when you said to tell them my situation, you mean to just tell them what I stated here? Would it also be improper to contact more than one professor in a university?</p>
<p>“you mean to just tell them what I stated here?”</p>
<p>Send to the professors you are interested in a brief inquiry email outlining your background and interests and your intent to visit. I recommend not attaching anything (e.g. CV), but do mention you will provide it upon request. Others may say differently, but I dread spam filters…</p>
<p>The key point is to keep it brief as professors receive TOO many emails every day.</p>
<p>“Would it also be improper to contact more than one professor in a university?”</p>
<p>You can contact as many as you want. Of course, try to keep it to those whose research interests you and you can see yourself possibly working with in the future. Might as well visit several when you still have the chance to.</p>
<p>There’s nothing wrong with e-mailing a number of different professors at the same university. If you were to get in and visit as a prospective you’d be expected to meet with at least a handful anyway. You should also concentrate on schools where there’s more than one faculty member you’re interested in working for. Keep in mind the possibility that your #1 choice might not be accepting students that year, might not get tenure, might leave the university, might get hit by a bus, etc.</p>
<p>Also, be sure to use the right pronouns when e-mailing professors. I used to work for one that constantly got e-mails from prospective students that were obviously form letters since they’d refer to her as a man. Not only did it make her not want to meet with them, but on years she was part of the admissions committee I imagine you’d also be at a significant disadvantage.</p>
<p>Thanks. Is there anything in particular I should aim for during visits? I feel that I barely know much about the community and best I can do is simply pick schools that I’m interested in and then look through professors that are doing research in fields I’m interested in. I suppose standard visits are usually to get to know how the professor is in person and how he conducts his graduate students, but is there anything specific I should ask about as an international student still in his junior year?</p>
<p>Op- Research before you contact any professor. It shows a lack of respect to not know what work the professor is doing. He is taking time to read your email you can at least be respectful to ask questions that reflect your interest in his research and program. Don’t take it personally if you don’t get face to face appointments.</p>
<p>Yeah, that’s what I’m doing right now, going through their current research work and publications. But there’s only so much I can really find out in a short time though.</p>
<p>Do you think that it would be better to wait and delay contact with professors until you are more certain what you want to do in graduate school? Lack of proper preparation will not make a good impression. Have you taken your GREs? Have you done research with a professor that is a respected colleague of the professor you are contacting? What can you put in an email that will make a professor take time to see you?</p>
<p>I’m going to take my GREs this summer, so no. Colleagues of another professor? Not really for this time, so no, plus this would severely limit my choices as I’m also from a a school not within US. What can I put? About three semesters worth of research experience on a single research area and being in dean’s list of my school.</p>
<p>Well, I’m not saying that I’m confident about my chances and have any special pull that would make professors want to meet me, what I’m asking after all is whether I should even bother with attempting to visit as it would be my only chance to realistically do so. I do agree that delaying contact would be for the best, it is the only chance I have since I’m leaving US in a month or so. </p>
<p>If it would really help my chances, I would try my best at reading up on professors before I’d email them. If it’s really only marginal and not that helpful, then I’d just forget about this whole thing altogether. But of course, if no amount of preparation would be sufficient within several weeks or so, then this is just futile.</p>
<p>So let’s say they grant you an interview. What would you say to the professor? You don’t have the prerequisites(acceptance to the university, competitive GREs, relevent research, LORs) to ask for a place in his/her lab. You expect them to tell you about their work? You expect a tour? Do you feel awkward just thinking about a real face to face with a professor? So rethink what is your purpose of contacting them. Why should they spend time with you? Good Luck.</p>
<p>Well I guess what you’re saying is that there’s no point to establish contact unless you’ve already been accepted to the school or under exceptional circumstances. I suppose I understand your point of view, which is pretty much saying you should hold some leverage before talking to a professor and not waste their time otherwise. </p>
<p>So have anyone actually approached a professor before applying to grad school? Is it a no for most people out there then?</p>
<p>No no it’s perfectly fine to meet with professors but you need to get some solid credentials together like GRE, research interests, some knowledge of the field, etc. Just imagine yourself in an interview in January where the next step is offering you the PhD acceptance (or not). Do you want that to make or break your chances?</p>
<p>Then again, if you’re anything like me, you just somehow make very good first impression within the first 5 minutes on anyone regardless of whether you’re prepared or not, even the most self-centered, obnoxious, and egoistic person, you’ll end up just being fine.</p>
<p>If you don’t feel comfortable yet, don’t worry. They won’t penalize you for it in the admissions. It’s just that some like to put a face on the applications if they can but you definitely don’t want a name like “The Asian kid who walked in our door who didn’t even read my last article last May”.</p>