<p>I know it is highly recommended that you contact a potential advisor at a PhD program that you are interested, however I find this whole thing kind of akward and I'm unsure of exactly what to include in the introduction.</p>
<p>My general idea is to mention the professors research and how this fits in well with what you intend on researching and ask if they are taking students next year...but is that it, it seems like there should be more???</p>
<p>Also should you attach your C.V. or is that a bit TMI for the initial intro?</p>
<p>Any ideas you may have on how to make a great first impression via email with a potential advisor would be greatly appreciated!!!</p>
<p>You should first be accepted into the program before contacting any professors. Most professors will not waste time looking at students that have not already been accepted into te program. Before you contact the professor, read as many papers of theirs as you can. It is your job to get to know their research, not their job to explain it to you.</p>
<p>Sky, your post could not be further from the truth.</p>
<p>penny, absolutely contact professors whose research interests might correspond with yours. This can make the difference between acceptance to PhD program and denial. When writing to potential mentors, simply introduce yourself and express your interest in the program. Explain your background, your research interests, and what you hope to accomplish while in the program. Also, make sure that you explain why this particular professor's work is especially commensurate with your academic goals. </p>
<p>Don't attach your CV during the first correspondence. If the professor shows interest, you can always make the judgment call of whether or not to send it at a later time. For now, be aggressive (but not a pest), and don't be afraid to try and make contacts at the programs to which you are applying. The worst that can happen is that you do not receive a response. </p>
<p>I found the whole thing awkward too, and my advisor told me that he wouldn't read an email from an applicant anyway. He said he would take an email from a colleague much more seriously, so he emailed a few of his friends in some of the programs to which I applied.</p>
<p>Although making contacts is a great idea, don't feel that you have to email potential advisors if you don't want to.</p>
<p>I actually contacted a professor for the first time today at my top choice graduate school. I asked if he was taking new graduate students next fall and if he could provide me with some of his more recent publications and projects (his webpage, as well as everyone elses in the department, had not been updated in four years). While that information is important to me, the primary intent was to put my name into his brain so he may take extra notice of me come decision time.</p>
<p>It's definitely better to have a prof that you are close with talk to potential advisors as he/she probably already knows them if they work in the same field. It means a lot if you have a professor willing to go to bat for you. If not, its not a bad idea to contact them yourself. Stats and admissions committees mean a lot, but when it comes down to it, if a potential advisor wants you in, you get in.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for your replies. I'm going to ask my mentors if they know any of the people I'm applying to work with and ask if they can contact them. I'm sure that would hold more ground than a standard letter of recommendation.
I'm actually up in the air now as to if I should contact a professor or let a faculty member I know contact them instead; it's seems I'm getting mixed feelings.
I'm not sure if the field makes a difference but I will be applying to all psychology programs, some are contained in Education departments (such as interdisciplinary studies in human development).</p>
<p>While my post was perhaps not as detailed as I had hoped when I first started to reply, it is not as far from the truth as you imply. I didn't have time to finish writing everything I had wanted to say, but generally, there are many times where it is not appropriate to contact professors about research positions before an acceptance has been made. For proof, I will cut and paste something from the UIUC website (just a random example I found, but one of many I have come across in the past).</p>
<hr>
<p>VISITING/CONTACTING FACULTY:</p>
<p>Q: Some schools request that applicants contact faculty members to explore the possibilities of obtaining a research assistantship before a decision on admission is made. Should I contact the faculty members to discuss research opportunities?
A: You should contact faculty members only after a decision on admission has been reached.</p>
<hr>
<p>Now that I have some time to elaborate.... I will say that .... yes.. in some fields and some schools... it is important to contact professors first.... in MANY others... your emails will be ignored.... </p>
<p>Before you upset any professors, contact the administrative assistant to the graduate program you are interested in and ask him/her whether it would be appropriate to contact professors directly. In my application process to graduate school, some schools told me it would be my job to solicit research positions from professors, while others said that the graduate admissions committee makes all decision for placement. But the general response I got was that it is generally not standard procedure to contact professors looking for positions until you have accepted an offer of admission. (This was in engineering, will certainly vary for other fields).</p>
<p>This all makes sense. As you imply, I'm sure that it does indeed vary by program, though I'd been told that the rule (to which there are clearly exceptions) dictates that it is acceptable to contact faculty, as long as you've done your homework. I don't believe that it is acceptable to contact professors whose research you are not familiar with. I also believe, however, that contacting faculty can't hurt your chances for admission. At the very worst, the correspondence will be ignored, and one's application will be considered via normal means. </p>
<p>Anyway, I think your clarification is definitely helpful, especially for those applying to programs in less academic fields (Communicaton, IR PhD, etc.).</p>
<p>And also if you get no response to your e-mails, do not get discouraged. A friend of mine e-mailed a bunch of profs before beginning PhD program in fall. Two of them did not reply. He later learned that both disliked using computers and especially communicating by e-mail. Usually professors are at least 10 years older than entering PhD students and so they still come from that pre-internet age and might have some quirks when it comes to using computers or e-mail. If someone does not reply, you might want to call them directly.</p>
<p>I've called a prof once to inquire about an assignment. Half of the professors are actually rather friendly people who do not mind receiving a phone call. It is not like you will offend anyone by simply making a call. In my opinion, it is much worse to pass up an opportunity to join the group you really like because you didn't receive a response to you e-mail rather than to make a direct call and risk offending someone. To the contrary, I think it boosts their self-esteem to see you so interested in their group. You don't have to talk to them very long. Just being very respecful ask if perhaps they will have some time to meet with you whenever you plan to arrive at the school.</p>
<p>I have also heard that it is a bad idea to contact many professors at the same time. If you contact 6 professors and come to work for 1, you have now turned down 5 of them. Chances are that some of those five will remember your rejection. And even though you are just a lowly first-year student, some profs just do not take any kind of rejection very well (yes, many high and mighty profs are very insecure as people and some are very proud). They can remember you for years and years even though you might forget the incident ever happened. Now if you contact only 2 at a time, you'll run the risk of offending only 1 prof inctead of 5.</p>
<p>Sky: There's a difference between asking a professor directly about an RAship before you've been admitted (which might make you seem cocky, for one thing), and contacting a professor to discuss his/her research and your interest in the program. </p>
<p>I think it's more a matter of how you approach it that determines whether it's appropriate. You don't want to come off as presumptuous ("I'm so sure of getting in that I'm already asking you for a job!") or throwing darts wildly at the board and hoping you hit the bullseye ("I'm going to email half the department's professors with the same letter - maybe one of them will like me and it'll get me in!"). On the other hand if there are a couple of profs in a department who share common research interests with you, they might even be flattered to talk with a bright-eyed, respectful, eager prospective student who has looked into their research and wants to discuss it.</p>
<p>Recently, I contacted a potential advisor. I ended up annoying him because he didn’t write back. I think I sent him three e-mails (all within three days :[ … yeah, i know). Anyways, should I still apply? He wrote back only saying that he looks forward to reviewing my application. But it was in a sarcastic tone. I think my chances there are tanked now. Hopefully, he forgets who I am because I still want to apply. But what do you all think? Is it over? Should I move on and forget this school? Do you think professors keep a blacklist? Damn …</p>
<p>I began contacting professors today, actually, and the one I began contacting and I have already exchanged emails, including sharing research interests and him providing me an in-press paper to read in order to get a better idea of a certain aspect of his lab. In Ecology I’m pretty sure it’s expected that you contact professors before you apply – you don’t want to be stuck in a situation where your interests aren’t able to be met. But also I’m applying to very specific niche fields (limnology, for example) where the labs are generally small and very few people apply.</p>