APPLYING TO GRAD SCHOOL, POST #4: CONTACTING POTENTIAL SUPERVISORS

As uncomfortable as it may be, this is, in most cases, an essential part of the application process.

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The concept of cold-emailing prospective supervisors may seem strange, but I do recommend it, even for programs where it may not be 100% required.

From personal experience, the first email is the most intimidating, but it gets MUCH easier. You can do this!

First, look up the...

structure of your prospective programs. Some admit you to a department first, and then you choose a supervisor after you start the program. Others have you attached to a supervisor right away.

If you're entering a department first, you'll have time to get to know the faculty...

members (and/or do some short rotations under several of them) before you decide who you want to do your thesis under. So why bother contacting faculty members in these programs? It's worth reaching out to express your interest in their work and to ask whether or not they...

anticipate taking on any new students from your prospective cohort. For example, they might not be able to take students from your prospective cohort due to lack of funding, being at capacity for students, plans to leave the university, etc. If they were the only person you...

were enthusiastic to work with at that institution, you might reconsider applying.

That being said, my personal recommendation for these types of programs is to, for the sake of security, *generally* not apply unless there are at least two faculty members you'd like to work...

with who are BOTH taking students from your prospective cohort.

For programs where you commit to a supervisor right away, this initial email is even more important (or mandatory, in some cases).

Now, what do you write in these emails? My best general advice is to briefly...

introduce yourself, ask if they're anticipating taking students from your prospective cohort, and express your interest in the program and their work.

I treated mine like a short cover letter: I briefly outlined my experience as relevant to that supervisor's work in order to...

express interest in their work and suggest how I might be able to contribute to it, and then I attached my CV in case they wanted to read more about my experience and background.

Anecdotally, not everyone replied to me, but everyone who did looked at my CV; they all mentioned...

something from it in their replies, and there were two occasions where the person I contacted turned out not to be taking students from my prospective cohort, but they kindly referred me to suitable colleagues of theirs based on my CV.

This next *PERSONAL* piece of advice may...

be controversial, but it's what I did, what I believe, and if I ever become a PI/professor myself, this is how I'll look at prospective students too: When it comes to expressing interest in their work, I *personally* don't think it's necessary to do things like read loads of...

their papers and summarize them in your email. However, DON'T JUST SEND A TEMPLATE-STYLE EMAIL to loads of professors because they'll definitely be able to tell, and they almost certainly won't be flattered.

I wholeheartedly recommend that you *DO* read/skim through some of...

their recent papers to make sure that you are, in fact, interested in their work, but for the sake of everyone's time, I would only write, at most, a few sentences directly about their research, just so that you can thread your curated descriptions of your relevant background...

and suggest how you might be able to contribute to their work. This, in my opinion, demonstrates that you read and understood their work, and does the job of succinctly providing an introduction from which the professor might make an initial assessment of your fit for their...

research group, without making them sit and read abridged abstracts of their own work.

My last personal piece of advice is to cast your net reasonably wide at this stage. Not everyone is going to reply to you, and that's alright. If you don't hear back after a week or so,...

send a follow-up email in case they missed your first one! Don't restrict yourself by only reaching out to supervisors who seem "perfectly" aligned with your previous experience and/or your future interests; allow at least a little bit of open-mindedness and room for...

exploration because you might discover a project and/or a supervisor who's perfect for you, even though, at first glance/thought, they're 1° away from what you previously thought would have been was a perfect fit. That's how I ended up with my now-current program and supervisor.

**Note: I also recommend emailing program directors if you have any questions/concerns about their program. They're often very helpful, and they can give guidance on your suitability for the program, recommendations/tips they have while you prepare your application, etc.