Call profs?

[Corona21]

Hello,

I have a two-fold question regarding contacting professors for Fall 2013 applications. First, is this (May-June) a good time to start calling them? (My understanding from browsing through topics has been that summer times are the best times!). My second question is that assuming professors do not respond to your mail (for whatever reason) - and you mail them back a few weeks later - but they still do not respond (this happened to me last year, and it turned into a rather sad story because some of the professors I was interested in were not taking on new students) - is it considered rude to call them? If yes, how else could one reach a "potentially-matched" professor? I am asking these questions in light of incidents that happened to me last year. I just want to be cautious in my applications this time around. Although some universities do post professors who will possibly recruit applicants, that is not always the case. I hope you can offer some direction and insight in the context of my previous experience.

Thanks,
Corona

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[syzergy]

I would not call professors. That seems a little too intrusive to me. I sent emails to professors in August/early September to see if they were taking students and almost all of them responded within a week. I had to send follow up emails to a couple and ended up calling and asking the department secretary about 1-2.

 

[Psychadelic2012]

I think cold calling prof's is a bad, bad idea. Always email first. If they don't respond, take the "He's just not that into you" approach and move on--if they are taking students and want to vet you, obviously they will respond and request your application!! If they ask you for a CV or explicitly ask you to call, different story.

I'm not sure if prof's know whether they'll be taking students this early, or if they are even working over the summer. But I guess you can always try. Best to wait until fall begins, I think.

 

[Pragma]

Hello,

I have a two-fold question regarding contacting professors for Fall 2013 applications. First, is this (May-June) a good time to start calling them? (My understanding from browsing through topics has been that summer times are the best times!). My second question is that assuming professors do not respond to your mail (for whatever reason) - and you mail them back a few weeks later - but they still do not respond (this happened to me last year, and it turned into a rather sad story because some of the professors I was interested in were not taking on new students) - is it considered rude to call them? If yes, how else could one reach a "potentially-matched" professor? I am asking these questions in light of incidents that happened to me last year. I just want to be cautious in my applications this time around. Although some universities do post professors who will possibly recruit applicants, that is not always the case. I hope you can offer some direction and insight in the context of my previous experience.

Thanks,
Corona

Yeah I suggest no phone calls unless they are solicited (e.g., they email you back saying they'd like to chat over the phone). Even if they are a phone person, you just have no idea if you are going to catch them at a bad time. Much better to let them get back to you at their leisure.

 

[Corona21]

That seems reasonable. I will start mailing early fall (First week of August or so) and see how it goes from there. If I do not get a response the second time around, I suppose I should just let it pass!

Thank you for your inputs!

 

[cara susanna]

I wouldn't email until Oct or so. Most people don't know about their exact funding situation for the following year that early in the fall.

 

[roubs]

That seems reasonable. I will start mailing early fall (First week of August or so) and see how it goes from there. If I do not get a response the second time around, I suppose I should just let it pass!

Thank you for your inputs!

Ditto Cara, emailing the first week of August is really premature. You are actually raising your chances of a no-reply situation by emailing that early because they may not know yet what the situation is. By the time they figure it out they will have forgotten your email.

 

[PsychPhDone]

Echoing the others: send emails. Don't call. I recommend emailing no earlier than mid-September. I did most of my emailing in October. You can still prepare to apply without having a definite list. I recommend not emailing anyone more than twice unless solicited. As has been mentioned, you can email the department admin asst. to find out who is taking students if need be.

 

[PsychPhD2Be]

For what it's worth, I have worked for several psychology professors and they do not respond well to phone inquiries. E-mail typically works best!

Good luck with your applications =)

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Just another post to agree with what everyone else has said--email, don't call.

I sent my first round of messages sometime in August I believe, and actually received responses from everyone I contacted about whether or not they were planning on taking any students. This was several years ago, though, back when the economy (and, subsequently, assurance of funding) was a bit less hectic.

I think early- to mid-September, at the earliest, would likely be a good time to start contacting. If you're really looking for something to keep you busy until then, you could always start looking through a few of your POIs' recent publications so that you'll have something to speak with them about in the future.

 

[dumbledoresgirl]

FWIW, I also contacted all of my POIs in early August and sent second-round e-mails mid-September. I actually heard back from most everyone the first time around and only had to send a couple of second-round e-mails. But, as everyone said, it probably varies--I may have just lucked out with all of my professors knowing whether they were taking students so early in the process.

 

[Jeina]

FWIW, I also contacted all of my POIs in early August and sent second-round e-mails mid-September. I actually heard back from most everyone the first time around and only had to send a couple of second-round e-mails. But, as everyone said, it probably varies--I may have just lucked out with all of my professors knowing whether they were taking students so early in the process.

Add me to the list of people who had good results when emailing professors in August.

 

[bunderj]

Add me to the list of people who had good results when emailing professors in August.

Me too. Purely anecdotal, but I heard back from every POI I emailed in August. Good luck

 

[perhaps11]

FWIW I emailed 4 potential POIs (including my now future advisor at a reputable PhD program) in late June/early July and they all responded within 2 days with lengthy emails. Maybe I am just an outlier but I always felt that profs would be less busy in the mid-summer and less likely to have as many inquiries from potential applicants, especially if they are all waiting to send emails in August.

I think what is most important here is not so much timing (although I wouldn't recommend sending an email in like March) but the content of your email that you are sending. An email is like a preview of your application and a good chance for you to stand out as long as you take care to what you are saying. For example, don't email them just to spout off all of your accomplishments or ask them if they are taking students if it says on the website that they are. Have a purpose for your email and try to communicate to them your mutual interests and your excitement in potentially applying for their lab without over-doing it.

If you write a killer email, no matter if they receive it in June or August and regardless of them knowing whether or not they are taking a student, they will remember you. I can say that in my situation, I received interview invites from 3/4 of the professors that I emailed and I can't be sure if that is because of my email but I do know that they all remembered what I said in that email and it turned out to be a very good starting point for an interview. Just my two cents, though.

 

[whyeh]

I emailed a prof last week and another two week prior. Both got back to me within half a day and gave me a definite answer on whether they're taking a student in Fall 2013 or not. One even got back to me with abstracts for all of the current projects of her lab!

 

[Pragma]

Add me to the list that didn't call or email any profs and managed to get in the first time around

Some profs might like you getting in touch in advance, some might not. It is hard to have a hard and fast rule. In my case, not contacting them before sure didn't hurt.