Contacting a potential advisor?
This may be a really, really dumb question, but I honestly have no idea how to proceed.
There's a professor at one of the schools that I'm looking at that I would seriously give my left arm to work with. She's the ONLY person I've found who's doing research so similar to what I hope to look into.
When I've asked the professors I'm getting LORs from, they've all said not to bother reaching out to faculty that I might want to work with. However, do you think it'd be OK if I DID reach out to her and shoot her an email? I was a little surprised when my professors said to "not bother," but I'm having a hard time figuring out if this means: "I wouldn't, because it's no big deal in the long run," or "Don't email this professor; they may be busy/not be comfortable, etc. etc." I know in some fields it's considered pretty standard, but do you think there's any reason to NOT email a prof you'd like to work with?
On another note, if I DO email this professor, how do I start that email? What should I say? Should I talk a little about my interests, or just introduce myself? Should I ask questions about her research, or would this seem presumptuous?
Thanks, everyone.
PS: Also, I took the GREs on Thursday. I got a 560 in the math and a 620 in the verbal. Not great scores, but they should make me competitive in my field with my other qualifications. I just wanted to thank everyone for all of the encouragement/suggestions in my last post. It was incredibly, incredibly useful.
ETA: Carry on. I'll bet there are *gobs* of tags on this subject. Thanks freddie. :-)
There's a professor at one of the schools that I'm looking at that I would seriously give my left arm to work with. She's the ONLY person I've found who's doing research so similar to what I hope to look into.
When I've asked the professors I'm getting LORs from, they've all said not to bother reaching out to faculty that I might want to work with. However, do you think it'd be OK if I DID reach out to her and shoot her an email? I was a little surprised when my professors said to "not bother," but I'm having a hard time figuring out if this means: "I wouldn't, because it's no big deal in the long run," or "Don't email this professor; they may be busy/not be comfortable, etc. etc." I know in some fields it's considered pretty standard, but do you think there's any reason to NOT email a prof you'd like to work with?
On another note, if I DO email this professor, how do I start that email? What should I say? Should I talk a little about my interests, or just introduce myself? Should I ask questions about her research, or would this seem presumptuous?
Thanks, everyone.
PS: Also, I took the GREs on Thursday. I got a 560 in the math and a 620 in the verbal. Not great scores, but they should make me competitive in my field with my other qualifications. I just wanted to thank everyone for all of the encouragement/suggestions in my last post. It was incredibly, incredibly useful.
ETA: Carry on. I'll bet there are *gobs* of tags on this subject. Thanks freddie. :-)