I have seen a lot of students struggling to get a response from a faculty member. In some universities getting accepted by faculty is important and in others you must have gotten a green signal and know that a position is open in the lab so you can suggest on your application to work with that particular researcher.
The reason contacting the professor a head of time is important for if you list faculty members and you have not confirmed about openings in their labs, they may see you as a person who was too lazy to even contact the Research advisor and check if they could take a student or not.
So what should you do while contacting a professor so they give you a green signal to apply in his or her lab.
1. First and most important thing is reading their research, and making sure that what they are doing is what you are interested in. For example, I am interested in Mycobacterium Tuberculosis virulence and pathogenicity, I would like to know its gene expression. Now I would contact faculty who are working in that kind of research, I won’t contact an astrophysicist for this.
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2. Secondly, choose your words wisely, don’t say, “Ever since I was a child”, it just doesn’t look professional. Use professional words, that can put weight in your email, talk about why you are passionate. What kind of innovation can you bring. What’s your long term goals. Why should they consider you? Be passionate in your language so they are compelled to respond you back thinking this student has the caliber.
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3. Don’t talk about your high school achievements unless they have something to do with what you are pursuing. Winning a drama show isn’t a professional achievement.
4. Be concise, don’t write a novel in an email, thus, you have to be such picky in your words that one who is reading your email looks forward to talk to you. If you write long emails of absolute no connection with their research goals, you would be wasting their time
5. Don’t spam their inbox with tons of emails, give them few days. They receive high volume of emails and responding to students takes time
6. Don’t sound irrational, if you are applying for a research position, than talk in terminology. Talk your vocabulary of study. Your email should sound like an email from a professional
7. Very briefly introduce your goals, your brief research goals, and why you are choosing them as a supervisor
8. Be respectful. Don’t sound like you are demanding a position.
9. Don’t joke around and ask for supervision if you don’t intend to work with them, you are killing someone else’s opportunity. Only email them if you are serious about their research.
10. Have a good CV! Have a good cover letter! Your cover letter is what really tells them briefly about who you are. Sometimes I have received response in few hours. So it’s not magic but how you present yourself Is very important
11. Don’t be shy to introduce yourself, you know your worth, they don’t. So make them aware of your worth
12. If you studied on full scholarship write that down, it tells them you have the ability to be successful
13. Never give up! You won’t get a response from every single research advisor. So don’t loose heart if you don’t get a response. Try to note your short comings. Sometimes your approach would be great but their lab will be full so don’t be disappointed. Keep searching, keep emailing, email is free so why not take advantage.
14. Lastly, it’s a good time right now to work on your CV, Cover letter, Motivational statements. Work on them and make them professional. While reading your CV it should give an impression that a CV of a professional is being read.
These are just few points that I consider. Again it’s not all but a few ideas that I thought to write down since many of you are always so confused about what to say to a research advisor.
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