![]() Conversely, making contact before submitting your application (at least in the programs I'm familiar with) can show your potential advisor that you are prepared, thoughtful, and proactive-provided that how you reach out is appropriate. ![]() If you submit your application without making contact with the professor to ensure that 1) they are taking students and 2) think your interests/background could potentially be a match, some professors may take it as a sign that you have not adequately done your homework. Thus while the area/department as a whole participates in the decision, the professor who is taking on student(s) is probably going to be the most important voice in the decision. In the programs I have been familiar with, while the decision is at least nominally at the area level, generally "spots" have been allocated to specific professors (the department or area has allocated them funding to take a new grad student), or they have extramural (or other) funding to take on a grad student-so every year, there are specific labs/professors who are taking on student(s). My experience is in regards to PhD psychology programs, particularly in the clinical or developmental area. The advice you quote does not apply to all programs. These were both appropriate ways to contact me that may benefit the students in the future. Another student tracked me down after a talk at a conference and talked to me in more detail about the work. We exchanged a few e-mails and I looked at his work. A few months ago a student contacted me with a list of publications and a precise statement of interest about my work. This should be answer has the right idea here. Many of them have very little connection to my work and are probably mass-emailing professors. The real issue is that I get so many requests from random students to look at their CV. So, when someone says something specific about my research area, I take notice, and I think other faculty do too. I read so many personal statements that you can tell are completely generic, with different school names copy and pasted in. The interest of working with a particular advisor can also (and should) go into the personal statement. So, this establishes that, at some schools, talking to potential advisors ahead of time can be very valuable. But this really varies from one university to another.) Also, we almost always have TA funding available for qualified students. (Note that, as a small school, we have enough capacity to take more students than we do because we don't get tons of qualified applications. If one faculty member strongly desires a particular candidate, that student will generally get admitted, assuming they meet our qualifications. So, there could be great benefit of talking to a professor ahead of time. Our admission decisions are made by our department, and essentially everyone is on the admissions committee - we share the load of evaluating applications. If a school does things differently the answer you're quoting might be very appropriate, but not in our case. Let me answer this question from the perspective of our school. Why is it an exception? Why do the "admissions decisions are handled centrally", unlike other universities in the world, where the weight of the professors is heavier? Isn't that sorting the applications by score not good as checking their ability directly through interview? And who is the most suitable interviewer, if not the one who will advise you in the future? Recall it back, they don't go to US, but I don't think US should be an exception. For many times, not only in this site, but also in real-life examples in my university, I have seen that my friends get accepted through contacting professors beforehand, and those professors are helpful and willing to get you through the adcom. Now I'm surprised with this, and I think I'm not the only one. Since admissions decisions are handled centrally, it's just a waste of time. If the program in question is in the US, for instance, you should probably never contact the professor directly until after you've been admitted into the program in question. In his answer of Details an applicant should include/exclude in an introductory letter to a prospective grad school adviser?, aeismail says
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