Phd application letter to professor

Of the most common points of confusion among undergraduates and new graduate students is how to write an email to contact a professor to serve as a potential ph. Have been on the receiving end of many emails from hapless students who clearly had no guidance, and whose communication with me ended up appearing flippant and is that sort of email:“dear professor kelsky, i am a student at xxx college and i’m thinking about graduate school on xxx and i’m getting in touch to ask if you can give me any advice or direction about that. Is an instant-delete is what an email to a professor should look like:I am a student at xxx college with a major in xxx. In one of my classes, “xxx,” which was taught by professor xxx, i had the chance to read your article, “xxxx. It shows that you respect the professor’s of these attributes will make your email and your name stand out, and exponentially increase your chances of getting a timely, thorough, and friendly response, and potentially building the kind of relationship that leads to a strong mentoring the professor doesn’t respond in a week or so, send a follow up email gently reminding them of your initial email, and asking again for their response. But professors are busy and distracted, and it may take a little extra effort to get through. Even though i always try to be respectful and professional in my emails to professors, having a template like this is ’re very welcome, liana! But since they don’t, i’m going to try and be that here at the professor is in! Wanted to ask about: what if i sent a professor an email, which has no subject line? But now it has been nearly a month since i haven’t heard anything from him so i thought to write a follow up email to him and once i started writing i myself was not satisfied with the email that i wrote because i thought it was bit arrogant to directly ask what is happening with my application. I have had one professor leave the university and another…well…let’s just say he is no longer a welcome member of my committee and i need to fill two spaces. I could also use this advice, as i need to approach professors for my exams and it just feels … ck: how to ask a (famous) professor to be your dissertation chair |. Then again, to others it reads like a massive endorsement for i find simply amazing is the endless self-congratulation that many professors give themselves for jumping through hoops in what amounts to an essentially, a pointless bureaucratic game. All of this advice perpetuates academic arrogance because many of the students reading this will eventually become professors themselves and will in turn want to be treated the same way by future students. They won’t discriminate based on the fact that you are from another country, if your application is strong. I wrote a professor earlier in the week just to introduce myself, and now i have an appointment set up with the department grad advisor and i want to meet with the professor while i am up there. Proposal but my application was rejected for scholarship for some special reasons, now i am working to find another supervisor , what is your advice to me , it will better to inform the new supervisor about my previous one .. Could you provide me with a template for comprehensive motivation letters and statement of propose . Please i just want to ask whether it is wise to call a professor who has an open phd position in his lab and you are strongly interest, but you sent him and email and recieved no response. And is it generally a good idea to call a professor on phone when you find interest in his research and hope that he takes you in into his is what look for last long month ago. I am currently working as an assistant professor as pq faulty in a foreign institution and trying to pursue a doctoral degree starting from forthcoming fall advice is don’t do it. I suppose my instinct would be to not send it, until professor karen kelsky,I do appreciate creating such a great website for us as students. Have no past research experience but now i am interested in doing research in should i write letter to any paste a format here so that i can send it to you for your advice. It becomes a bit confusing as to how to convey all your thoughts to the professors and yet be concise in your all you just get once chance to hit the bull’s you for your timely professor karen,Thank for sharing this king of information.. Professor karen,Thanks so much for your help , it is highly helpful as i am in the process of communicating a potential advisor . I was wondering though, i’m in a situation where there are two professors at the same university that i am interested in speaking with. I think your template is a very good format for phd you also give me more suggestion on how to continue the communication with professors? I hope with these few tips you shared, that i get a good you very much for your effort, i just want to ask if i can use this form to contact a professor in my faculty and i took some clases with him it ever ok to send more than one inquiry to professors in the same department? I’m terribly nervous about communicating with professors–i was always the kid that sat by the door and snuck away at the end of class because i was too nervous to talk to adults–and the sample letter was hugely helpful in formatting the inquiry i just sent. Question for you, is it appropriate to contact another professor from the same university & the same department in case i get no response from the first professor? Faculty member about the application and asking for you any suggestion for applying together with our spouse!! How much weight does professors in the us give to gre and grade when selecting students for a phd? I have completed my in biomedical genetics last year and now i am planning to do my phd in genetics in canada, for that i would like to contact a supervisor and in my letter what all the information should i have to include and another problem is, i am planning to publish an article in the last of this month i have already send to the journal, so whether i should try to contact the adviser after the article is published or i should contact the adviser now itself as there are only limited seats for phd . I am in the process of writing a letter to a potential supervisor myself and have gone to talk to different professors in my current university to ask for advice. One of the professors even told me that more often than not the person who says they have something specific in mind will be stubborn about changing their topic (because let’s be honest, phd topics change) and consequently not asked for an again, i’m speaking from an european’s point of view. This is because the professors apply for grants on specific topics and then need students to do that topic in their phd. Saw your reply and i though of send you this message as i am in australia too and planning to work on my usually we have to work on professors projects, i couldn’t find much published topics /projects online. Could you also suggest what i should include/how i should organize an email to a professor i met at a conference but don’t know well?

Thanks very ck: cara menulis email yang benar kepada professor di universitas diluar negeri | icicles mind you very much for your valuable for providing such a nice insight and useful suggestions for admissions. This patent however is for a practical device and not related to professor’s field so much…). During my time as an undergraduate, i have had many professors tell my classes to chose our subject lines wisely because they delete mail not directly related to their classes or from faculty memebers. What would be short, to the point, and attention getting as a subject so the professor doesn’t just immediately delete the e-mail without reading it? I just finished composing my email to a potential professor in an ivy league school, and i am now confronted with the question of what subject would be appropriate for my mail. This post is very helpful and guiding me to write an email for a professor. Must confess that i have been terrified just thinking about contacting the professor in a program that i am interesting in. Just wanted to say i agree wholeheartedly about following up if you don’t get a response (and you’re serious about the professor and/or line of work). Wrote to a professor enquiring about full time openings in her lab but she didn’t reply. I should probably add i didn’t send a form email and that my email was tailored specifically for that lab and the research the pi professor karen,Thank you so much for this valuable post. I would like to the right time for contacting professors regarding phd and what are the things i should mention other than the info provided in your you so much for this very useful and valuable post. My confusion is if i should mention that in my email and if i do then how to put it across in a polished manner, so that it does not have any adverse effects on my application. If a topic can be supervised by several members of faculty and is rather specific (it`s in social sciences), would it be appropriate to address one (presumably “highest ranking”) professor at the department, but at the end to kindly ask that if she/he is not interested or not able to be advisor to recommend to me someone in the department who could be more appropriate/willing/able/suitable to contact? I must say this would definitely help me in writing it to the professor for my phd program. I was always confused how to approach to the professor, i did get the reply for the emails i have sent to different school but this will make it more precise and would be easy for a professor to appreciate ck: how to write an email to a potential ph. I was going to send a poorly written email but decided to get some tips on what exactly to include in my first letter and i stumbled upon your excellently written article. Am going to apply for a masters degree and i am currently writing a letter to some of the professors in whose research i am interested for this insightful post. Am currently applying for xxx scholarship and i need an approval letter from my supervisor to complete my application. Look forward to reading from you soonest to allow me complete the application on you for generous tips and advice. I got tired to get such kind of information to relief my the other hand, i would expect that i will need a far more deeper guidance about my phd application road map. Additionally, i have my courses in the master that i study here in brazil, the sites of the aforementioned schools state that it is not advised to contact faculties as they can not give any prior admission unless to submit all the application materials; test scores, transcripts, etc, it is welcome to contact them if you want to talk about the research they do or you want to problem is that i am missing mind duel to all this timed tasks that i have to carry out simultaneously. During that i feel that an optional transaction like initiating a contact with a professor who shares my research interests – specially they won’t respond mostly – is not so advisable. About recommendation letters, i do not have the complete ability to determine which faculty professors i should ask to recommend me. Please let me know how i can write such an professor karen,I really appreciate this post. I don’t want to send unnecessary questions and make myself look you please advice on whether or not it is a good idea to make a first email contact with a potential advisor, after having submitted the phd application to the university? Advisor/professor”, had helped shining the way to communicate with professors who live sending my email to three places, i received a good reply from a prospective professor who told me that i was a good fit to his/her e this is only one month after submitting my applications, i do not know whether the email from the professor will guarantee my chance of acceptance. I found a university in which there are more than one professor that i would like to work fact, this problem is often, but i cannot make a decision for this department. Could you please give me advice on whether i should send the letter to more than one professor in the same department or what positive or negative consequences that i might have you for taking your you mrs. If you don’t mind, i want to share with you my letter which i prepared for my master’s course in surgical oncology in a canadian university for your experienced you for this post. I feel like you have to suck up to the professor to get any real attention. Don’t think i can bring myself to go into detail about how great the professor is, or how i’ve read all his/her papers, or how excited i am to start my research career. I will try this way and if will success i will tell professor karen,This is really the most important and fantastic system of writing for admission application i ever had. Would you please read this letter and say you point of view about, is this letter suitable for sending to professors? I have very good experiences in theoretical and computational chemistry (ab initio, dft, post-hf, qm/mm) and also working with computer systems, unix operating systems and graduation for gaining more experience and knowledge, i went to isfahan university of technology, department of chemistry, as a research assistant and continued my research under professor h. Thank you ck: resource: the professor is in | winter ck: resource: the professor is in | the graduate chronicles. I think honesty is way better, and i think people should remember that it’s not just the professor evaluating the potential student, but also the student evaluating the professor; if the professor is always busy, he probably won’t have time for you either. Also, by attempting to please the professor too much i think people are supporting a system where professors pick their students based not on their qualifications and interests but how much they like the person. It is related directly to the professor’s research ck: a sample email to a potential phd advisor or professor | ask ck: mext – step 4 : e-mailing prospective advisor | veni, vidi, vici **.

I sent e-mail to a professor and he answered me asking to send cv, cover letter, and personal statement. Would you please help me about what should i write in the cover letter and what is the difference between it and personal kind help is helpful to many new you for your informative article. Of the professors will ignore the email since it is too long, and they cannot afford to read 200 such long emails which come to their inbox every ck: writing inquiry emails to potential supervisor (undergraduate perspective) – bronze a reply cancel email address will not be published. 10-module, self-guided course, all-online, available anytime 24/7, that walks you step by step through the planning, info-gathering, writing, and editing of your academic job cover up for the professor's newsletter "the truth zone" for exclusive posts and strator -university advisors and good proposals and te student to build your tenure to choose and manage to do to get grants and to write academic job cover ational et and social g your tenure track job market illness and -ac free-lancing and small ng–an excellent /gender/s & postac gizing your success in ing assistant ng and research /life balance in g , you can: women in second and third and pints: my post-ac business in academic pub talks – guest post. I’ve also noticed that many of the letters/emails that i personally get on this topic are actually irrelevant to me, poorly written, or both. All the same principles also apply for those seeking post-doc are two categories of people writing these letters – those who need financial support for their graduate program and those who don’t. If you have a big scholarship, or if you’re independently wealthy, you fall into the second category and it’s important to mention it right at the beginning of your letter. Letting a prospective supervisor know that you are not looking for money increases the likelihood that they will read the rest of your letter and, as a result, it improves your chances of getting might be wondering, “do i even need to write letters to potential supervisors? The fact is – hundreds of people apply for each spot and if you just fill out the application form without actually contacting any of the professors at the university in question, then you’re not likely to get noticed. Furthermore, most graduate students (especially phds) and post-docs are admitted because a particular professor has expressed an interest in recruiting them, so if you’ve not been in contact with a professor, chances are, nobody there is going to push to get you next obvious question is whether you have to write an actual letter, or will an email do? You should do it by email, but write it in the form of a proper letter. Essentially, you are applying for a job and so, in a way, your application form is analogous to your resume and your letter to a prospective supervisor is equivalent to the corresponding cover letter. Like those who write a good cover letter when applying for a job, students who write good letters to potential supervisors are more likely to get can go ahead and read about writing an effective cover letter to get some basic advice on witting to a potential phd (or post-doc, or masters) supervisor. Little booklet includes the complete article containing specific and detailed advice on how to write to a prospective phd supervisor, along with two detailed examples (one bad and one good), each with a full critique to help you when developing your own letter. Entry was posted in academic communications and tagged application contents, articles, aspect of technical writing, cover letter, education, engineering, graduate students, manuscript drafts, paragraph, phd supervisor, report components, research, science, technology, tips, g a winning scholarship proposal – part 4 – the closing creating effective presentations – part 1 – overview. Your post has helped me clearly understand the material that goes into writing an effective letter to a prospective supervisor. My seminar paper does not accurately reflect my truest potential and would hate for it to limit my chances to work with a professor of my interest. It’s always possible that the prospective professor might not even be interested in seeing the seminar paper anyway – it’s not the type of inforation i usually request myself. Skibsey) said:October 14, 2012 at 6:18 you for posting this, i am actually looking to write a letter to a potential supervisor for a masters degree, but i think this info is relevant. Should i mention all that stuff in my letter, like starting the graduate program in pr, or does that just make me sound flakey? Edmachis said:October 17, 2012 at 9:51 alot professor hicks for your good post to help us (students). I’m looking at phd programs in geography and i have two questions: first, i’m writing to a professor that a friend from my undergraduate days currently works with. However, i don’t think this professor would actually be the best fit as an advisor. Should i still write to this professor, and should i mention that i’m unsure about who a potential advisor could be? I’m wondering what a few other people above were wondering: should i include in this introductory letter of just a few paragraphs my entire recent history? Many famous professors have so many graduate students that each one does not get a lot of contact time. Younger/newer professors generally have fewer students and so have much more time to spend with each one. You could always include the project description as an attachment and just make reference to it in the letter – telling him/her the topic and inviting them to read the attachment if they are interested in more er 10, 2012 at 3:05 prof! Should i still go ahead and apply to that university or is my chances of getting admitted there is virtually nil since the professor hasn’t replied back. Lastly, when a professor does reply back and encourage me to apply does this mean i have a very good chance to get in?!! Most professors are constantly inundated with email; occasionally it happens that they intended to answer and just forgot. As to whether you should apply to the university if you didn’t get a response when you emailed a professor, this depends on the university. For our programs, we have a preliminary screening application which serves a similar purpose as the introductory email. I would say that about half of our applicants contact professors directly, and the other half attract the professors’ interest by way of this preliminary application. So, if there is no fee for applying to the program, you might want to give it a ing your last question, if a professor does respond then i would say that s/he is definitely interested and that is certainly very promising. In particular, there will have to be close scrutiny of your academic record and reference letters. Also, if you are seeking funding, then your application package will have to be considered in comparison to other applicants, both in terms of academic record and how well your research interests fit with the professors’ interests. Although, this may not be the case for all prospective supervisors, i’m willing to bet a lot of them would say exactly the same thing for exactly the same er 16, 2012 at 7:04 for your post professor.

But my problem is that i am not sure if i have enough background research experience that the schools or professors may be needing. I wish you the best of luck with er 19, 2012 at 4:58 for the post professor, just got through it at the right time…. Please, what if one is required to write a cover letter to a department in application for phd? In this instance, there is no specific potential supervisor to write to so how specific can i make my interest known to the department (not sure who will be reading the letter) ? Hicks responded:November 21, 2012 at 9:40 application process depends on that particular program but that doesn’t change the fact that it is worthwhile to try to connect with a potential phd supervisor before applying. If you haven’t got a professor there interested in you yet, then there is no point applying (in my opinion). If you have got a professor interested, then s/he can advise you on what they are looking for in the the university discourages people from contacting specific professors directly and instead uses these cover letters as the primary point of contact – then i would say you still need to do your research and find out which professor(s) would be a good match for you and make that case in the cover er 24, 2012 at 5:48 prof ! Prasad said:November 27, 2012 at 4:31 awesome post worth i even have a doubt that if a professor is interested in admitting me,will the gre scores and other criteria of mine should be really good enough when compared to other students?. With the help of the professor’s word will i be able to get admit into the university having the same research interest? However generally, if you meet the minimum academic requirements for a particular program, then it is always possible to get admitted providing there is a professor who wants you. That’s the idea of writing directly to the professors – to find one who might be willing to take you on. It’s true, the better your marks, the more likely professors are to be interested in you. My name is kibrom negash and i want to apply masters scholar ship in archaeology in jordan, it is for my first time to apply for scholarship and i do not have experience of writing motivation letter. 9, 2012 at 12:06 professor hicks – thank you so much for this insightful blog, had loads of very useful information and was also quite funny, had me chuckling on several counts! I’m planning on writing letters to several prospective supervisors recently and your article is a godsend. It would be totally unethical for one professor to “steal” a graduate student from another, thus your prospective new supervisor would need to know that you have respectfully terminated your relationship with the current phd supervisor before taking you on, but how can they know this if they are not even aware of your situation? Could you please further let me know is it ethical to write few professors in same department saying that i m interesting for their hicks responded:December 16, 2012 at 3:21 ’s hard to say – i can only speak for myself. If i’m just one in a list of recipients and/or if the applicant is contacting other professors in my group – i leave it to the other professors to er 20, 2012 at 3:07 you very much for the post. Can u suggest me how to write a request letter for a hicks responded:January 3, 2013 at 8:18 for the nice comments. You can get some additional general advice from one of my other posts – the one on writing an effective cover er 31, 2012 at 1:15 thanks for your post professor!! 23, 2013 at 12:40 you professor faye,Really useful hicks responded:January 23, 2013 at 8:07 – i’m glad it was useful for you! I’ve submitted my applications to these two universities now and i’m waiting for the result. My concern is that it might seem impolite of me to decline an offer and the professor who has agreed to support my application might be offended. So many times people don’t bother to let us know that they won’t be coming and that hurts the professor as well as the applicants on the waiting wishes for a sucessful phd! Hicks responded:February 15, 2013 at 8:09 for the nice comments – i am so glad you found this post luck with your applications! Particularly seeking research in the application of it technology to identify talents and skills in multinational organizations. 10, 2013 at 8:37 you have any advice on reporting gre scores to a potential faculty mentor as part of the initial contact letter? I would hope my interest as expressed in the email itself, combined with my resume and transcripts would provide the faculty with a solid idea of my credentials, i do not want to spring any surprises come time to actually submitting the application. However, as there is a recommended minimum, i would say that it would make sense to discuss this relatively early in your contact with the prospective professor(s). I’m worried because i need to obtain a confirmation admission letter from the university before i submit my scholarship application (he knew that i want to apply a scholarship for my phd, i told him in my first email), and for applying a phd at the university i need an agreement from potential supervisor for my proposed research. Thank you for your hicks responded:March 23, 2013 at 9:42 lily – i think you could write a follow-up email to the professor explaining the situation. I wish to know something from your experience that what is the difference between a letter of motivation and cover letter. I have prepared a letter of motivation but i am confused what should i write in the cover letters should i copy paste the letter of motivation in that or is there something which i should know. Am searching for a potential phd supervisor and once a professor will be agree to supervise my phd studies, i would be able to submit my application to the scholarship gh i have published five papers and my research interests matches with several professors, only a limited number of them hicks responded:May 9, 2013 at 8:35 muhammad – sorry, i really don’t know why many haven’t responded. Most professors get hundreds of requests per year, many from superb applicants, yet they likely take on only 1 or 2 new phd students each 17, 2013 at 2:27 year, i applied to one of the reputed universities in australia for a phd. I then contacted another professor from the same university who responded me quickly and agreed to supervise me on the proposed topic and asked me to put my application before deadline (3 days to go). I decided to write an email to the professor whom i contacted later and explained everything. Later i told her that i will not be putting the application that time because of the sense of guilt.

I applied for the university scholarship round and my application was all these happened, i think i have a very bad image over there. I will say though – the bond of trust, so essential in the student-professor relationship, can be very difficult to repair after something like this. You could try writing to both professors and apologizing, but the outcome really depends on many more specifics including the personalities of, and relationships between, all of the individuals concerned. So we are really in a big dilemma to corresponding with faculties to find would be appreciable, if you can guide us how we can organize our letter? If we want to contact separately we are competitor with the same qualification, otherwise, if we write a common letter, how we can catch their interest? You best bet is to try contacting professors first – mentioning you are both in the same field and both wanting to do a phd. We’ve had a lot of couples come to do phds in our research group – it’s not as uncommon as you may mes one gets admitted only, but once they are both here, we get to meet the other and become keen to admit them, 6, 2013 at 7:46 you for your time and 23, 2013 at 10:51 professor hicks,Thank you very much for this wonderful and useful website. In order for you to address this question, you need to know which professors work in what areas – it sounds like they are expecting you to check that and make a case for how your research interests fit with the supervisor you are applying to work 30, 2013 at 12:26 you so much for all the information and guidance you are providing. He also replied that he would be happy to consider my application after is has been processed. I want to apply for scholarship granted through university and for that i have to lodge an admission application form. Am bit confused because without letter of support from supervisor,i cannot apply then what does he mean by saying that he would consider me after my application has been processed. If they get upset over something like that, likely it wouldn’t be all that pleasant a place to do a phd 3, 2013 at 6:11 professor hicks,I’ve sent you an email with the same content a few days ago but i’m not sure whether it reached you, so forgive me for posting a similar copy of all, thank you so much for writing so many useful articles. Would suggest you just apply with the references you have and explain the situation to the professors you are contacting. Since you normally contact the professor before applying – it shouldn’t be a 16, 2013 at 7:51 professor faye hicks,Thank you so much for your suggestion and ad bashir saidu said:June 15, 2013 at 8:27 you prof. I have been advised by my other professor to let go of academic appeal or a grade review and go ahead with applying for phd, but how will this aid my phd application as i understand that the masters dissertation grade is very useful. Should i go ahead with contacting a supervisor in my fiels of interest and explaining my situation as my professor have promised a stellar recommendation letter and i have also prepared a research proposal and personal statement to apply to phd programmes. If/when it gets to the stage of providing reference letters, just explain the situation honestly. I’ve sent lots of improper letters to professors, having read your article i realized that i had made lots of mistakes, namely i wasn’t very specific about my future research and the sphere of my research wasn’t fit with the professors’ interests. However, if you now have a much improved letter to send to profs that do have similar interests to you, then yes i would suggest you go ahead and send them the new one. The truth is, if they didn’t respond to your first letter, they probably won’t remember you specifically anyway. 30, 2013 at 10:51 you professor hicks, your advise is very helpful, i will move forward with the phd because its really what i want to do considering that i want to be a lecturer myself , and i have recently talked to my msc supervisor and we have decided to move past our conflicts. 2, 2013 at 12:28 you professor hicks, tell you the truth, i sent an request email for you yesterday, today, suddenly i taught, there is a mistake in my request that i can’t receive any response and i tried to search “how to request for phd supervision” in chance, i found your advises here, describing my hicks responded:July 2, 2013 at 5:12 nariman – it was a holiday here yesterday. In the 3rd paragraph, i give a list of practical and theoretical courses those are relevant to the professor’s research theme. Currently am facing difficulty getting a phd supervisor to work with in my area of research interest since there are few professors working in that area (financial mathematics), should i consider diverting to other area of research and make it my second hicks responded:July 14, 2013 at 6:54 akinade – sorry, i’m not familiar with that specialty – so it’s pretty hard to advise you. I’d suggest talking to some of your previous professors – they might be able to advise 12, 2013 at 1:47 ideas for a prospective master student!! Hicks responded:July 14, 2013 at 7:04 13, 2013 at 10:28 ted mam i liked the way you guide for writing letter! Can you please help me in getting some samples of letter to msc supervisors as i am an undergraduate student seeking admission in some of the canadian hicks responded:July 14, 2013 at 7:06 – i don’t have any example letters. Yesterday i wrote to my first professor and i think i did a good job and followed your advice. But i really didn”t want to write to professors just to write to them, i really wanted to write to someone that shared my interest. Generally, if a professor is interested, the will consider you for the first available upcoming 22, 2013 at 12:15 hicks.. Also is it polite to send his mail to the graduate admissions mailbox so as to push my case for the application? Hicks responded:July 22, 2013 at 8:23 , i think it would be okay go ahead and respond to the professor with your questions in such a case. Have just recieved a positive reply from a professor to be my potential phd supervisor. He already has been awarded a grant for his project and advised me to start the application to the graduate school if my interests align with his projects but didn’t mention anything about writing a research proposal. My advice is that, if you have any questions, email the professor and ask for clarification. Here i would like to add that professors should not check letters from research students so critically. In my opinion a student writing poor context in such letters might have best analytical capabilities in research. If i would be a professor i only prefer the research hypothesis the prospective student have.

Last i would like to ask that how much i expend (in number of words) the mutual interest of phd research project in letter to a professor? Hicks responded:August 4, 2013 at 8:52 luck with it – i’d keep it brief for the first 3, 2013 at 11:05 ence is earned from mistakes and mistakes are avoided through experience, thus creating a guideline for the younger one to avoid professor for sharing with us your experience. 5, 2013 at 8:26 a lot professor,I have followed the guidelines and got a fast reply from the professor asking me for the transcript and a draft research proposal, but i didn’t prepare one because i don’t have research experience in his field, my research experience is in another (yet related) but not the same and i wanted tostart working on the professor field in my i tell him i don’t have a project in my mind? Hicks responded:August 8, 2013 at 3:52 ally, i would write to the professor and explain the situation honestly, and ask him/her this same question you have asked me r, that is just what i would do in your situation and not necessarily the best course of action – it really depends on the particular professor. Also i already sent 5 test emails to professors though my undergraduate is not completed yet 😀 . I want to convert my () into (), but i am hesitating to write email to any professor as my first semester grades are just fulfilling minimum requirements of the university. It’s something that depends on the polices of your university, as well as the department and professor(s) involved. I encourage you to go talk to the professor you hope to do this msc with and ask him/her what your chances would be, and how to go about it. I have written to a couple of professors, taking care to conform to all of the above mentioned guidelines. I have approached only professors who are researching in an area which i have a background in, addressed them personally in the form of a short formal mail and provided necessary supporting documents with the mail. Regarding your question – i would say there are quite a few reasons a professor might not answer. They were not sufficiently interested to bother to average professor probably gets about a hundred emails a day – many get much more. Would say that you have nothing to lose by contacting a professor a second time. I am preparing my application for the graduate studies and your blog really helped me on how to contact my prospective supervisor. However, if the professor does write back expressing interest, it would be most important to let him/her know about this right away in your second email. In terms of your related course experience, i suggest you include the course in the cv and the details of the relevant assignments in the cover letter. It would serve the dual purpose of introducing you to the pi and would also help you to submit the best possible application package. Keep in mind, you are essentially writing a cover letter to a potential employer (especially if you are going to need financial support), so it not at all about whether they fit with your interests, it’s whether you fit with theirs. Really – you need to do some research and find out exactly what it is that they do – then write a letter to any that do fit with your terms of your other question – i am not sure really what to tell you as it depends how it works there. It seems odd that they would leave it to you to choose two professors and then make those professors co-supervise you. I think if you do contact more than one professor in the same group, you do need to make that absolutely clear to both of them. If/when one of you finds a professor keen to recruit you, then ask that professor if they, or a colleague, might be interested in recruiting your spouse. If only one gets a position, you might want to take it – the other has a very good chance of getting on the following year (especially if they volunteer to work with a professor in the meantime). Your question – at most universities admissions are handled by an administrative group, not directly by the professors. They usually have information on procedures, as well as info on what to expect in terms of the application/admission process. If you haven’t yet formally applied, then you should contact the professor for advice on how to formally apply. If you have formally applied, you could still email the professor and ask for information on who you might contact to get an update on the status of your to write to a prospective phd supervisor | academic life said:January 15, 2014 at 8:53 am. 16, 2014 at 7:12 a prospective student has not decided on exactly what he/she wants to pursue his/her degree, but wants to explore possibilities of getting accepted, do you think it is good to ask professors about their work first? We all understand that they are busy, sometimes, personally, i hesitate to contact professors whose work excites me, simply because i feel terrible to have disturbed them unnecessarily. I suggest you first do some research on the particular professors you plan to write to (e. Firstly, i had mailed some professors of the same department and one faculty directly stated that she does not have funding whilt the other said you should first apply to the graduate program to be considered. Also my second question is that most of the replies i got from the professor were : in order to give serious consideration to your application you should apply to the graduate program and there was no discussion beyond this point. So funding for student’s pay might come from the university or from the professor. The university money might be gone, and one professor might still have grant money available while another might not – that would explain why you got different answers about the funding. I would let that discourage you from applying – likely there is still some money if one professor was encouraging about that. As for applying only and not contacting professors – this too varies from university to university. In some cases the professors might not welcome direct contact from students, if that’s the case it’s important to stick to the formal process as instructed. For the program in the us, i listed a few different research interests in my personal statement and submitted my application.

Know there are professors there that can supervise some of my interests, but i did not contact them because i thought it was a bit early and now, i keep hearing that i should have. I would say it’s worth a try and, particularly if they expect it, not contacting anyone might mean that your application does not move forward. 23, 2014 at 1:04 professor hicks,First of all, thank you for this blog, it’s absolutely might be a trivial question, but i was just about to send a cover letter to a prospective phd supervisor when i started to wonder whether it’s more appreciated if the cover letter is within the email itself or attached to the email (i really don’t want to do anything wrong here). Typing it directly into the email would certainly be faster for the professor to read it, but is it style-wise appropriate? Hicks responded:February 26, 2014 at 8:41 sebastian – thanks for the nice comments – i’m glad you found it ing your question – many professors do not open attachments from people they don’t know because of the risk of getting a computer virus. D approach the professor exactly as i describe in this post, and let your enthusiasm shine through. What do you recommend for an international student to improve his chances to get notice in the letter? Am an undergraduate international student and i can apply for an scholarship aid from my country to pay the tuition fees of the graduate program in canada, but first i need a letter of acceptance from the university prior to be considered for the scholarship from my country, but this does not necessarily assure me the scholarahip, if i write this on my email it will improve my chances of getting admitted? However, you should ask yourself what happens if this particular professor doesn’t take you on. Finally, if i make up a good letter (from my perspective) many readers will just adapt my letter. The goal here is to find someone you connect with – so the best letter is one personalized to you. Is it worth to let the professor know about any unfinished program like master’s program that has been started but not hicks responded:August 13, 2014 at 4:01 pm. Can you tell me what is the appropriate way to inform the professor that i do not need the financial aid (in the beginning of the email)? After i received a negative answer from a professor, is it fine if i ask him for recommendation or to introduce me another professor with related topic? The best way to find names is to research the web pages for the professors at various universities and find the people who are working in your field of interest. Also, it is usually much easier to get a positive response from a young/new professor than from an older more established professor. These young/new professors are a great untapped resource for aspiring phd students – they are keen, energetic and have much more time to spend per student since they usually have fewer r 1, 2014 at 10:15 post was really helpful. I already got a response to the first hicks responded:October 2, 2014 at 5:40 ng the professor has seen your transcript and already knows about it, then you could wait until s/he asks for an explanation. You may even find something out there that the two of you could apply for together – even if you don’t get it, the application process might help you to get a foot on the door. There another professor showed interest to take me as a phd though he didn’t said directly but he was helping me in giving answers during interview. As i had written another professor’s name but during interview he was showing that he is not interested. Now when i read whole profile of the professor i found myself intersted in her i contact that professor atleast once or should i leave here and move ahead. If, during that process you found another, better prospect, you could contact the new professor to see if they are interested, but they may be reluctant if a colleague wants you. I will surely try to contact another professor and will try to remain honest and open during this hicks responded:May 30, 2015 at 3:24 12, 2015 at 12:41 a lot for your useful i have a question. I have a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering and look forward to doing my meng in mechanical engineering specialize in hydraulic systems, fluid power and my past applications (which i couldn’t join due to my work schedule) to universities i never had to seek a supervisor for the meng program where i received straight offers of admission. What do i have to cite when i approach a supervisor/professor other than points like research interests (despite my program of choice being non-research coursework). Keep it short and be sure to mention that you don’t need you are not sure who to approach, then i would email all of the professors in that group (individually). Recently me and one of my professors got a funding for continuing my post-doctoral research. The impression from africa is that most of the professors are not interested in recruiting applicants from this continent so to say. Would suggest, “prospective phd student interested in …” with “…” being replaced with the general research interest area of the professor (based on your research of his/her work). Of course the research area should be of interest to you, too – or you’re writing to the wrong professor. Chandra mondal said:May 22, 2016 at 3:50 professor hicks,Is it necessary to sent research proposal to the professor during sending first email? Even academic transcript is also a huge document (may be professor will be boring to read them) then only cv can be sent or transcript is necessary? I have sent many letters for professors to supervise my there was no response still . Am seeking for a master’s program, professor do you have any sample letter for further guidance.. Hicks responded:January 13, 2017 at 8:15 ’s often difficult to tell – in emailing professors in north america (and europe too, i believe) it is probably safest to use the second name. Hicks responded:July 11, 2017 at 5:29 there – as discussed i nthe post, many professors would rather suggest a topic to you, so i wouldn’t you would like to see examples – please click 13, 2017 at 4:01 are the best. She said she would be more than glad to supervise me if i could find the funding, gave me details about her grant applications and suggested one more possible supervisor, who is actually waiting for a reply to an application for a r she did not ask for any information about me or my research proposal- i am actually working on one and i have a very cler idea of what i want to investigate.

However, as i mentioned in the post, most professors have their own research programs and funding tied to those specific projects – therefore, applicants who have their own projects in mind are less attractive to those professors. My guess is that (and keep in mind that this is only a guess), she told you about her grant applications to see if any of those projects would spark you 28, 2017 at 2:08 you for your reply! Do you think i should email her again in september- this is when she wil have the answer for a grant application- or would it be rude and annoying? If you want the best chance of a reply, i suggest you contact the youngest/most junior of the 5 professors. This person will be the most likely to have room for more students – it isn’t always the case, of course, but it is your best bet if you don’t know for sure that any of these professors are currently looking for grad students.