So you’re applying to graduate school? Congratulations, and welcome to the Academe. If you’re interested in completing a PhD, you will of course need an advisor. One of the more daunting parts of the grad school application process is cold-emailing professors to ask them to take you on as a PhD student. Every professor gets dozens of these emails a year. If you want to stand out and actually get a response, here are some tips.
1. Research the school: How embarrassing is it to reach out to a professor at your dream school only to find out that they don’t even offer a PhD program in your field of choice? This is why you need to research your school carefully—I still get emails from prospective PhD students every year despite working at an undergraduate-only institution.
2. Research the professor: This is where you really need to do the work; you should read 2-3 of your prospective PhD advisor’s papers. And I mean actually read them, not just have AI summarize them. This is important to see if the kinds of research they do will mesh with what you want to do. Many professors, especially in Computer Science, have lab or faculty web pages with information about them, including copies of their papers. For bonus points, look at what they’re actively working on right now and see if they have instructions on their page for how to contact them.
3. Write a very brief, professional email: Show that you respect your prospective advisor’s time by getting to the point quickly. You should introduce yourself briefly, highlight 1-2 relevant academic achievements (such as prior research experience), and state that you are a prospective PhD student. You should specifically say something along the lines of:
“I would like to apply for a funded Ph.D. position in your lab, as it aligns well with my undergrad experience with human-computer interaction.”
I get so many emails that just say “I’d like to study under your supervision”. This could mean anything from looking for information on undergrad programs through to postdoc employment.
Don’t tell someone your whole life story, just what they need to know. If you have a specific project in mind, mention it in 100 words or less. If you just know the general area, that’s ok—say so, and say why. This should lead into the next part of the email, where you succinctly summarize why, specifically, you want to work with that specific professor. Bonus points for mentioning ongoing or recent work discovered during step 3.
You want to be courteous and address the professor as Dr. or Professor LastName. However, you should also…
4. Avoid AI: It is tempting to use AI to help you sound more professional and boost your chances of getting a response. Unfortunately, the opposite is more likely. Your professors are AI-savvy. Either we use AI ourselves, or we’ve seen numerous examples of students cheating—and cheating badly. We can spot AI from a mile away. It’s ok to have a writing voice and for your email to sound like you wrote it. I’m 10x more likely to respond to a human-generated email than an AI-generated one.
5. Finish with a specific action item: Think about what you want the next step to be. A Zoom call? A response of whether or not they’re taking students? Make it clear what you expect the next step to be. I always recommend ending with some variation of “If you are taking graduate students, I’d be happy to schedule a Zoom call at your convenience to discuss the possibility of working with you in the future. If you are not taking students right now, I would greatly appreciate it if you would respond with the name of a colleague who is taking students.”
6. Don’t attach your CV: This may be a controversial take, but I find it presumptuous when students send me their CV without asking. If the professor really wants it, they can ask, or direct you to fill out the graduate school application.
7. Think about when you send the email too: When is the deadline for graduate school applications? It needs to be at least two weeks in advance, if not more, and not during any major conference in your field or during the first or last weeks of teaching, or the exam period if there is one.
8. Remember to set your expectations: Don’t take it personally if you receive no response. Professors receive many of these emails, and it’s nearly impossible to respond to them all. It’s a bit of a numbers game, kind of like online dating.
9. Check your email settings: This is very basic, but you should set your email up properly and professionally so that your name appears on the email when it’s in the inbox and then sign your name at the bottom of the email. Be careful what email address you use; nobody will take “weedsmoker420@yahoo.com” seriously. Now is the time to set up a professional email address or, better yet, use your school one. This advice extends to profile pictures as well.
Other References to review:
Generally, here are some resources on how to email professors that I find super useful:
- On how to email very busy people
- On how to email professors
- Ask Academia — Professors give advice on how to cold email
- Youtube video on how to cold email
- Cracking Cold Emails: Reaching Out to Professors in a Way that Works
- Cold emailing in academia
Image Source: College Info Geek
No AI was used in the creation of this blog post.
