Before you submit an application for a PhD program....

After you take the GRE* and after you've chosen a few graduate programs to apply to (see my previous posts here and here), you should take a few steps to make the initial contact with potential future graduate advisors. First, do your research about the faculty member online and maybe read a recent paper or two of theirs. Then draft a professional e-mail to introduce yourself and enquire whether a faculty member anticipates taking any new graduate students for the next academic year. A generic e-mail (from your university e-mail account) might read like this: Dear Prof. X, My name is Jane Doe and I will complete my B.S. in Geology at San Francisco State University in May 2011. I hope to begin PhD research next fall and I am very interested in your research on Interesting Topic Y that I read about in your X et al. (2010) paper in Important Journal of Research. I completed a research project on A and B with Prof. Z at SF State and believe I am well-prepared to start research on Interesting Topic Y at Prestigious University. Do you anticipate taking any new PhD students next fall? I would like to discuss any opportunities you might have to join your research group. I see that you have a poster with Unknown Person [the first author on the poster that you're referring to] on Wednesday morning of the AGU meeting in San Francisco - if you plan to be at the poster that Wednesday morning, may we schedule a time to meet briefly? I am attaching my CV for your reference. Many thanks for your consideration. Best Regards, Humble Student Because the process of applying to graduate programs starts in the fall term, you have two opportunities to make further contact with potential graduate advisors (particularly if their university is too distant to justify a road trip for a casual visit): at the Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America meeting (in October or November) and the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (in December). For my students who always attend the AGU meeting in San Francisco, I recommend checking to see if the faculty member is presenting a talk or poster at which you might introduce yourself, hear about their research, and ask intelligent questions: Search the Fall Meeting program for their last name. If you get zero search results back, you can still ask whether they will be at the AGU meeting in San Francisco, and might be able to meet - they might be planning on being a "conference tourist" (i.e., attending but not presenting) or, if not, you get bonus points by showing that you will attend that meeting. You should certainly invite a potential advisor to visit your poster if you're presenting one - be sure to include the details of your poster (i.e., T32E-47) and when you plan to be at your poster (your poster stays up all day, but you will only likely be present for 2-4 hours). If you are an M.S. student writing this e-mail, you should include a few more details about your interest in the faculty member's research and certainly more details about your research experience (tailor it to the specific faculty member: field work, lab/analytical techniques, a one-liner about the preliminary results of your research). Then proofread your e-mail: Fix typos, check the spelling of the faculty member's name, etc. I would add a "signature" at the bottom of your e-mail that has your name and contact information (kind of like a business card): Jane Doe M.S. Candidate Department of Geosciences San Francisco State University 1600 Holloway Avenue San Francisco, CA 94132 Tel: 415-555-5555 (cell phone is OK) Fax: 415-555-5556 E-mail: jdoe@sfsu.edu Home page: http://online.sfsu.edu/~jdoe If you are going to send several of these e-mails, MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE that you have used the correct name of the faculty member, the correct topic of their research that interests you, and the correct name of their university before clicking 'Send'. It's very easy to change the Dear Prof. X part, and forget to make similar changes to the body of the e-mail. Don't embarass yourself. Then, depending on the response you get, you plan your meeting with him/her at AGU (dress nicely [smart casual, no tie needed], bring a copy of your CV, read the abstract of their poster/talk in advance, etc.), or you reply "Thank you very much! I plan to submit my application to Prestigious University in the next few weeks. Regards, Humble Student". If they say 'no thanks', still take the time to thank them for their response. Whatever you write back, don't just reply "thx", but format your e-mail professionally similar to the first. The whole point of this is to introduce yourself to a potential future PhD advisor so that your application stands out from the rest (or so that you don't waste time and money applying) and so that they remember communicating with you, or meeting you, in a positive light.

*GRE scores are no longer required in applications to the graduate program in Earth & Climate Sciences

Writing a professional e-mail

The subject of how to write an e-mail to a professor or other senior scientist came up in our research group today. I'd like to add my two cents to some resources I found online here, here, and here (that you should spend five minutes to read). While the suggestions on these two websites are most relevant for students in a large enrollment general education course, many of the same pieces of advice should be followed when you want to contact a scientist at another university or lab. Basically, a professional e-mail should be treated more like a formal letter and not a text message to your BFF. And make sure you avoid common pitfalls (that will annoy the very person you're trying to impress).

1) First, can your question be answered by information available on their website (or on iLearn), elsewhere on the web, or by simply looking at their schedule posted outside their office door? Even senior students and grad students still ask me questions they can answer themselves. A good example from two weeks ago: A geology major graduating this semester who missed class to attend an optional geology field trip not related to any course he was taking asked "Did we miss the X lab while we were on the X field trip?". My response: "I don't know. Did you check iLearn?". I spend a lot of time maintaining course web sites to make things more convenient for both me and students. Use those resources.

2) Always (always) address the e-mail to "Dr. X" or "Prof. X". And don't forget to identify yourself: "My name is John Smith and I'm a graduate student working with Prof. Jane Doe at State University". Likewise, close your e-mail "Regards" or "Best Regards" and not "Thanks!" or nothing at all. Include a sensible subject line and keep the e-mail short, but provide enough information so that a response is easy. Don't write "May I have a copy of your 2008 paper?", write "May I have a copy of your Johnson et al. (2008) paper that appeared in the Journal of Important Scientific Discoveries"? Consider whether their response requires knowing more about the context of your question - what kinds of rocks are you working on? where did you collect your rocks? etc. It also can't hurt to start off with a compliment: "I very much enjoyed your recent paper in EPSL. May I ask a question about your EBSD results?".

3) It's always best to use your university e-mail account to send these kinds of e-mails. That makes it very clear you're actually a student at that university and not spam or some random wacko.

4) Get a professional e-mail address. "sillybear714@sfsu.edu" or "toadjuice@gmail.com" should be reserved for personal e-mail communication (if you must). Ideally, grab a firstname.lastname@univeristy.edu account, or (if it's too late for that) a firstname.lastname@gmail.com account.

5) Punctuate, capitalize appropriately, check your spelling, and write in complete sentences. A no-brainer really.

6) If you get a response to your e-mail, you need to take time to say "Thanks!". It's annoying to spend the time to answer questions, etc. and just have it disappear into the ether.

And if you're not sure how to write a tricky e-mail, run it past your advisor first... Particularly if there might be intellectual property issues with your e-mail or if there is any chance you might step on someone's research toes. Not sure? Ask your advisor.

How NOT to impress a future advisor/employer

I often get e-mails that are not well crafted or written with care. The result is that 1) I am annoyed (and I remember which individuals have annoyed me in the past) and 2) I have to waste my time to seek additional information that should have been included in the original e-mail. For example, I just received this e-mail:

Hello Mary,

I am currently applying to enter the MS in Geosciences program (starting in the Fall 2009 semester). Last week I met with [an advisor in your department], and she suggested that I set up a meeting with you to discuss the program as well as potential research opportunities. If you are available to meet sometime in the next week or two, please let me know a day and time. If you are really busy right now, but are able to speak briefly over the phone, you can reach me at 415-xxx-xxxx.

Thank you,

[Potential graduate student]

At least he said "Thank you".

What's wrong with this e-mail? First, he starts by using my first name. I'm perfectly happy with students calling me by my first name but that is perhaps unique to geology (the culture is very different in other fields: for example, all students in the Chemistry Department address their professors with "Dr.", even to their principal advisor). Always (always) default to addressing someone in academia as "Dr." or "Prof." until you are either requested to do otherwise, or you get some other indication that you may comfortably use a person's first name (how do they sign their e-mails?).

Next delightful shortcoming of this e-mail: This potential grad student didn't bother to tell me anything (anything) about their background or research interests, and gave me no indication he'd even bothered to look at my web site to see what my research interests are. For such a wired generation, students fail an impressive number of times to even search Google (or check their syllabus or the course web site) before sending me an e-mail or coming to my office for information.

Then he goes on to request a meeting without telling me when he might be available, and instructs me that "If you are really busy right now" to telephone him.

I am always really busy.

What I wrote back was this:

Hi [Potential graduate student],

Why don't you tell me a bit about your background? Do you have a B.S. in geology? Do you have any research experience in the lab or field? Did you take a traditional 4-6 week field camp? What are your research interests? What is your ultimate career goal once you have an M.S.?

Thanks,
Mary

I'm really not in a hurry to meet with this guy....but you never know....so that's why I even bothered to reply.