Meeting with Professors
This is the part of my application process where I started improvising wildly. It turns out that I’m not the only person who does this sort of thing – and I still believe it was an important factor in my admission here
I made contact with professors where I thought of applying, and set up interviews with them even before application season officially started. I flew from NY to the West Coast twice: one time to visit UC Irvine and (beautiful) UC San Diego, and the other to visit Stanford and the University of Oregon in Eugene. I spoke with the (extremely helpful and kind) professor from the University of Wisconsin, Madison over the phone. I tried to make sure that they know who I am, beyond the points and grades and letters of statement and recommendation – I wanted them to have a specific image in their minds when they see my name in the applicants list.
As I wrote earlier, I figured I have a better chance of entering a program by being invited by a faculty member (or at least have one or two waiting for me) rather than by “forcing my way in” by way of “normal” application.
I never lied, mind you. I only got in touch with professors in whose research I was genuinely interested, and who I was hoping to have as my advisors. As far as I was concerned, I was interviewing them as much as they were interviewing me – and my opinion sometimes changed after seeing the professor/department/campus/town, but each and every one of those visits was absolutely worth it.
It did, however, cost some money – and some of the universities (UC San Diego and Stanford, for example) invite finalists for interviews later on, paying for at least a part of their expenses. But I wasn’t sure I’d make it to the finalists’ list without this added touch, and so tried to take the initiative. I don’t regret it.
With time, I learned to be assertive – if I only had two days to be in town, I asked the professor to meet during one of those days, rather than ask “When in January would be convenient for you?” I did apologize when the options were this tight, but they all seemed to understand this. After all, I was coming from far away just to meet them, and they were appreciative of that. Here is an example of such a letter.
Before Emailing (and definitely before meeting) any professor, I collected material written by her/him and studied it well. I also made sure I was up on the material I was interested in (papers I dug out of the Web by myself, following Emailed advice from professors, as discussed before). This way I felt confident and informed during the meetings, and was able to explain myself and my thoughts more-or-less coherently, hopefully sounding like I know what I’m talking about.
I also used the meeting to keep learning about the application process. I asked who would be good sources of recommendation, I asked whether or not my scores were good enough to apply, what should my statement containÖ I wasn’t shy about being clueless. I think this frame of mind paid off – ignorance is not something to be ashamed of. Trying to HIDE ignorance is what could keep me ignorant.
I learned that after any kind of interview, it’s a good idea to send a thank-you note a few days after, to help refresh the memory of the meeting in the mind of the other party, as well as in order to actually thank them for their time and attention.
In those cases, it was easy – each and every one of the meetings was truly a pleasant experience. If anything, I’m sorry I don’t have a chance to work with ALL the wonderful people I met. No, really 🙂
Don’t Assume
I was shy at the beginning, I thought I was just somehow expected to know everything, and so would make an idiot of myself by asking.
Well, that form of thinking quickly vanished. 🙂 I would pick up the phone or send an email to find out anything that I needed to know – and I do mean anything. Here are some examples of such emails.
This is especially true for money matters. Some people have no problem asking about money. I used to. I thought it sounded too… well, materialistic. But after thinking about it a little, I realized I much prefer to ask now (what is simply a practical question) than to realize later that I don’t have enough money to live on, and may need to work to support myself through graduate school.
I asked professors and, more importantly, Emailed students to check about the financial aspects of the program. Simply knowing how much money a program promises to give every year is not enough, since the cost of living changes greatly from one place to another. But hearing students say something like “nobody in this program needs to work, unless they have very expensive hobbies” definitely put me at ease. Of all topics, this was the one I had the hardest time with – it just took me a long while before I felt comfortable with asking questions related to money. But it’s a real factor, and a very real issue – and it’s just better to know those things in advance.
Next: Letters