How do I ask a stranger for advice?

October 3, 2005 8:33 AM

Help me apply to grad school! I'm making initial contacts with faculty at various universities, in hopes of getting a foot in the door while doing applications. I'm not entirely sure what to write in my e-mails of introduction, though.

So far I'm following the basic outline of introducing myself, giving the school and year I graduated, and telling them what my major area[s] of interest is[are], as well as what degree I'll be pursuing (Ph.D. in American schools and MSc by Research in the two British schools I've found). I then give a short paragraph detailing past research that fits with these interests (papers I've written, particular people I've studied), following up with another short paragraph (2-3 sentences) politely asking for any advice they can give about my studies. Is there anything else I should be including? Anything I should leave out?

Thank you!

posted by kalimac to Education (19 answers total)

I can't think of anything else that you would want to include. You definitely want to try to meet as many people as possible, because a Ph.D. is much more about choosing an advisor than choosing a school. You will be working with this person for a pretty long time, and you need to treat it like what it is: a relationship. (It's even more serious than that, actually. More like a marriage, because it takes a lot of paperwork to "break up".)

May I ask what your field of interest is? I just defended my Ph.D. in marine biology.
posted by nekton at 8:39 AM on October 3, 2005

Don't forget to add two things:

-- A detail that shows that you know this person's work;
-- Flattery (I'm seeking the ideas of the best in this field, etc.)

People do love to offer their opinions (usually), but they need to be reminded of how brilliant and valuable their opinions are.
posted by argybarg at 8:42 AM on October 3, 2005

If you're at the point where you can visit these schools, see if there's a way to meet up with them in person - it makes such a difference in information transfer (both ways).

Also, and I assume you're doing this already but forgot to mention, don't forget to end the note with a "thanks for your time," maybe a "I look forward to hearing from you."
posted by whatzit at 8:47 AM on October 3, 2005

Start putting together a list of additional questions for the ensuing correspondence. Research resources, names of grad students you can contact, campus life, etc. You can find out a lot of it online, and you should, but you need to be prepared to have a substantive conversation with these folks beyond the basic introductions.
posted by jmgorman at 8:52 AM on October 3, 2005

Definitely contact the graduate students at the universities, especially the one working with possible advisors. They will be willing to give you a more candid view of the university, program, and professor. (A small caveat, I've heard of right bastards in competitive fields giving out false information when contacted by potential graduate rivals. I've never actually seen this happen first hand, but I felt I should mention it.)
posted by oddman at 9:07 AM on October 3, 2005

I second jmgorman: Expect this to be a matter of three or four letters/conversations, not a one-shot affair.
posted by argybarg at 9:08 AM on October 3, 2005

There is a book, an oldie but goodie, titled something like "How to get into Graduate School without Actually Lying" that addresses this issue with great cunning.
posted by LarryC at 9:10 AM on October 3, 2005

This varies so much by discipline as to make answering it somewhat silly until you tell us what department you're applying in. In particular,
a Ph.D. is much more about choosing an advisor than choosing a school
is true in most disciplines but not all.
posted by Aknaton at 9:27 AM on October 3, 2005

Response by poster: Thank you so much! I'm certainly expecting these e-mails to go far beyond a one-shot - I really want to make contacts in my field, and get a good working relationship going.

My area of study is socio-cultural anthropology. Within that, I want to study ritual and ceremony (particularly as relates to aging and personhood) among the Quechua of Andean Peru. I think there's somewhat less competition among anthropologists, mostly because there's a hella lot out there to study, and the paradigms and schools of thought are constantly changing - it's a pretty flexible field.

(and fyi some of my past research includes: Ritual and ceremony in the American Gay community from 1950-2000, independently finding the meaning behind a particular mask made by the Bobo of Burkina Faso, gender and weaving in Andean Peru and aging among the Bag'katla of Botswana. I spent a month studying in Peru January of my senior year. I graduated with a BA spring '04 from University of Delaware.)
posted by kalimac at 9:55 AM on October 3, 2005

Networking on the network might have some useful information, either now or as you start your program.
posted by craniac at 10:04 AM on October 3, 2005

I reiterate visiting your top choices. When I applied to grad school, I went for a visit and met the director of the grad program I was interested in so he could put a face to a name when it came time to select people for admissions. My program is fairly selective and talking to the other people in my graduating class, every single one of them either went in person for an informational interview or met with members of the selection committee during grad night.
posted by Kimberly at 10:46 AM on October 3, 2005

Also from Phil Agre, this is worth checking out.

In anthropology, unlike the lab-based sciences, your research won't likely be a part of your advisors research and in fact you'll be working quite independent. This means that the "choose your advisor is more important than choosing your school" is probably not very relevant to you. In most departments you probably won't even choose an advisor until after your first year and you can switch advisors at any time after that if you like, anyway (not that this is something you want to do a lot of).

For sure look for a school where you can see that there's someone who could be your advisor, but better, look for a department where any number of people could advise you. In your case let's say someone who has studies your populations (Gay Americans, Peruvians, Botswanans) and someone else who has studied your topic (crafts, rituals, gender), someone who uses your research methods maybe, etc. etc. You don't necessarily need a place where someone is studying exactly what you study. And a department where you'll get good personal and research financial support without someone who is dead-on your interests is better than a department with an older version of you, but where you'll have to teach two sections every semester.

Also, I would advise that you make sure you're pumping as much energy into the contacts you already have as you're pumping into making new ones. The most important thing for your getting into grad school won't be whether or not you've made relationships with profs where you're applying, it will be the relationships you have with your undergrad profs. These are the people who write letters for you and their letters will be more important than your grades or GRE scores for getting you in. It's important not only that they think well of you (everyone's letter writers think well of them), but that they know you very well. They need to be able to write detailed letters about you, citing examples to back up what they say about you, and providing evidence that they know you very well. (it's not good enough to have them say that you were in their class and did super-well and wrote a great paper. They need to know you better than that).
posted by duck at 10:56 AM on October 3, 2005

Talk to old professors at UD for advice, or even new arrivals since then.

You really want to find out what the professional norms are for anthro. Depending on what they are, there's a small but nonzero chance that you won't be seen as that pleasant person who talked to us before but, rather, that smarmy ass who comes on way too strong, keeps bothering us, and always seems to be selling something.

This sort of thing varies strongly by discipline. In realcountrymusic's department (or disciplinewide?), there seems to be an expectation that applicants will do "extra" stuff to impress the departments, so you'd want to do this if you were in music. In political science, we expect to get a bunch of applications from people we've never spoken to, and evaluate them on the basis of their application materials.

I guess I mean that we can't help you. Only anthropologists can help you.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 10:57 AM on October 3, 2005

Oh, and I wanted to add, that the best way to get in touch with faculty at prospective schools isn't to email them yourself directly, but to have faculty members you know (and who know the person you're contacting) introduce you. That's how I did these and I subsequently met and spoke with several people at a conference before applying.

Like ROU_X, I think contacting people directly with transparent requests for advice can be seen as annoying brown-nosing. There was a question about this a while back, but I can't seem to find it. Visiting before you're admitted would also be frowned upon in my field, in fact I once saw a student come to the department and be turned away without getting the chance to speak to anyone. I'm sure she was told that if she wanted to apply she should send in her application and that was it.
posted by duck at 11:16 AM on October 3, 2005

I'm finishing a MSc and was trying to find a lab to do my PhD in (in a different field) and I successfully got accepted into both a lab (which I wanted to join) as well as a program. If a program is particularly competitive, it's always good to have a supervisor already lined up which makes entrance into said program easier.

I started out going through the faculty lists at University websites, finding the ones I was interested in working with, then reading some of the papers on their "selected works" lists and narrowed the dozen that I was interested in.

The unsolicited email starts:

//

Hello Dr. XXXX, my apologies if this unsolicited email inconveniences you.

My name is XXXX and [current situation]

I was wondering if you would be be in the position to, and are interested in, having a PhD candidate student?

My undergraduate background XXXX, my current background XXXX. [Some past accomplishments] [Why I was interested in this particular field] [Why I was interested in their particular lab] [What I want to study & why I think that their lab can benefit me, and how I can benefit their lab].

[My work experience - so, more of what I can do for them and that they wouldn't have to handhold me]

If you are in the position to, and are interested in, having a PhD candidate student I would be more than happy to discuss it with you.

Cheers, and thanks for your time.

//

I got some positive responses, some non-responses (ie., meetings), and some "I don't have the funding to support you" and some "I would be interested but I don't have the funding..." Depending on the supervisor, they may offer to cover your travel expenses. ymmv.

Good luck!
posted by PurplePorpoise at 11:24 AM on October 3, 2005

kelimac,

i just went through this whole thing and after 1 failed attempt, succeeded and got into the school of my choice the next time around. your letter sounds good; a form letter might not be a bad place to start. you might want to press the issue by saying something along the lines of "perhaps we could meet sometime soon to discuss potential research directions?"

most faculty (in the physical sciences, anyway - not sure about anthropology) have webpages where they list their most recent publications. if you are still in school or have access to a library that subscribes to these journals, you could do the following, where N is as large as you have the energy for:

• get an idea of the research directions of all of the faculty you're considering
• pick out the top N you're interested in
• read their most recent publications
• insert a paragraph or so in your form letter that addresses some specifics of their research, asks questions and applies it to the thing you want to study. this will make you stand out for being informed. but more importantly, it will say to them "i have direction! i can be productive!"

as others have said, visiting the school and meeting people is critical. i think the thing that worked for me was that, before i applied, i met with various faculty in the program, and with at least one of them came to an agreement about a research direction and project goals. this motivated him to add a letter of recommendation to my application when it arrived - which, i am sure, was a huge kick in the pants for my app.

also, you might be able to sniff out who is on the admissions committee. meeting with them is a good thing since the more people on the admissions committee who remember you, the better your chances of getting into the school are.

i think you should be careful about the "advice" angle. this is an oblique way of asking the question that, as i understand it, you really want to ask: "can i work for you?" some will get it, some will not. if you ask for advice, you may get just advice - something along the lines of "oh, you should talk to so-and-so" which is not a foot in the door at all. if you're initiating this exchange because you are considering working for them, you should make it clear. approach it delicately, sure -- but remember that in grad school you are expected to be more directed and self-sufficient, and (IMO) your language should reflect that.

anyway, best of luck!
posted by sergeant sandwich at 11:31 AM on October 3, 2005

as others have said, visiting the school and meeting people is critical

...in some disciplines, irrelevant in others, and might actively hurt your chances in yet others.

You really ought to find out where anthro falls.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:56 AM on October 3, 2005

This thread that wandered into related topics may also be of interest to you.

I'm embarrased to note, that though I said in that thread that I would not write 20 letters for a student, I've applied for over 30 jobs, for which 5 faculty members have written letters. I may still apply for a few more, if I see any good postings.
posted by duck at 12:13 PM on October 3, 2005

Generally, for socio-cultural anthropology (as with most humanities and some social sciences), funding does not come from the advisor, but from the school or from outside grants. Factor this into your decision - a school with funding is better than one with the perfect advisor, but no funding.

But it is a good idea, still, to ask people if they are accepting students - it gives a professor a chance to mention if they are planning to retire, or maybe leave the school. There is nothing worse than starting a program only to have your potential advisor leave. Unforeseen things still happen, but it's best to know the potential before going in. (Two of my friends have lost advisors, including one in socio-cultural anthro whose advisor switched countries - they are still in contact, but it is more difficult, and of course they still need a replacement official advisor).

Advisors do still matter in social sciences and humanities - for my field of history, there is only one person in a rather large history department who is familiar enough with what I am working, thematically and geographically. I could work with someone else if forced, but I wouldn't have the same support. If my advisor left, I would likely try to follow him rather than stay at my current university.

What you are doing sounds good - it gives people a chance to say whether they think the department would be a good place for you - also, kind professors sometimes give unsolicitated application advice.
posted by jb at 10:16 AM on October 7, 2005