Templating Method for Cold Emailing Advisors
By Casey Fiesler and Oludayo Sokunbi (Deewon)
Dear Dr. BLANK,
I am considering applying to your department’s PhD program, one reason being that I am very interested in the work you are doing on BLANK (e.g., research ethics for public data). For example, I particularly enjoyed your paper BLANK (e.g., research ethics for Twitter) and see myself possibly doing that kind of work.
My own research interests relate to BLANK (e.g., data privacy particularly on social media) in these ways, and I have some research experience with BLANK (privacy settings on Facebook). I’m wondering if you will be considering taking on new PhD advisees, or if you have suggestions for other faculty I should reach out to.
I’d be interested to hear more about the recent work in your lab, and I’d be happy to answer any questions or to talk if more information would be helpful.
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Short version if you don’t have any experience in the ballpark of the PI’s interests:
Dear Dr. BLANK,
I am considering applying to your department’s PhD program, one reason being that I am very interested in the work you are doing on BLANK (e.g., technology ethics— more general) and I see you do work in that area.
I’d be interested to hear more about the recent work in your lab. I’m wondering if you will be considering taking on new PhD advisees, or if you have suggestions for other faculty I should reach out to.
I’d like to also hear about other work that’s happening in your lab.
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Your mileage may vary
YMMV based on your discipline so find out about norms.
- Be personal/specific. DO NOT send the same email to every faculty member in a department.
- It’s appropriate to ask if someone thinks they will take on new students, but know that you might not always get a satisfying answer to this. This question is good paired with a request to be pointed to other faculty if appropriate.
- Don’t demand for meetings. I think it’s good to open up an obvious possibility for having a meeting, without directly asking for one. Someone who is actively recruiting students might be eager to talk.
Additional details:
- Check for the current funding to figure out the current research interests.
- Include personal connections;
I’ve been a undergraduate research assistant of BLANK (e.g., your previous advisors), and he/she suggested that I reach out to you.
- Follow up only and only once, and at least a week after the initial email. Reply to your own initial email and just say very normal thing without any additional info.
Hi, I am just checking in. I know how easy it is for emails like this to slip through the cracks in these busy times. If you are not able to respond, it is totally fine. I look forward to applying to your PhD program regardless.
- “Don’t sound apologetic. You are not begging for a favor, you are earning a position by showing your skills. Don’t be desperate; it’s a big turn-off.”
- Don’t lie, don’t exaggerate your skills; Show that you are part of the best in your country/continent.
- If you can attach your CV and Test Scores as a link, it will be better. This will reduce storage space.
(my take) My mileage on customizing the email
- given that I am not from a internationally respected country in science, and the universities I have attended do not show any significance (even though I practically kept myself up to date by following top unis curriculum), I must include my international professional level research in my email. This validates both my experience, and also more internationally acceptable. For Europe, particularly the institute I did research is exceptionally renowned and mentioning it could go a long way.
- I have industry experience, which could be seen as a gap, although, has benefits too, including skills that can enable better collab with industry, long term view of the projects, users, etc. Also, inclusion of skills that are not necessarily part of job description of a research student, but could go a long way in a research intensive collaborative environment, are beneficial which is presents me as a T-shape student (see the [[candidate/aidos_group/Fitness#[T-Shaped People and Academia](https //bastian.rieck.me/blog/2022/t/)|definition of a T-shape]] student).
(my take) Some notes
- If there are PI’s that mention you must provide all materials with customized instruction (e.g., you must attach, 3-page cv, 2-page sop, 1-page research statement, rotated by 1 degree, dpi of 97 converted to pdf via a Lua script while drinking tea), and yet mention that you might get any response, just skip it (again unless you have a personal connection, e.g., your recommender knows him and so on.)
- do not forget to check the PI’s website for emailing instruction. Many have specific subject for email, or require specific items (even directly quoting a phrase like “i have read these instruction”)
- Make sure to put the title they use on their website; e.g., Prof, Dr., Prof. Dr., etc. Start safe, then if they used your first name, or used their name in any format when signing the email, you can chill.
- Don’t mention the paper title directly, rather use wording that describes a more general take on that (e.g., similar to ACM keywords for papers)
- If you receive something like “thanks for reaching out; looking forward to seeing your application.”, just ignore and go to the next case, and do not apply unless you have extremely good recommendation letters (or overall extremely competitive experience), and of course let’s not forget the application fee, language certificate fee, etc you must pay for each additional school you apply.
Warning
(my take) In almost all previous cases where both parties (me and the advisors) were fine, due to political issues, I was rejected administratively.
I am being punished for the crimes that I have been fighting against.
Another example1:
Example
Subject: Prospectve Masters Student: Fall 2020
Dear Prof., XYZ,
I am Jasmine Folorunsho, a medical graduate of the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. My undergraduate project on ”Title of the project” exposed me to some level of research in epidemiology. I am seeking your supervision as a graduate student of the Masters in xxx for the Fall 2020 program.
Note
The first paragraph should tell the Professor how important you are. You don’t necessarily need to Introduce yourself too much: your attached documents will do that. Put accomplishments that are research-based. (3-4 sentences)
I was captivated by your most cited work on Google scholar ( ”Title of the paper” -2015) and I admire the level of scrutiny done to select the data sources used, the details on its limitations and the prospective cumulative effect on health policies to address obesity in Canada. I would like to know if any study was done to compare the prevalence of obesity in 2019 as predicted in your study.
Note How does your current research knowledge relate to the professor's current research? Find what connects you to the Professor. This could be your undergraduate publications (If you have). If you don't have any research knowledge, no worries, just read the Professor's publications and find a way to link them to your previous knowledge. How many of the Professor's papers have you read and what did you learn? This is usually the core of any email. You need to tell the Professor the name of his/her paper you have read, the keywords in those papers, the problems he/she solved in the paper and the method used. This is to show that you are a good research student. Note, you don't need to understand all the 'jargons' used in the paper, but you must read the paper over and over again till you have an idea. Do you have questions or other methods of improving the current research? You can offer suggestions or ask questions based on the papers you have read. This shows that you have the ability to improve any result.
You should ask
would like to know if you are accepting MSc students for the Fall 2021 term. Please my CV has been attached. I look forward to hearing from you. I can also call you via skype to further discuss if you don’t mind.
Note
What do you need from the Professor and why? Let the professor know that a space in his/her lab is not a waste of opportunity by the way you construct the mail. Ask him/her for a skype call for further discussion. This is called ‘Incentifying opportunities’.
Note
In total, you should have 3 paragraphs with about 12-15 sentences.
Yours Sincerely, Jasmine Folrunsho
Ref:
- https://x.com/cfiesler/status/1301907707579031555
- https://x.com/Oludeewon/status/1284873001884954624