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Economaniac · 06-14-2008, 05:14 PM

Current grad students will def be able to answer this question. How do you approach a potential advisor you are interested to work with? How do yo setup the first contact? What should the email etiquette be like?

Also should you take the advisor's age into account? What happened if he/she suddenly retires soon after you start working with him/her?

If possible could you give what a sample email ought to be like to contact this advisor ?

Sorry if these questions are silly, I figure some of you guys have been through this process and, therefore, might be willing to share your experience.

Thank you

asquare · 06-14-2008, 06:12 PM

In my experience, you don't just e-mail someone and say "will you be my advisor." You certainly don't do that before you start the PhD, though I do encourage you to start getting to know faculty during your first year. By the time you are formally choosing your committee, you should know your potential advisor well enough that there is no need for awkward, formal e-mails.

Approaching someone as a potential advisor is just one of many steps in developing a relationship with faculty. You meet faculty by attending seminars and taking classes. You should make a point of talking to people who you might want to work with. You can have informal conversations at the end of a seminar: "I was interested in the point you made about serial correlation. Can you describe it to me in a little more detail?" You can go to office hours; if you do, it helps to have a few specific questions rather than just "tell me about your research." You can send an e-mail asking to discuss a potential research idea; again, you should have some specifics in mind, and ask for advice about something concrete. Many schools, including U-Mich, have organized summer RA programs for students who have finished first year, and asking about a summer RA position can be a natural way to broach the topic of working with someone.

These are all low-key, casual interactions that faculty have with students all the time. They can, and should, start as early as your first year. By second year, you should know the professors in your fields fairly well, and they should certainly know who you are. You will probably meet with your field faculty at some point during your second year to discuss the term papers that are typically assigned in field courses. Take advantage of the meeting and follow up, including after the paper is finished.

In short, you should have a lot of interaction with many faculty members before you reach the stage of formally choosing an advisor. The initial contact is low key and casual, and it gives you a sense of how to best interact with the various professors at your school. By the time you are actually choosing a committee, you will know the potential members well enough that you won't need a form e-mail from TM to approach them!

Golden Rule · 06-14-2008, 08:18 PM

That's all good advice, and ideally things will work out as described. Now on the flip side, there may be profs. you want to get in touch with who simply aren't as active in the department, i.e. not teaching field courses, not regularly attending seminars. In that case, email might be necessary. And even if you have established an informal relationship with someone, it may be easier to contact them through email to first set up a meeting to discuss research ideas, since they may be rushed bouncing between lectures and seminars, while they can answer email at their convenience.

As for etiquette for email, just use common sense. Be fairly concise and brief. I think you should give them some idea of what your interests are in such a message, but make it concise, postcard-length. 2000 word emails don't work well in any context of life. And don't start the relationship with an email to a prof. you've never met, saying "could you be my advisor?" That would be like proposing marriage before having a first date!! Start it with a casual, "I'd like to talk about this idea I have that I think you'd find to be of interest" and have some conversations, and see how well you interact with each other, and see if this someone you can imagine working with regularly for the next 3-4 years. Try out different faculty, and when you know, then you ask.

As for details like first-name basis or not, I do Prof. [last-name] if I've never met them, but first-name every time thereafter. I do know students who do Prof. [last-name] always, but that's just not me.

As for Prof's retiring, I think for the most part Profs will reduce their duties as they approach that time. By all means contact profs that might be on the verge of retirement, but I would hope that would be honest with you if you were seriously considering them. A greater problem than prof's on the verge of retirement is asst/assoc profs who are approaching tenure, because that's the point when you're likely to see the most turnover. So yes, take these things into account, but talk to many people before you reach the point when you need an advisor. Even if you do everything right, some people you want to work with may leave, it happens, and then you have to suck it up and deal with it, and hopefully you're well diversified in your relationships among the faculty, or the faculty will like you enough to continue working with you after they move on.

KGkhan23 · 06-15-2008, 02:39 AM

I'm not a grad student, but I just want to add to what GoldenRule said about whether to use a professor's first name or not. I typically start off just as he said to, but every time thereafter I use whatever name the professor closes with. Most professors sign off an email with their first name, and if they do then I use it as well. But there are definitely some who end with "Prof. so and so", and in those cases I'm careful not to get too familiar.

Golden Rule · 06-15-2008, 12:49 PM

Right, that's good advice. I've gone through exactly that thought process, but haven't recently encountered a prof. who has signed off like that, so I didn't think to elaborate. That might be more common with an undergrad-to-prof in a big lecture course than a grad student-to-prof relationship, as in the latter situation they're more likely to respect you as a peer.

06-14-2008, 05:14 PM	#1 (permalink)
Economaniac Trying to make mom and pop proud Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 14	How do you approach a potential advisor? Current grad students will def be able to answer this question. How do you approach a potential advisor you are interested to work with? How do yo setup the first contact? What should the email etiquette be like? Also should you take the advisor's age into account? What happened if he/she suddenly retires soon after you start working with him/her? If possible could you give what a sample email ought to be like to contact this advisor ? Sorry if these questions are silly, I figure some of you guys have been through this process and, therefore, might be willing to share your experience. Thank you

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06-14-2008, 06:12 PM	#2 (permalink)
asquare TestMagic Guru Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Ann Arbor Posts: 1,311	In my experience, you don't just e-mail someone and say "will you be my advisor." You certainly don't do that before you start the PhD, though I do encourage you to start getting to know faculty during your first year. By the time you are formally choosing your committee, you should know your potential advisor well enough that there is no need for awkward, formal e-mails. Approaching someone as a potential advisor is just one of many steps in developing a relationship with faculty. You meet faculty by attending seminars and taking classes. You should make a point of talking to people who you might want to work with. You can have informal conversations at the end of a seminar: "I was interested in the point you made about serial correlation. Can you describe it to me in a little more detail?" You can go to office hours; if you do, it helps to have a few specific questions rather than just "tell me about your research." You can send an e-mail asking to discuss a potential research idea; again, you should have some specifics in mind, and ask for advice about something concrete. Many schools, including U-Mich, have organized summer RA programs for students who have finished first year, and asking about a summer RA position can be a natural way to broach the topic of working with someone. These are all low-key, casual interactions that faculty have with students all the time. They can, and should, start as early as your first year. By second year, you should know the professors in your fields fairly well, and they should certainly know who you are. You will probably meet with your field faculty at some point during your second year to discuss the term papers that are typically assigned in field courses. Take advantage of the meeting and follow up, including after the paper is finished. In short, you should have a lot of interaction with many faculty members before you reach the stage of formally choosing an advisor. The initial contact is low key and casual, and it gives you a sense of how to best interact with the various professors at your school. By the time you are actually choosing a committee, you will know the potential members well enough that you won't need a form e-mail from TM to approach them!

06-14-2008, 08:18 PM	#3 (permalink)
Golden Rule Within my grasp! Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 417	That's all good advice, and ideally things will work out as described. Now on the flip side, there may be profs. you want to get in touch with who simply aren't as active in the department, i.e. not teaching field courses, not regularly attending seminars. In that case, email might be necessary. And even if you have established an informal relationship with someone, it may be easier to contact them through email to first set up a meeting to discuss research ideas, since they may be rushed bouncing between lectures and seminars, while they can answer email at their convenience. As for etiquette for email, just use common sense. Be fairly concise and brief. I think you should give them some idea of what your interests are in such a message, but make it concise, postcard-length. 2000 word emails don't work well in any context of life. And don't start the relationship with an email to a prof. you've never met, saying "could you be my advisor?" That would be like proposing marriage before having a first date!! Start it with a casual, "I'd like to talk about this idea I have that I think you'd find to be of interest" and have some conversations, and see how well you interact with each other, and see if this someone you can imagine working with regularly for the next 3-4 years. Try out different faculty, and when you know, then you ask. As for details like first-name basis or not, I do Prof. [last-name] if I've never met them, but first-name every time thereafter. I do know students who do Prof. [last-name] always, but that's just not me. As for Prof's retiring, I think for the most part Profs will reduce their duties as they approach that time. By all means contact profs that might be on the verge of retirement, but I would hope that would be honest with you if you were seriously considering them. A greater problem than prof's on the verge of retirement is asst/assoc profs who are approaching tenure, because that's the point when you're likely to see the most turnover. So yes, take these things into account, but talk to many people before you reach the point when you need an advisor. Even if you do everything right, some people you want to work with may leave, it happens, and then you have to suck it up and deal with it, and hopefully you're well diversified in your relationships among the faculty, or the faculty will like you enough to continue working with you after they move on.

06-15-2008, 02:39 AM	#4 (permalink)
KGkhan23 Trying to make mom and pop proud Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 26	I'm not a grad student, but I just want to add to what GoldenRule said about whether to use a professor's first name or not. I typically start off just as he said to, but every time thereafter I use whatever name the professor closes with. Most professors sign off an email with their first name, and if they do then I use it as well. But there are definitely some who end with "Prof. so and so", and in those cases I'm careful not to get too familiar.

06-15-2008, 12:49 PM	#5 (permalink)
Golden Rule Within my grasp! Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 417	Right, that's good advice. I've gone through exactly that thought process, but haven't recently encountered a prof. who has signed off like that, so I didn't think to elaborate. That might be more common with an undergrad-to-prof in a big lecture course than a grad student-to-prof relationship, as in the latter situation they're more likely to respect you as a peer.

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