联系教授的方法

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Undergraduate Applicants

2 f/ a4 Y0 q2 ?: F& b0 D, }If you’re currently a 中学生 applying as an undergraduate to a US university, you shouldn’t send any emails to potential professors. They see thousands of kids like you every year, don’t really care about you that much, & won’t affect the admission process in any way.
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: g" F# p/ G, xUNLESS…you are a very unique student who plans on doing amazing things in college. If you are a phenomenally talented musician who wants to study with a certain professor & play with the University Symphony, then by all means, email & start a dialogue with the music department. If you want to walk-on to the soccer team, email the coach. If you’re the best math student in all of China & want to be a research assistant for a famous applied mathematics professor, then emailing that professor is an awesome idea.
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If you’re a normal kid just like I was, however, emailing professors will probably hurt you more than help you.
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Transfer Students

For a lot of transfer students, contacting a particular professor might be a good idea.  That is, if you’re already certain of what your major will be & are transferring to a new university specifically to study this major, then you should contact a professor that you want to work with.  That’s simply a good idea.  Maybe you’re fortunate enough to be considering transferring into the applied mathematics program at MIT — because it’s a very specialized program where you’ll undoubtedly be working closely with certain professors, yes, contacting them is a good idea.  Not just because they could “put in a good word” with admissions, but because you will probably end up spending a lot of time with these professors in the future.  Being friendly is always a good idea!
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Master’s Degree/MBA Students

9 V* @$ h" U: c' q  BI recommend that graduate applicants send introductory emails to professors at their chosen universities, virtually 100% of the time.  Why?  Because this is a different ball game — these professors have spent their entire lives mastering what they’re about to teach you, & you’re going to be working with them very closely.  They are on the admissions committee, they will know you by your first name, & the earlier they get to know you, the better.
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  o. q0 v  V( B" C0 T( @/ W/ Y9 WNow, this is dangerous territory though. I do NOT recommend emailing more than one professor, because frankly, I doubt there are more than one professor at any school where you could develop a sincere, mutually beneficial mentor relationship with.  & that’s why you’re sending these emails…because you actually want to learn something from them…not because you want to “suck up”, or just look good.
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When sending these emails, you HAVE TO have done your homework.  If you send an email that says “Hi, my name is Wang Kai Xian & I am very happy to meet you.  I think your business classes will help me very much!  Thank you!”, then the recipient is going to think you’re an idiot & make sure you are NOT accepted.
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If you’re going to send an email to a professor, make sure you know EVERYTHING about that professor.  Make sure he is someone you really are looking forward to working with, because of their body of work, publications, & fame within their field….not just because you want them to help you get accepted.  Read some of their publications, try to learn something from the work they’ve done, & then you can ask them intelligent questions about their work, while casually mentioning that you look forward to seeing them on campus if accepted.  Anything less & you’ll seem like a sycophantic idiot.  (Learn that vocabulary word)

PhD Students
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% B$ a+ H8 W6 ]+ E+ [/ }1 BYes, yes, yes, yes, yes.  You’re going to have a faculty advisor as a PhD student, & you should DEFINITELY decide who you want that advisor to be, before you apply.  You have to be a great student & have a very compelling case to be accepted into a PhD program — these professors will spend the next 5 years with you.  Email them BEFORE you send your applications in, & make sure that you’re making the right decision.  Just do it.

' H+ b' I. k& h. p- n7 O---- If you want to know more, please visit http://www.jordandotson.com/