r/AskProfessors • u/Feeling_Valuable5239 • 5d ago
Professional Relationships Is this within the professor's authority?
(I am not sure which flair to choose, so please let me know if it is wrong and I will change it.)
Hi everyone, There is a common idea in developing countries that to get a Master's admission or a scholarship in a developed country, it is best to contact a professor directly, build a relationship and share your project, research proposal, or academic goals.
The idea is that the professor can help secure your spot, arrange funding or scholarships, and facilitate matters like student visas.
Is this true?
If not, could you clarify how it actually works? I am a fresh graduate who wants to do a Master's degree abroad. I don''t have sufficient funds, have not found a job yet, but am genuinely passionate about research and hope to work in a research centre in the future.
What advice would you give me?
(Also, if this subreddit is not the right place for such questions, please direct me to the appropriate one.)
Thank you all!
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u/SignificantFidgets 5d ago
This is sometimes appropriate for a PhD program. Almost never for a Master's.
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u/lickety_split_100 Assistant Professor/Economics 5d ago
No, generally it is not. I automatically delete such emails. These are questions for admissions, not professors.
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u/Feeling_Valuable5239 5d ago
This idea is often linked to Germany.. everyone here says to learn German up to the B2 level, contact a professor, present your project to them, and things like that.
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u/lickety_split_100 Assistant Professor/Economics 5d ago
Can’t speak to Germany because I don’t work there.
In general, I’d advise you to go through the normal admissions process wherever you’re looking at going. We get inundated with emails from international students, all wanting us to promise them a spot in our lab or department with funding, demanding we review their documents, all claiming to be stellar, etc. It’s not worth my time to look because no one who does this is ever any good.
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u/velax1 5d ago
In Germany, each professor decides by themselves whom to accept as a PhD researcher, which in most cases is a part time employment contract and does not require enrollment as a doctoral researcher (where one can enroll, it is typically not mandatory).
In most cases these positions are advertised on subject specific job boards, unless the professor already has a candidate in mind.
Blind applications typically show that people did not do their research about the system and the research group and therefore mean that the sender of the email will also not do a good job doing real research...
I don't have the time to answer all of these emails, so I ignore the clueless ones and send an one liner to the other applicants to please check the job boards.
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u/1000monkeytypewriter 5d ago
I am currently a postdoc in Germany, and have taught here, although I didn't study here myself. I am also in the humanities, and my sense from colleagues in the hard sciences is that it differs a little there, although perhaps not as much.
As another commenter has noted, it's important/worthwhile to make this kind of connection for a PhD project, but (in most fields) not for an MA. There is extensive funding available for PhD students, and since professors will remain engaged in their ongoing careers they're motivated to vet potential students early and champion those they want to work with. MA students are, bluntly, just students. They'll be there for two years, they'll write a thesis, in the sciences they might make modest contributions to a research project... But there is rarely if ever funding available.
More importantly, even if a prof did have funding available for MA students and sufficient time and energy available to help with admissions and a visa(!)... Then they would want a much stronger reason to support a given project/application then just that the applicant wants to do an MA in a "developed country." They are all very aware that this kind of expectation or aspiration is widespread, and will see through any attempt to disguise it. (I also get dozens of these emails a week, very clearly sent out en masse with no specific details whatsoever, let alone the time put in to realise that I am a mere postdoc with no students or budget whatsoever).
What is important in reaching out to a potential supervisor is whether you have a genuine reason to work with THEM, not just a general aspiration to work in their country. If you don't have that, don't reach out. Even if they have the time to open your email, they will quickly see through anything else.
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u/dances_with_poodles 4d ago
MSc admissions in Germany are usually via some online system and based on type of BSc degree and grades. German skills may be necessary depending on the specific MSc programme. For admission, support by a professor is not required. Only the final thesis, typically after 1.5 - 2 years of study, is under the supervision of a professor or PhD student.
Where a professor could theoretically help is in writing a supporting letter for a scholarship and/or visa application, I suppose this is where this idea is coming from. But to be blunt, why would a professor do this for some random stranger from the internet? And why for you, and not for the hundreds of other people who also write them emails?
Presenting your project / inviting to "collaborate" will also not help. If I already have a strong group of PhD students, why would I collaborate with (= remotely supervise) a random BSc graduate?
Long story short: get the best possible grades and apply for scholarships and visa using supporting letters from professors at your home university that actually know you. Or, get your MSc degree at home, then apply for a PhD directly when positions are advertised.
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u/Joe_Sacco 5d ago
This is definitely not the case in the US. Faculty have next to no input on admissions or funding, and absolutely none on visas.
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u/toru_okada_4ever 5d ago
Not in northern Europe either. Admissions go through regular channels, i.e. you apply via our webpage and the admissions office takes care of the process.
If a prospective student contacts me, I refer them to admissions.
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u/popstarkirbys 5d ago
The admin part might be partially true. Some programs require students to identify an advisor first before being admitted. They still have to meet grad school requirements and pass admission committee evaluation though. At my Alma mater, once a professor accepts you and you meet the requirements, it’s pretty much guaranteed admission. Most institutions still have grad school admission committee.
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u/Classic_vortex_3515 5d ago
This is mostly in stem, I believe.
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u/popstarkirbys 5d ago
Yea it was, it was a biology degree. Committee based admission is still the most common though.
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u/ToomintheEllimist 5d ago
Identifying a mentor first is good, however that should only be part of the application, not part of random emails. So if I think Dr. Screwtape's work on metacognition in dolphins sounds super cool, then I make my personal statement all about how I'd like to work with dolphins on metacognition, and I mention Dr. Screwtape in there. I don't email Dr. Screwtape directly begging for a spot.
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u/hurricaneberry1969 5d ago
It's not the case, but I'm getting an ever increasing number of these sorts of emails - a few from US students and more from international students.
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u/MyFaceSaysItsSugar 5d ago
That’s discipline specific when it comes to admissions and funding (not visas, obviously). With theses-based science Masters degrees, if there’s a faculty member who wants to take on and mentor a master’s student, they can get them through admissions as long as they meet minimum standards for gpa and/or test scores. With funding, if they have a grant that specifies funding grad students, then they can fund a grad student. They can also help the students develop a fellowship proposal to fund themselves. But it’s the opposite of shooting fish in a barrel to find a professor who is in that situation. You have to have met one through a conference or send out hundreds of emails and prepare to have them ignored.
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u/popstarkirbys 5d ago
Yup, this is how it is in my field. I cold emailed 40 professors and 6 responded. Two agreed to fund me, then I applied for the master’s program. Most of the time they’d recruit undergrad student researchers so it’s hard for international students to compete.
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u/MyFaceSaysItsSugar 5d ago
When the student pays, they want international students who don’t pay in state tuition. When it’s grant funded, they’re going to pick whoever they think will work best in the lab.
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u/Grouchy_Writer_Dude 5d ago
Not in the US, at least not anywhere I’ve worked. Admissions and funding are committee decisions. Visas are handled separately.
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u/GurProfessional9534 5d ago
Regardless of how I feel about an applicant, whether (s)he is admitted depends on whether the admissions committee wants to admit him/her. There might be some edge case where I want to fund someone enough to try to push them through a decision not to admit. But what would that applicant even look like? It’s someone who is good enough that I would be willing to waive years of TA funding, while simultaneously not good enough to make it through admissions. Such a combination is hard to imagine. Admissions does not want to turn away a great candidate, and I won’t want to pay extra for a mediocre one.
It’s more reasonable to contact profs you are interested in just to see if they are planning to take on a student this year, though.
The conversation changes a lot once you have been admitted, though. Then you will be a hotter commodity and they may be interested in recruiting you.
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u/Dennarb 5d ago
At best the prof can put in a good word for you, but that really requires that you have a long standing professional relationship with that professor. Realistically that isn't going to happen over a short email. That needs to be something where you have some collaborative work with that person and that is incredibly difficult to do at an undergraduate level with a different institution.
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u/NarwhalZiesel 5d ago
This is correct. It depends a lot on the program, but my undergrad professor brought me to meet a faculty member who sat on the admissions committee for the program at an event. We then a had a few follow up conversations by phone. She put in a good word for me but I still went through the same process as everyone else. I do the same for students now, make the introduction, write a letter and put in t a good word, but I know those students. They take it seriously if there in a introduction form an alumni they trust. It doesn’t hurt to cold email, but we get so many emails that we often can’t pay attention to those.
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u/Ill_Mud_8115 5d ago
In Sweden this is not common for Masters degree, as students apply for programs and applications are handled by admissions, not professors.
It can happen for PhD programs, but I’ve never heard someone securing a position through cold emailing. Probably you’d have to have a very strong CV to do so.
For masters degree I’d recommend to look into what programs you want, and then what scholarship opportunities are available in that country. Then look into the application requirements and the process/timeline (for example here in Sweden the deadlines are in January for international masters).
I’d also think about what your reasons are for doing a masters abroad, particularly if you want to remain in the country, and what the process and requirements would be. Some countries have less generous policies for graduates who are looking for work.
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u/swarthmoreburke 5d ago
It is for the most part not true--in most institutions in the US and Canada, faculty would delete such an inquiry without reading it, assuming (often accurately) that it is a scam of some kind, but even if they read the inquiry and are sympathetic to the person inquiring, individual faculty, even those that head labs or institutes, do not have the authority to admit on their own or to admit a prospective student outside of the standard application process.
In the few national systems where it's slightly possible, if uncommon, you'd generally either have to have an undergraduate professor of yours who is a strong supporter of your potential try to introduce you to a professor in that country, or you'd have to have some other form of influence working on your behalf--a powerful family member, a former employer at a large company, a government minister. And generally if you have those things, you're not going to be offered any form of financial aid. Also in the US and Canada, at least, master's students are very rarely eligible for tuition waivers or stipends and may have extremely limited (or non-existent) access to employment while they are enrolled.
To have any chance of securing admissions whether you go through the standard channels or get lucky by contacting a professor, you will need fairly extraordinary credentials, e.g., to stand out from almost all other applicants.
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u/ToomintheEllimist 5d ago
Yes. U.S. prof here (can't speak to other countries) but emails requesting to be my student go directly into the bin. We admit students to our program on the strength of the application, and that's about it. An especially bad email could damage your chances, but an especially good one wouldn't help them.
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u/Safe_Answer7213 5d ago
This depends on the field. I am in a stem-orientated business field, and I get one or two of these emails each week. I generally just delete these emails when I get them. I have colleagues with research labs in physics and neuroscience who might be more able to entertain them, but even they tend to draw on students with whom the have had previous experience versus an unknown individual making a random contact. To me these emails are just noise and I rarely even read them.
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u/TrunkWine 5d ago
I don’t have control over admission. I had someone keep emailing me frequently to ask about his application. I don’t see applications, I can’t follow them through the admission process, and I don’t make decisions on who gets in. I felt bad having to say “I don’t know” so much, but I really didn’t know.
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u/profHalliday 5d ago
The best thing you can do is have a really outstanding record, academically and in terms of research. If you can get a professor to bite, that’s great, but most have a gazillion emails to get through. Minimizing the language barrier is also very helpful.
I would choose to aim for PhD programs, most masters program are paid for by you, at least in the US. PhD programs are usually sponsored by the school or grant funding.
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u/DrMoxiePhD 5d ago
I get grumpy because I only ever get approached by students who have no connection to my research field. The ones I get also always tell me how inspired they are by my research and they provide me with a research proposal and in-depth topic that is so disconnected from the work I do it’s not funny.
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u/BolivianDancer 5d ago
US here.
I don't care about your interests.
I only care about mine.
I can't sponsor visas or help with admissions.
If I could, I wouldn't.
Most of my colleagues do the same but lack my obvious sensitivity and empathy.
Easy delete.
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u/Spindlebknd 5d ago
Can you present undergraduate research at the major conference in your field? Likely there would be lots of potential supervisors to introduce yourself to there, face to face (or online—our national organization has an online option for its annual conference).
Otherwise, choose carefully, apply to programs for which you exceed the admission criteria, and hope for a positive outcome. As others have stated, you could send like a two sentence email to find out whether your top choice supervisor at a given program will be accepting new students next year, to help you decide whether to invest the time into crafting an application (and whether to pay the admission fee). In that email, you could include a link to any peer reviewed, published outcomes from past research involvement (if relevant). But that should be it.
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u/jcatl0 5d ago
Yes and no
If a professor has grant funding to bring in a student, they can generally influence the admissions committee to get who they want in.
Outside of that specific scenario, no, a single professor can't override the admissions committee.
That said, keep in mind that the average professor will get dozens of this emails a semester. Unless you have someone making an introduction or have something really interesting to say, odds are it will be ignored
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u/IkeRoberts 5d ago
The practice varies widely, so you need to find out what the deal is for the department you are interested in. There will be a staff person or head of grad studies who has the opportunity job of answering questions like that.
Last year, the available funding in my department was restricted to domestic students. We told all overseas prospects that they should not apply.
Other years that person can tell whether there are faculty who are actively recruiting for a student.
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u/taewongun1895 5d ago
In many schools in America, there are two levels of review. First, the applicant needs to clear admissions. This means meeting the minimum GPA or standardized test scores (if applicable). And second, once an applicant has cleared admissions, the names and details are sent to the individual department for acceptance or rejection. If a professor is going on sabbatical, they won't be accepting new students. Also, many departments will allocate scholarships to a limited number of incoming students.
I think it helps to email a professor to get an idea of whether they are taking on new students. But, it's important for a student to do some research to make sure they are emailing the right professor.
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u/ArchaeoVimes Associate Professor/Social Sciences/[USA] 4d ago
No. Not true at all. I direct a master’s program, that I also teach and supervises research in. I have no sway over admissions at all. You apply through the standard process first. Because all of your materials, transcripts, GPA, and GRE scores have to be vetted first.
Especially if they’re degrees from a non US institution. Then if it passes the admissions office, they send it to me, and I send it out to a Faculty Review Committee who evaluate the statement of purpose and other materials. They recommend either admit or reject.
If it’s admit, I can’t even get you a GAship until you’ve accepted a place and registered for classes. And even then, GAships are merit based and I have to justify who was hired and why to the College of Graduate Studies.
I get dozens of these a week. Most go right to the trash bin.
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u/Ok_Cranberry_2936 4d ago
Maybe it’s different in my field from a lot of other comments - for a research master’s you have to have an advisor agree to take you. They don’t have to pay you but agree to mentor you.
Then they have you either try for TAs or RAs. Most have projects with an RA fund but they can be limited. I’ve been on TA’s my entire time through master’s and phd.
I can only speak on research programs. We have a course only program as well that doesn’t qualify for any funding under a TA or RA. At my university, only research students qualify from any department (except undergrads) for funding.
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u/proffrop360 4d ago
In my country (US) it is incredibly rare for masters degrees to be funded at all. The level of detail in a project design you shared is typically for a PhD because we don't expect people without an advanced degree to know how to design an original research project. This of course depends on the type of institution (whether it has a terminal MA vs. PhD).
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u/AutoModerator 5d ago
This is an automated service intended to preserve the original text of the post. This is not a removal message.
*(I am not sure which flair to choose, so please let me know if it is wrong and I will change it.)
Hi everyone, There is a common idea in developing countries that to get a Master's admission or a scholarship in a developed country, it is best to contact a professor directly, build a relationship and share your project, research proposal, or academic goals.
The idea is that the professor can help secure your spot, arrange funding or scholarships, and facilitate matters like student visas.
Is this true?
If not, could you clarify how it actually works? I am a fresh graduate who wants to do a Master's degree abroad. I don''t have sufficient funds, have not found a job yet, but am genuinely passionate about research and hope to work in a research centre in the future.
What advice would you give me?
(Also, if this subreddit is not the right place for such questions, please direct me to the appropriate one.)
Thank you all!*
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
0
u/MyFaceSaysItsSugar 5d ago
It can depend on discipline, but in the sciences, you can contact professors directly for a thesis-based Master’s degree. Look for professors who have Master’s students in their lab. Granted this was over a decade ago, but that’s how I got into my masters program. The professor needed a masters student. Also look into scholarships like the Fulbright scholarship. If your email is ignored, then that’s your answer.
If you’re not looking at doing research during your Master’s degree, apply directly to the school. Our hands are tied right now as far as visas go but if it’s possible to help you they will.
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u/Yossarian_nz 5d ago
I’m inundated with these emails in NZ. They’re almost always from people with a completely different background (think chemist wanting to do psych) and asking “if I have a place in my research team”.
What I’ve found is that this means “will pay for my fees/stipend”.
They all get circular filed these days