How to express interest in joining the lab

Academics receive a huge number of requests for supervision from prospective students (a usual week for me is around 10-30). Most of these requests are immediately deleted because it is clear that the sender has little idea about the work that the researcher is doing, and the same e-mail has been sent to numerous individuals. The week I am writing this I received e-mails about working on: cod genomics, protein folding, and epidemiology of zoonotic diseases.

If you don’t take the time to tailor your letter so that your interest is clearly demonstrated, your e-mail probably won’t be seriously considered. This is a “regrets” solution. Bringing students into the research program is critical to the advancement of science. I am always happy to speak with students, and find ways to work together, especially when we share common interests. I also maintain a list of “interested students” to share other opportunities with as they become available. Here are a couple tips for making sure your e-mail gets through.

  • Please don’t start with a generic greeting like “Dear professor”.
  • Please attach a CV and a set of transcripts. Grading structures vary a lot from institution to institution, and even more from country to country. Please provide a short description to explain how your grades are calculated – e.g. Is a score of 9, out of 10? 20? 30?
  • Please read some of the work we do. Describe how our interests overlap/intersect. Maybe we have a shared interest in a topic, or method. Please let me know if that’s the case.
  • Please provide details about the kind of methods/theory/practice/interests that you are attracted to. Entomology/ecology/agriculture are all huge fields. I’m pretty flexible in my interests, but for certain areas (e.g. plant physiology, chemical ecology) – I don’t have the appropriate facilities or academic background to support your project.
  • Finally, please show me you’ve found and read this page by putting the word “Sissiboo” in the subject line.

I look forward to hearing from you.
Paul

Thanks to Kate Sherren, whose own post on this topic have greatly influenced my own.