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I'm in my second year at uni.

There's a professor whose group I want to get into. My question relates to what's appropriate to send in a "hey can I join" email.

For example, this man quite recently (in the last 7 months) published a paper relating surveying different search algorithm techniques to find ideal locations in a molecular lattice w/ xray diffraction (this is a made-up research topic for privacy haha).

I really like this approach and wanted to use similar techniques in my graduate studies. However, he's so far only published this paper based on it. Should I not mention my specific interest in my email?

Also in general, there are a few people at my school who explore a similar "scale" of physics as this man. I'm unsure about how much detail I'm meant to put in my emails. Are professors looking for someone who's completely in-tune to their specific subfield of the subfield, or do they expect "someone who wants to work with physics on this scale and thinks your papers are cool"? Obviously the former is preferred, but I'm wondering if the latter is the usual.

Thank you for reading.

2 Answers2

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Rather than explaining in the email why you would want to join this particular lab over any other lab, I would simply write an email that says something like

Dear Professor X, I'm in my second year at uni and I am considering which group to join. I read your recent paper ABC and would love to learn more about the work you and your group does. Do you maybe have 45min in the next week where we could chat about this in person?

Best, anon.jpg

EDIT: Anonymous Physicist just rightly pointed out that this is for an undergraduate study and not searching for a PhD lab as I had mistakenly assumed. I would still ask for a large enough amount of the profs time though to make the meeting worth while. In my eyes there is no point to meet for such a short time that another meeting would be required. So maybe ask for 30 minutes. If the prof won't find 30 min time, then I think this means this prof is too busy for undergrads in the lab.

Mario Niepel
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  • It might be smarter to ask for 5 minutes. A lot of faculty are really pressed for time. – Anonymous Physicist Jan 16 '21 at 01:13
  • I guess experiences may differ. But every faculty member who I met with to potentially join their lab took a whole hour of time. And honestly, if a faculty member won't take 45 minutes to talk to a prospective 3-5 year hire, then they probably wouldn't be a suitable PhD advisor. – Mario Niepel Jan 16 '21 at 01:49
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    I think the asker is looking for undergraduate research experience, not a 3-5 year job/PhD. But the question is unclear. – Anonymous Physicist Jan 16 '21 at 02:14
  • I have reading comprehension issues. I was thrown off by the mention of 'my graduate studies', but I see the tag now. I would still aim much higher than 5 minutes though--that seems too short to even exchange pleasantries. – Mario Niepel Jan 16 '21 at 02:17
  • I'll likely not request a specific amount of time, if I'm being frank, but try to make some sort of comment like "if you have some spare time" or something. I am looking for undergrad research exp, but I guess that's like 3 years at this point. Thank you for the advice, Mario and AP. –  Jan 16 '21 at 03:32
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First, be careful. Seeing a paper and writing "Dear Prof. X, I saw your recent paper "Title" and I found this extremely exciting, this is exactly what I want to do." can backfire: Maybe this is not what the professor is interested in, but it is just a side project, mainly driven by some other people, to which he made contributions. This might come off as you not having looked into what he/she is really interested in.

Second, you don't have to come across as overly eager, and don't try to say things just to please the professor. Most professors are reasonable and critical people, and they will not be pleased just because you try very hard to please them. What they will want to see and hear is why you contacted them, why overall you find their topic interesting and what excites you for that topic (not in detail, but, say, as compared to a completely different topic within the same field, say, experimental opics vs. theoretical high-energy physics). Being too unspecific ("I find everything interesting") is just as bad as being overly specific ("Only your very topic is what I want to work on"), but having some ideas of what interests you have, and where your strenths are, is certainly a good thing.

user151413
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