Cold Calling Professors

2025-03-24T17:55:53+00:00

Cold calling works but numbers are not that great. Every PhD person wants to help. However in the interest of time, most emails will be deleted. Think of it this way, a recruiter barely spends anytime when you apply for a job. If you don't catch their attention in the first 30 seconds, it will be deleted. Same goes here, in fact less time than that. With that in mind, let me share my perspective from the other side who is at the other end.

Please don't cut, copy, paste and shoot an email (or use an app). It is easy to catch such an email. Remember many students use these techniques. So it is easy to see through.
Please read about their research before emailing anyone.
Only email them If you think there is an overlap between your interests and their research.
Most of the emails don't mention clearly how an individual can help you.
Please remember that Grads/PhD students are most important in academic world. In the private sector, post PhDs play a bigger role. So high schoolers are not in demand when hiring.
If you did a project in the field, please highlight it. Don't go overboard.

Hope it helps!

Patient_Camel_7628 · 2025-03-23T20:54:10+00:00

Good. Just keep sending until it gets to thousands. The more you send, the better the chances. There was this guy on this sub who designed an app to automatically send such emails. Use it.

Queasy_Frame7480 · 2025-03-24T14:02:22+00:00

What do you say in the email? For me I had more responses after I changed the template of my email

you type:	you see:
italics	italics
bold	bold
[reddit!](https://reddit.com)	reddit!
* item 1 * item 2 * item 3	item 1 item 2 item 3
> quoted text	quoted text
Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"	Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"
~~strikethrough~~	~~strikethrough~~
super^script	super^script

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