Once you have identified faculty you think would be a good match, and you have confirmed they are recruiting (see Faculty Grid in Step 2), then you can start to make a connection.
The best way to start a connection is to craft an email. This email is a great time to start assessing whether this advisor is a good fit for your research interests and also for your learning style and career goals.
Read on for tips for a great introduction email.
Here is rough guide on how to craft your email to a faculty advisor.
Describe your research interests and how they tie in with your potential advisor’s lab
This first email is an opportunity for you to articulate for yourself and your potential advisor how you got to the point of wanting to go to graduate school and why you believe their lab is a good fit to support your research interests. Keep it relatively short, a paragraph or two; you’ll be able to expand your narrative in later conversations and on the application essays.
Include a CV
Your CV can impart a lot of information in a short amount of time. A CV will help your potential advisor get a sense of your experience and prepare for future conversations.
Don’t send a generic message
Advisors are looking for students who have thoroughly absorbed the information on their websites and looked at papers published by their labs. Even if you are applying to several programs, make sure you personalize your email by addressing the factors that attract you to your potential advisor’s lab and CU Boulder.
Let us know who you are
EBIO welcomes your diverse perspectives and backgrounds and want to know more about you as a person as well as a developing scientist.
It can be incredibly helpful to connect with currently enrolled graduate students and learn about their experience working with a faculty advisor.
Once you have found a few potential advisors on the Faculty Grid, visit their website and reach out to current students to see if they are open to meeting or corresponding with you.
It can be helpful to ask current students about their relationship with their faculty advisor, funding, and the inclusivity of the lab environment. For more ideas, check out our Diversity and Inclusion page.
