Galen W. Ng

U-M Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering | Grad Student |
Hydroelastician

[Fortran @fortranlang]

Fortran 2023 has been published:

https://t.co/7LOCYiZ4o5

For a summary of changes to the language, see John Reid's slides here: https://t.co/Z6IDYiRUIw.

[Chris Combs (iterative design enjoyer) @DrChrisCombs]

It's grad school application season and I see a lot of students wondering why faculty don't respond to their emails. I get emails like the one below every day and I delete almost all of them. Why? Let me discuss and help you learn how to write an email that WILL elicit a response...

For starters, when I see a clear form/copy-paste email with different fonts in the greeting it is 1) sloppy; 2) clearly someone fishing. Auto-delete. When you're writing these emails the format and grammar MATTER. PIs want students that write well because they will need to publish. Extensive formatting/grammar edits in manuscripts means significantly more work for us. Plus, it exhibits poor attention to detail and I don't want someone sloppy working in my lab.

Students should also try and target faculty working in their field. Notice that some of the first several key words are energy, wind energy, CFD, and machine learning. That's not me. But if this student had taken time to connect their strengths to my research by focusing on fluid dynamics, aerodynamics, PIV/diagnostics, this would have come across much stronger.

They should have said: "I know I have not worked in hypersonics but I have experience working in an experimental lab performing aerodynamic analysis using diagnostics like PIV. I would love the opportunity to apply this expertise in your hypersonic wind tunnel while completing my PhD". THAT is compelling.

Notice how the word "hypersonics" isn't in the original email once? They haven't mentioned the name of my university? Or mentioned any of our research areas? I also haven't had an active job posting in several weeks. It is all entirely generic.

You need to make an attempt to connect to this faculty member. Talk about how your experience would benefit their lab specifically. Which projects do they have that you find interesting? What was a specific finding in one of their papers that opened your eyes? Have you met them at a conference or been to one of their talks? Watched a recording online, heard them on a podcast, read an op-ed they wrote? Do you follow them on Twitter? (That last one might sound silly but it's a "connection" and can get a response)

Also note that we are probably wary of clicking external links or downloading attachments. Those might as well not be there. Highlight your high GPA, test scores, and maybe relevant coursework/papers in the body of the email. You don't want to make it too long but you need to sell yourself in the body not with attachments.

One point that is perhaps unfortunate but true: you need to have a certain degree of awareness of geopolitical events if you are applying to a school outside your home country. Are you applying somewhere that has a strained relationship with your home government? Will there be visa/travel/data access restrictions? This is especially true if the researcher is getting funding from defense agencies. Kids in the US probably shouldn't bother applying for grad school in Russia right now, for example. I wish the whole world was kumbaya all the time but unfortunately we all know that's just not how it is.

Can you get a current faculty mentor to reach out to someone on your behalf with a recommendation? That's also an introduction that is much more likely to get a response.

It also really helps if you send these emails *after* you have applied to the school. It shows you are serious. We're more likely to respond to an email from someone that we think we might run into on campus (or have in class) next year.

You might be saying "that's a lot of work to personalize those emails" and "that's a lot of money on application fees". Yes and yes. Regarding the former, if you aren't targeted in these emails and putting a lot of work into them, you aren't going to get responses. So consider the workload you can handle, do your research, and go after a select group of schools and faculty that seem like a good match. If you're sending 100s of these you're doing it wrong. Same comments go for application fee cost. There is a certain upfront investment in the application process (I'm not endorsing the system it's just a fact) but I would recommend applying to maybe 5 schools tops. Know your credentials and GPA. Talk to others to get a feel for where you will be admitted. You might email department/graduate school staff to inquire on general admissions requirements/guidelines. If your GPA + scores are so low you aren't confident you'll get in anywhere? You need to be asking yourself why you're going to grad school in the first place. Is it the right time? It's not like the classes are about to get easier.

Now, disclaimer, even if you do all that you're still not going to be getting responses from everyone. Plenty of faculty I work with don't even respond to my emails. Even faculty that are interested might not have funding at the right time, so there's a bit of timing luck involved as well. This is where targeting faculty that have specific ads posted (on personal websites or on job boards) makes a difference. But you'll at least have a good shot of not ending up in the auto-delete pile.

Hopefully this was constructive--please try to take this for what it is intended to be (helpful). This isn't a personal take-down, I'm sharing because I think this is information most students just don't have. Good luck out there!

PS: what to do when you don't get a response? Mostly, just try to not worry about it. Like I said, many will not respond even to a good email. Hopefully you get enough responses to have some options though. If you write good emails and your credentials are excellent (this is grad school, so they should be), it won't be a problem. If you feel the need to follow up, give people at least 5-10 business days before checking in. Also beware of local holidays (religious or otherwise). I've gotten emails from students on Dec. 25 and then follow-ups on Jan. 1 asking why I haven't responded. Don't be that person.

[Galen W. Ng @hydrofoilng]

Very happy to have had the opportunity to speak at the 2023 Innov'Sail conference in Lorient France. I have met a lot of cool people and had many interesting discussions regarding state-of-the-art in sailboat design technology.

[VOILAb: Vortex Interaction Laboratory @VOILAb_UoE]

Beautiful vortex games.. nicely done!

[McConaghy @McConaghyBoats]

Check out what McConaghy’s metal craftsman have built for the AC40’s now in production. @EmiratesTeamNZ ,@americascup

#AC40 #Americascup #Barcelona2024 #emiratesteamnz

[University of Michigan Electric Boat @UMElectricBoat]

Hello everyone,

Today is Giving Blueday at the University of Michigan! Please consider donating to our page here to help send our team to the PEP competition: https://t.co/U4F4ZWKVOB

Also, please like and retweet this to help us get a bonus! @umforevergoblue #givingblueday