When and how to cold email potential PhD advisors
Most applicants treat the cold email as an introduction. Faculty treat the conversation as the start of the interview, which is why the timing depends more on your readiness than on the date.
Once you email your potential advisors, two outcomes are likely:
Some will not reply, at least not without a follow-up.
Some will reply and invite you to meet with them on Zoom or on the phone. They’ll often offer times in the next few days.
The goal is not to be Googling or asking LLMs “questions to ask potential phd advisor” a few hours before the call. You don’t want to be wondering if you actually want to work in a totally different subfield in the department and talking to another professor instead. This kind of uncertainty comes through in the call. Professors share notes on applicants, and it’s important to present a coherent picture.
What does it take to be ready for the first interview?
It means you can explain why you want to do a PhD, that you’ve read deeply in the field and have read some papers from the groups that interest you, and that you have identified the research directions that excite you. It means you can summarize your relevant accomplishments succinctly. It means you’re not asking questions whose answers can easily be found on the website. In short, you’re ready to have a scientific conversation that reflects some knowledge of the field you want to enter, and you’re talking to the right person. More below.
When to email your potential advisor: The short answer
All else equal, it’s best to email a few months before the deadline. For a December deadline, this means emailing in September or October.
It’s okay if you email before then, even six to twelve months before. The advisor might say it’s too early, but they’ll probably tell you when to follow up with them.
And it’s okay if you email after, although the content of your email should change if you’re within a few weeks of the deadline.
Tip: Regardless of when you speak with your potential advisor, I recommend that everyone email a short follow-up when they submit their applications. In this case, it usually wouldn’t be a cold email, but I think it’s okay if it is. It’s better than nothing.
What to write in the cold email
Here’s the essence:
Introduce yourself: Give your name. Briefly describe your most relevant training in a sentence or two. Explain why you are writing.
Describe your interest in doing a PhD in an area that intersects with their research. Demonstrate that you understand what they do by highlighting a particularly relevant question, finding, or approach in their work. Professors receive generic emails every week from people who ask to work in their groups. Worse, we receive many that are clearly written by AI. Generic emails and emails that you did not write actively hurt your prospects. You should understand the PI’s work well enough that you can write in your own words what you like about it.
Ask if they might be accepting new PhD students for the next academic year, and if so, whether they have time to answer some questions about their research program by phone or by email. It’s important to offer “by email” — sometimes I just don’t have time for more meetings, or I might want to test things out more before allocating the time. It’s also okay (preferable even) to just say you’d like to know about their current research directions, as long as you indicate you’ve made a good effort on your own to learn them. They’ll propose a call if inspired.
Thank them for their time and consideration.
You can attach your CV and potentially an unofficial transcript. The latter is not required.
Try to keep this to 200 words or less.
The salutation should be “Dear Dr. [Lastname],”.
If you’re writing less than a month before the deadline, do not ask to talk. I would just ask if they are accepting students and anticipate changes in their research directions. Indicate you know what the current ones are. Many lab websites are outdated, so this means looking at PubMed or Google Scholar.
Reaching out like this takes some guts and is a true accomplishment to be proud of. It’s how you set yourself up for a great research career, partly by meeting people who might be future collaborators and colleagues. I hope you can enjoy the process, even if it’s stressful.
“But other people told me not to contact potential advisors!”
Some programs and some labs don’t work this way, and you apply to the program before ever speaking with faculty. If the lab or program website say not to contact the potential advisor first, don’t. Otherwise, it’s a good step, even if it’s a program in which grad students do rotations before selecting an advisor. You only want to join places that have at least one really promising advisor for you.
Bottom line
If you're emailing potential advisors, you're a few weeks to months from decisions that are consequential and can be hard to undo: which programs to apply to, which labs to name, and how you present your skills and interests to people who will make admissions decisions. I wrote the 2027 PhD Admissions Guide to cover the whole process, as someone who has seen it from both sides and knows what works. It’s free for those who can’t afford it.