Obtaining a supervisor before applying is required for some research-based master’s and doctoral programs, although it is not a requirement for all graduate programs. After you begin your program, others could designate a supervisor.
To find out if your program requires a supervisor before you apply, get in touch with the department/program graduate coordinator. Questions concerning program requirements, admissions procedures, extra materials, and financing options can be directed to your graduate coordinator.
Faculty members who guide graduate students in their research are known as supervisors. Your thesis development and research are supervised by a supervisor. They offer you assistance, direction, and mentoring during your academic career.
Your experience and success as a graduate student will be significantly influenced by your connection with your supervisor. Seeking a supervisor who supports your academic and research objectives, complements your learning style, and shares your research interests is crucial. This is why Studibee has prepared this article to help you with that.
Making contact with a potential supervisor
1. Research: To get acquainted with their work, start by reading a few of their publications and looking at their web profiles.
2. Give specifics: Send them a quick email letting them know you are aware of their work and how it aligns with your interests. Consult their literature if you can. Inform them in the same email that you would like to work with them and that you plan to apply to their graduate program.
3. Prove your seriousness and qualifications: Give them a few highlights of your experience and the people you’ve collaborated with on studies.
4. Be patience: Due of their hectic schedules, faculty members probably won’t respond to your email immediately away. That doesn’t imply that they are ignoring you or that they haven’t gotten it. Give them time. Review how persuasive your outreach has been, and if you haven’t heard back from them after a few weeks, consider sending them a follow-up email.
If the communication turns out successful, ask if it’s acceptable to refer to them as a potential supervisor in your application.
How to identify potential supervisors
The school’s website probably has a faculty section where you may get specific information on the faculty members of your program, including their research interests, phone number, email address, and lab website.
This section may contain a number of academic titles that may be confusing to you, but don’t worry, we’ll explain them. The program’s website primarily categorises academic titles into three groups:
Professors: Professors, associate professors, and assistant professors are being actively sought after by graduate students. This group is your goal for possible supervisors, and you must get in touch with these professors to enquire about any available lab posts.
Emeritus Professors: Retirees who are emeritus professors and cannot accept fresh graduate students.
Adjunct Professors: Adjunct professors have fewer research posts and less funds for graduate students.
Techniques for optimizing your search for possible supervisors
It’s crucial to have a good plan for identifying and classifying possible supervisors who share your research interests. This will not only save you time, but it will also help you locate all the professors who are interested in your field, increasing your chances of getting accepted.
Create a research draft
Creating your research draft is the first step to making the most of your professor search. It is advised that you review your study areas and divide them into multiple sub-areas in order to be a successful applicant. You won’t miss any professors working in such fields or sub-areas thanks to this.
This strategy will assist you in finding every relevant faculty members and ranking them according to how well their research aligns with your own research interests.
Check their publications
Verifying the affiliation and details of the paper’s author is next. We would advise looking for the author’s lab webpage and contact information on Google.
Searching the Scopus database for relevant papers is another method of locating possible supervisors. Using the Scopus database is comparable to using Google Scholar, but it gives you the option to filter papers by the nation in which they were published, such as the United States, Canada, and so on.
Do not leave out social media
Many academics advertise their available graduate posts on social media sites like LinkedIn and Twitter in addition to academic and governmental databases. Be mindful to search these social media platforms for possible graduate jobs.
We strongly advise getting in touch with faculty members before applying, unless there are special programs that do not require it. This can be very beneficial and improve your chances of getting accepted into graduate school.
We wish you the best and hope your application goes well!
