Should you contact professors before applying to Masters programs

If a lab looks like a good fit with your research interests, email the professor in summer or early fall prior to applying.Since admissions decisions are handled centrally, it's just a waste of time.With phd programs, your goal with this initial email is essentially beginning your search for a potential advisor.Contacting them before hand helps you stand out and it shows initiative.Understand more about the active projects.

Make sure that you choose a professor that you had individual and positive interactions with, even if you only took 1 class with them.I luckily had one professor (in all of 5 semesters) who encouraged me to write a research paper, apart from that research is zero.It sounds an invitation for you to contact the faculty members.Some professors view phone calls negatively (and, by extension, the applicant negatively).The professors tend to get impressed with.

This is to be taken very seriously.Read one or two most recently published papers on that project.Do not initiate contact by phone.