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Outreach Strategy

One simple change — emailing PhD students instead of professors — can push your response rate from 5-15% to 20-40%. Here's why it works, and exactly how to do it.

The Core Insight

The numbers:

  • Email a professor directly: 5-15% response rate
  • Email a PhD student first: 20-40% response rate

Why the gap? Three reasons:

  • Professors are overwhelmed with email. A Berkeley EECS professor gets dozens of student emails a week. A well-meaning, qualified student's email often gets lost or deprioritized.
  • PhD students remember being you. They were undergrads once. They know how hard it is to break in, and most are genuinely willing to help someone who seems serious.
  • PhD students are closer to the day-to-day work. They know what projects need help right now, and they can advocate for you to their advisor far more effectively than a cold professor email can.

Step-by-Step Process

  1. 1. Find the lab that matches your interests

    Use the Lab Fit Guide to narrow down which labs align with your skills and research interests. Don't skip this — a targeted email about the lab's specific work lands 10x better than a generic one.

  2. 2. Read 1-2 key papers from the lab

    Each lab profile lists key papers with reading rationales. You don't need to understand everything — just enough to mention something specific. "I read your paper on X and was surprised that Y" signals genuine interest.

  3. 3. Identify the right PhD student

    On each lab profile, you'll see PhD students marked as recommended contacts. These are students who are either co-advised, work on projects relevant to undergrad collaboration, or have indicated openness to mentoring. Start with them.

  4. 4. Use the lab-specific email template

    Each lab profile has a pre-filled email template that includes the right PhD student contact, mentions the lab's specific research, and frames your background correctly. Customize the bracketed sections — don't send it verbatim.

  5. 5. Follow up once — then move on

    If you haven't heard back in 7-10 days, send one polite follow-up. Something like: "Following up on my message from last week — happy to share more about my background if helpful." After that, move on to another lab. PhD students are busy. It's rarely personal.

When to Email a Professor Directly

PhD-student-first is the default. But there are specific situations where the professor is the right first contact:

  • Small labs with no PhD students. If the lab profile shows no students listed — or the lab is marked as preferring direct professor contact — email the professor. There's no intermediary here.
  • New assistant professors building their first lab. A new AP is actively looking to build their group. They're much more reachable and often respond quickly to undergrad interest.
  • You have a specific technical question only the PI can answer. If your question is specifically about a theoretical claim in one of their papers — not about joining the lab — email the professor directly. Keep it short and specific.
  • The professor explicitly invites undergrad contact on their website. Some professors list their preferred contact method on their lab or personal site. Honor it.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • –Generic emails. "I'm interested in your research" with no specifics. They get ignored.
  • –No paper reading. If you can't mention anything specific about the lab's work, wait until you can.
  • –Mass emailing. Applying to 20 labs with the same email is obvious and off-putting. Quality over quantity.
  • –Aggressive follow-ups. One follow-up after 7-10 days is fine. A second or third follow-up will hurt you.
  • –Asking for "any available projects." Show you've thought about what you can contribute to their specific work.