I understand that many schools follow central application system. But I wanted to try my luck since I had a feeling that I will be able to get some responses. So I started emailing right after my graduation. I graduated on May 2023. Sooner I understood that I was sending emails to everyone whether I like their research domains properly or not. Eventually, I refined my strategy to reach out exclusively to professors whose works align closely with my research interests. I got a few responses along with some interviews.

This can be a good start to design your email. Email template: Link (Credit: NexTop-USA)

Now the question will be “How can I find professors of my field/domains?”

I used a combination of CSRankings + USNews + University / Department Website + LinkedIn

CSRankings : You can find profs of each university based on your chosen domains. e.g., if you choose Computer Vision + Machine Learning then you will get a list of universities with professor names who are working in the chosen domains.

USNews: You can use this website to find top schools based on the filters

University website: Each university has a separate departmental website to list down all the professors with their personal website links and emails. You may not find relatively new professors in CSRankings. so going through your desired university’s website is a good approach

LinkedIn: I used to follow different professors to get their funding related post for the next possible semesters. Through this process, I emailed a few profs and got responses as well.

It is a tiring and time-consuming process. Make sure you have enough motivation, patience and time for this.