How to contact a professor?

1. Email

Unless you are taking a course with this professor so you could take advantage of their office hours, emailing them will most likely to be your best bet.

1. Be concise

• professors are super busy and don’t always have a lot of time for emails, make sure that your email is short and sweet

2. Do a bit of research on the professor and the lab that you are interested, read some of their publication if possible

• Google prof name + McGill

• Search the prof name on Pubmed

2. What you could include in your email:

• Clearly stated that you are looking for a position and what kind

  • Paid? Volunteering?

  • Research Course? 396? 410/420?

• What you’d like to learn from this lab

  • Why this lab specifically but not the others

• How you could contribute to this lab

• Why you’d be a good fit to this lab

• Your previous lab experience

  • If you don’t have experience, it’s always good to mention stats or programming skills

    (e.g. PSYC 315 and COMP 202)

2. CV and Transcript

Once you get an email back, the professor will usually ask you for a CV and your unofficial transcript.

CV

If you have never written a CV before, I strongly recommend you to check out this tutorial from McGill Career Planning Service.

For more resources on CV, please check out their website.

Transcript

Go on Minerva and take a screenshot of your unofficial transcript. Not all professors ask for a transcripts, but be prepared to provide one.

3. Interview

If things go well, you will be invited to an interview. Different professors could ask different types of questions. Some examples could be:

• Introduce yourself (your interests and hobbies)

• Why do you want to work in this lab?

• What are your areas of interest in neuroscience research?

• Questions about your resume and etc.

For more information about finding research or contacting professors, please check out neuro research 101