我是申请2006 fall。准备申请5-6所大学，近期和这几所大学的教授联系了一下，希望经验和大家分享。
　　申请的名单：MIT, UC Berkeley, Stanford, Cornell, Wisconsin-Madision,
　　如下为这几个大学的回信。
　　UC Berkeley我同时联系了两个教授，他们都给我回信了，由于他们是一个group，而且有很多project是共同申请的，所以我觉得没什么不妥。
　　第一个教授的回信，巨长的一封mail，老师很负责
　　Dear Mr. XXX
　　Thank you for your interest in my research program at UC Berkeley. While I
　　have worked with a student on XXX.  It sounds like you have access to some very nice equipment for such studies that I do not possess.  The former student, Professor XXX, is on the faculty of National Central University in the Republic of China.

　　Some of my research is still related to XXX（我的topic）， 接着是他的research interest。

　　I would encourage your application to the Berkeley Environmental Engineering program, but I would like to express some caution.  Our admission requirements for students with masters degrees from other institutions are more rigorous since we use the MS degree to screen our students for the PhD program.  In addition, students arriving with a masters degree still need to pass a few examinations that slow down their progress, and there needs to be an adviser identified prior to admission.  That being said, all of my current PhD students have masters degrees from other institutions, thus it is possible.

　　I hope this helps clarify a little on my research directions
　　Prof XXX
　　Berkeley第二个教授的回信
　　Greetings,
　　Thanks for your interest in my research program -- your background and interests are quite well suited to my group.  It is really too early to tell right now what the funding situation will be next fall.  I have one proposal that is pending, and I have several others that I am working on.  I would encourage you to apply for the program and we can see where the funding situation stands as we get further along the process.
　　Good luck!
　　XXX

　　MIT教授的回信
　　Dear XXX
　　Your GRE scores and student standing are very impressive, and I encourage you to apply to our program for September 2006.  I do not know at this time if I will have funding for a new student, but most likely I will take on one new student next year.  The project will involve laboratory experimentation to study the XXX.  I have described one possibility below.
　　他的研究课题。很长一段。
　　Kind Regards -
　　XXX

　　Cornell 教授的回信。
　　Dear Mr. XXX
　　Thank you for your e-mail expressing your interest in sttending our
　　graduate school. I am traveling in Europe at this moment and can not
　　answer your questions in detail. I will be back in my office this weekend.
　　We are working on XXX. I would like to apply for some new research
　　funding for this topic.
　　In the mean time, could your send me some of your recent presentations on
　　the subject?
　　Thank you in advance. I will contact you again when I get home.
　　XXX

　　此外，Wisconsin-Madison的教授已经肯定说给我offer了，并且说我可以到那里选择我最感兴趣的课题，条件给的很优厚。所以有他保底，可以放手去拼那些大牛了。
　　到现在Stanford还没有给我回信，估计他对我不感兴趣。 个人觉得这个学校太牛，最自己的条件不是很自信就不用浪费美金了。另外，研究方向的相同很重要。
　　而且我觉得在和教授联系时要把精力放在学术交流上，也就是research，表现出想去他那的愿望是正常的，但不要太过，不要太功利。那些教授用手想也能想明白你想去他那。

　　补充一下,我给教授写信有下面几个points，
　　1. briefly introduce yourself, 如果你的导师牛的话，可以告诉他你是谁的学生。
　　2. 简单地介绍你的研究，并表达对他的研究的兴趣，这个过程需要对他的研究背景做一些research， 这就是我为什么说matching很重要，如果你真的读过他的文章，或者在你的论文里引用过他的文章，写出来。
　　3. 问他今年有没有钱，这个没什么不好问得，他们也很理解，没钱你申他干嘛。
　　4. 表示感谢，期待他的回复。
　　5. 附上你的CV，只列出和研究相关的，别把什么兴趣爱好都付上，没人看。推荐转成pdf格式。如果是帅哥或美女可以贴上照片^_^。
　　如果他看了你的CV感兴趣的话，会给你回信的。

　　希望这些能对大家有帮助。