<p>I sent 38 (!!!) emails + my CV to profs who had research closely related to my interests. I heard back from 24 (mostly enthusiastic; only a few were “negative”–no funding or interests not similar enough) and didn’t hear back from 14. So, I had a 63% reply rate.</p>
<p>Obviously it took a lot of emails (to 12 diff schools) to get the replies.</p>