<p>To echo what Ixington said, I am a strong believer in contacting Profs pre-application, but only if you can come up with some real questions to ask. “Are you accepting students” is certainly an important one, and I also made sure to ask professors what kind of work they would be pursuing in the future to see if I had any interest there. My wife was switching fields, so I encouraged her to ask about that issue with regards to the professors in question, and she got some very helpful responses.</p>
<p>Of course, you should never ask something available on their website or recent/major publications - it looks sloppy and shows a lack of interest, although asking for clarification is usually fine. And don’t be disheartened if they do not reply, or fail to reply favorably - many professors don’t want to invest the time until you have reached a certain point in the screening process. After all, until the app is in, how do they know you really do have that 3.95 GPA and 800/800/6.0 GRE with 3 years research?</p>