AN INSIGHT INTO E MAILING

AFNAN BIN HELALSUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2013

(This doc has been Compiled by Afnan Bin Helal in an effort to draw a basic guideline as
to Emailing. Having been in a time constrain, I however apologize if any portion of this
document is misleading.)

SECTION A: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)

1. How should I Ask about Admission, Fellowships or Assistantships in Email?

Asking directly that I need admission or funding is a very bad idea. It does not show that
you are interested. You have to frame your sentences properly indicating your interest in
school and program. Honestly, do not try to just create a fake interest or impression by
saying your school is good, blah, blah, blah. Be genuine and write sincerely what you
know about the school and what kind of research is at school. Do some homework about
school, read the department website and research area, program info. You have to
indicate that you are interested in the school because you like so and so stuff and you
would like to be part of it. For funding, you may ask like I like to do research in this
area, how is the funding situation for new students in this area ?. Do new students get
any assistantships in first semester ?. By phrasing it this way, you are not being
desperate. It is asking in general. Most of the times, professors say, once you arrive here,
meet me and we can discuss funding information.

2. What should be the Subject line for Emailing professors for Graduate School
Admission?

Subject line is the most important piece of email. Most the emails are not even opened by
professors; they just look at subject line and delete them. The main reason is, they get so
much email from university, students, research, etc. If you put in subjects like Hello,
Hi, How are you? , admission, scholarship, etc. The chances are your email is not
even read. They will just delete it. Here are some sample subject lines to email professors
for admission:
 Fall 2011 Prospective Student: Research Info needed

Summer 2011 Student: Artificial Intelligence Research Question

Spring 2012 prospective student: Need Admission Information

Fall 2012 Student : Need info on Research prospects at UW-Madison

Summer 2012: Research Assistantships Info needed, URGENT !

The key word to mention in subject line is PROSPECTIVE STUDENT. The trick is,
no professor would throw away any email if it has prospective student because, you are a
potential student to the university and they will read it and reply or forward it right person
if they do not know. Think about it, prospective students are the future customers for the
School.

3. Why is it important to have a good subject line for emailing Admissions or

Professors?

I started my first Graduate (MS) class and the professor handed out the syllabus. The
guidelines on the first page under contact section, Email Subject should at least say the
COURSE NUMBER and some relevant info, if not, Emails will be deleted as SPAM. I
thought to myself Oh MY GOD ! none of my emails were read. Just imagine the
situation from a professor perspective, professors teach two to three classes and students
they interact with can vary anywhere from 50 200, also they are in all the faculty email
listings, they get emails from University, Personal emails, advertisement emails, etc
The reality is, there are way too many emails for them to open, read and validate. On top
of this, there is a virus threat. So, NO ONE really opens the email if they see anything
that is not familiar or really meaningful. Please avoid the subject line as I stated in the
beginning. It is same case with admissions department. A university strength can vary
from 10,000 to 70,000. Imagine how many people would be applying ? at least 30,000 to
200,000. Admissions do not take time to read every email that does not say any
appropriate info about seeking admission. They just delete or put in other list and review
later. Overall, the point is, email subject is very critical. In fact, personally I do not read
any email if I do not see proper subject line, because I get so many emails

4. How important this is to put Professors Research Information in Email?

Your email should clearly demonstrate that you have a complete understanding about the
professors research area and what he actually does in that area. The key thing to
understand is, every professor specializes in particular research area and they have
research grants only related to that particular research area. They can only consider you
for funding, if you are interested in the research they specialize in. When you write an
email to professor, you should mention about research and use some technical jargon
related to his research area. You may only do that if you have read few research papers
that they have written. So, if you can read few research papers of the professors and
mention about them in the email, it clearly shows that you have done your homework and
they will be interested in at least replying to you. You should try to write your technical
interests and be able to tie to back to the research area of the professor. You can mention
about your research papers or technical presentations. If you have none, just show your
interest by doing some homework about topic. For instance, you may say, I am very
interested to pursue research in Neural Networks and their impact on real time decisions.
You have to do your homework and write as much research info as you can.

5. Does it really count; English, Grammar and Punctuations in the Email?

I have seen students write emails without using proper English, especially grammar and
punctuations. If you do not write email without proper English, it clearly indicates your
incompetency and lack of good writing skills. Professors do NOT want to even reply to
these kind of emails. They are academicians, writing good English is mandatory to
succeed. The expect someone applying to Graduate school to have proper writing skills
and ability to articulate your ideas properly. So, be careful when you write email. Do not
use chat language like c u then, hw r u ?, life gud . You have to write proper English
with proper capitalizations, punctuations, and grammar. If you do not have these, you
may not get positive response. In fact, in one of my first graduate classes, one of my
professors told us that he will not respond to emails that do not have proper English and
we may get negative points too. So, be careful!

6. What to investigate and take action accordingly if my email goes unanswered?

There are many reasons an email might go unanswered. Heres a list of some of the more
common reasons.

They never got your email:

Email does go missing in the ether and can get eaten by a spam filter without anyone
realising it. If you dont hear back in 2-4 weeks, its fine to try again. Just review the rest
of these points first, and make sure youre writing the clearest email possible. Choose a
clear subject line that doesnt look like spam.

The email is completely incoherent. I hope that everyone reading this will avoid this
one, but its surprisingly common. Some people send off an email with so many
misspellings, missing words, and other problems that its impossible to figure out whats
going on without taking a great deal of time and energy. Not a high priority for people
with a lot else on their plate.

The email is very vague. Some people send a very general email I want to learn about
Wicca: tell me everything. Some people have a generic answer they cut and paste to this
kind of email a list of good resources, places to start, discussion forums with lots of
people who might have a spare moment to answer. (This website is my partial answer to
this.) But if someone doesnt have that set up, they might not answer.

The email is asking about something the reader cant offer. For example, someone
might ask about training in a totally different area of the country. Again, many people
now have a simple reply they can paste in with information on how to find groups in
someones area, but if they dont, finding that can take quite some time.

The person is not online much:

It can be easy to forget, but there are lots of people out there who do not live online.
Many spend only a few minutes on email most days, or focus on communication with
close friends and family, and spend most of their time doing other things. Some people
may not have email at home, or might have computer problems, or just be out doing other
things.

Whatever the reason, it often means that someone may not answer vague or general
emails and just focus on the very specific ones related to their group.

Some group leaders only answer group-related emails at specific points. Some do it
once a week or once a month (unless a crisis or special event comes up, when it might be
longer). Some only answer emails about the group when their next training opening
comes along. The group I trained with used to save up emails until the next set of
introductory classes was scheduled (which might be 3-4 months after the email), though
they now send a brief reply with an idea of when the next class might be much more
quickly.

7. Any Bad Example?

Here is that sort of email:

Dear Professor xx, I am a student at XXX College and Im thinking about graduate
school on xxx and Im getting in touch to ask if you can give me any advice or direction
about that.

Sincerely,

Another one;

Hi Professor, Im applying for admission to your university for Fall semester, Im want to
know if you can give me funding?

These are instant-delete emails.

8. I had clear guidelines, and I tried it in several potential ways but I am yet to get a
response? What should I Do now?
 Keep breathing, thats the key. Even if your approach is right the fact is not many
professors usually respond to prospective students applying to Masters Degree.

Here is an Example;

Dear Dr.x,

I, XXXXXX, am pursuing bachelors degree in electrical engineering at Anna University,

Chennai, India. I am applying for MS(EE) program offered by XXXXX in Fall 2010. I
am interested in joining your research group at the Multimedia and Networking Lab.

I studied your article Hand Gesture-based Computing for Hearing and Speech
Impaired, which appeared in the IEEE Multimedia Magazine. I am currently working on
a voice controlled robot for physically challenged persons. I am very much interested in
the part that deals with generation of gestures from speech input. I would like to
contribute to your work in that area.

Will you be accepting students into your lab for the year 2010? I would be glad if you
could direct me to few other related publications.

Thanks for your time. I look forward to hearing back from you soon.

The email was good but the Professor replied;

You can touch base after you arrive here. However, I do not have any funding for
Masters students.

9. What are the Basic rules/ tips to follow while emailing Professors?

There are some basics you have to remember before you start to think about emailing.
Most of these apply for emailing professors for the first time. I have explained few of
them in previous articles. I will summarize them and list them as rules.

Have good subject line.

No grammar or spelling mistakes.

Proper punctuations, capitalization, etc. Good English.

 No long emails. Should be around 5 to 7 sentences or less.

Email only on week days ( think of weekdays in US)

Do NOT attach anything like resume or you research paper, etc( in first email)

Read few research papers published by the professor before emailing.

Use proper technical jargon related to their research

Refer to professor as Dr. LAST NAME of Professor. No Dear or Hi, etc.

Try to highlight the key research area or your project by bold or underline.

Do NOT refer to local companies or anything that is local to your country.

Do NOT ask directly if you will get funding in first email.

Three basic guidelines for emailing professors at prospective graduate programs:

1. Do not inundate the professor with questions. Ask only one or two specific
questions and you will be much more likely to get a reply than if you ask a series
of questions.

2. Be specific. Dont ask questions that will require more than a sentence or two in
response. In-depth questions about their research usually falls in this area.
Remember that professors may be pressed for time. An email that looks like it
will take more than a minute or two to answer may be ignored.

3. Dont ask questions that are outside of a professors purview.

SECTION B: SAMPLE E-MAILS

Sample-1

Dear Professor XXX,

I am a student at XXX College with a major in xxx. I am a [junior] and will be graduating
next May. I have a [4.0 GPA] and experience in our colleges [summer program in
xxx/internship program in xxx/Honors College/etc.].
I am planning to attend graduate school in xxx, with a focus on xxx. In one of my classes,
xxx, which was taught by Professor XXX, I had the chance to read your article,
xxxx. I really enjoyed it, and it gave me many ideas for my future research. I have been
exploring graduate programs where I can work on this topic. My specific project will
likely focus on xxxx, and I am particularly interested in exploring the question of xxxxx.

I hope you dont mind my getting in touch, but Id like to inquire whether you are
currently accepting graduate students. If you are, would you willing to talk to me a bit
more, by email or on the phone, or in person if I can arrange a campus visit, about my
graduate school plans? I have explored your departments graduate school website in
detail, and it seems like an excellent fit for me because of its emphasis on xx and xx, but I
still have a few specific questions about xx and xxx that Id like to talk to you about.

I know youre very busy so I appreciate any time you can give me. Thanks very much,

Sincerely,

XX

Sample-2

Dear Professor or Dear Dr.Last Name,

My name is /First Name/ and I am a current student at /University or College Name/ . As

part of my Undergraduate project work with Professor Dr.XYZ implementing x y and z
methods using technologies, .

I am contacting you because Im applying to programs in Major this . My research

interests are in A, B, and C

From your web page I saw that that you have done research on project x and y. Because
of our similar interests, your lab is one of the ones I am intrigued by at Graduate
University. If you will be accepting any students into your lab for the 2007-2008 year?
Id be interested in hearing more about your particular lab and getting in touch with some
of your current students.
 If not, can you recommend other professors with similar interests who will be accepting
students? If you are accepting new students, Please feel free to direct me towards your
most recent research (manuscripts, etc) as well.

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing back from you soon.

Best Wishes,

You.

Sample-3

Sample-4

Sample-5

SECTION C: UNDERSTANDING E-MAILS /PROFESSORS FEEDBACK

This part has been a common interest now at this part of the year. And thats a lot to go
compiling a brief understanding as to it. Lets see.

SECTION D: WHAT MAKES YOU DIFFERENT

SCETION E: TO-DO, NOT-TO-DO

Personalize the message

If you send an e-mail the focus of your contact should be on the professor not on
you.

Do not use any fancy formatting

Send it from a professional email address (that is, your school email or an
address that includes your name).

Do not use emoticons.

Do not attach anything to your e-mail. If you want to provide additional content
send the URL.
 Don't spend time tooting your horn. Don't tell the professor how smart or hard-
working you are. All graduate students are smart and hard-working. Dont send
an email to sell yourself. v

Don't send an e-mail more than a few lines long. Some say no longer than screen-
full. I say no longer than a paragraph.

Don't send information about your GRE scores, GPA, etc. The purpose of the e-
mail is to ask for information about professors research or the program. It is not
time to sell yourself.

Err on the side of formality. Address the professor formally. In other words
address first faculty members as Professor or Dr. rather than by their first name
(and never by Miss, Ms., Mrs., or Mr.).

Make your subject line useful. It should convey the subject of the message.

Spell the professors name right.

Never send spam e-mail to long lists of professors. Any message that you send
should be tailored to the professor in question.

References:

http://redbus2us.com/sample-email-t...

http://theprofessorisin.com/author/...

http://gradschool.about.com/od/admi...

http://www.happyschoolsblog.com/ema...

http://gradskool.wordpress.com/appl...

http://cnx.org/content/m15856/lates...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sue-w...

http://www.collegexpress.com/articl...
http://www.grantnet.com/HelpfulRepo...

http://www.task.fm/How-can-you-make...

http://www.netmanners.com/358/with-...

http://redbus2us.com/sample-email-t...

http://theprofessorisin.com/author/...