How to Contact Professors for Acceptance Letters

Contact Professors to get Acceptance Letters

Hello everyone. Many scholarships make it mandatory to contact professors and get an acceptance letter to apply for the scholarship. For example, DAAD Scholarship, Commonwealth Scholarship, CSC Scholarship, etc. requires that you have an acceptance letter in hand at the time of application. To get an acceptance letter, you must contact professors through email as email is the defacto standard in academic communication. In writing an effective email, you should follow some rules and norms and to make your email impact and fulfill it’s purpose i.e, to get a positive reply for the Professor. Whenever I wrote an email to professors, I was lucky enough to get a reply even if he wouldn’t accept new students.

With my experience, I want to help all those students who are struggling with this issue of NOT GETTING A RESPONSE from professors at all.
Therefore, I am writing down this little guide on HOW TO REACH OUT TO THE PROFESSORS? And I am sure, if anyone who follows it, will be able to get a response.

How to Send Email to Professor and Get a Reply

Whenever you need to contact professors to get consent letters that Professor is willing to supervise you for your graduate studies, bear in mind that Professor is quite busy and normally don’t reply to email outside of their acquaintance circle. So, in order to get a reply, you must write a concise and effective email. Here are some tips for you to write that email.

I am writing down my little guide on HOW TO REACH OUT TO THE PROFESSORS? And I am sure, if anyone follows it, will be able to get a response.

Steps to Write an Effective Email to Contact Professors

Starting with the Subject line

Here you need to think precisely. Do not try writing in general words and in a non-professional way such as Request to read email, master program, Ph.D. program, etc. Also, many professors publish email etiquettes on their academic websites. Be sure to read them thoroughly and follow when you contact professors through email.

Always write the subject of your email in simple 4 to 5 words

Remember, subject line is the only thing that the professors will first look on. If you want him or her to open your entire email, you need to impress him with the subject line first. 

Let me show you, how you can do that!

You can write simply as Request for Internship supervision! See. How catchy is it! It’s precise and self-explanatory. 

Body of the Email

Now coming to the Body of your email. How would you start an email effectively yet respectful? Think of this; is he your colleague or a friend??? Of course not… Then stop writing directly with name. For example: Hi Paulina or Hi George. Also, do not write in a childish way such as Respected Sir, Dear Sir, and Respected Madam. This would make them think that you are copying and pasting one general email to hundreds of professors. 

Always give proper title to the respective person, e.g. Dr. Joseph This way he would know that you are a serious student who is not sending bundles of emails to everyone. 

What Should be the Length of Email to Contact Professors?

Keep your email precise. 250 or less words are more than enough. Remember that professors have many things to do so they do not bother to read an email that is written like an essay. Split these words into 3 paragraphs.

Tips to Write an Effective Email

Starting with the first introductory para. Introduce yourself in a professional way.

Tip # 1: Here is to think for a moment that you are a professional researcher in a big institute. This will help you write in a professional way. 

Tip # 2: State your goal. After introducing yourself, instantly tell the person why is he reading your email? What do you want from him? E.g. you want an opportunity to do research with him. This way he would already have an idea right before going into the explanation of your talent. 

Tip # 3: Do NOT explain your entire biography. Remember the nature of the position you are applying for. Therefore, stick to that and explain only those achievements that will help you stand out from the rest.

Tip # 4: State if you have IELTS or TOFEL results. Even if you don’t have the results beforehand, tell him that you are planning to take the test in the coming days. After reading until here, you have already caught the attention of the professor.

Show Your Research Interest and Alignment with Professor’s Research

Now coming to the second paragraph. How you find the project interesting? How you reach out to him?  

Here you need to write in a way that the respective person would believe that you actually went to his entire profile and did some research on his work. Because they already know that students randomly send emails asking for research positions to everyone. So my tip here is to tell him that you truly worked through his profile and liked his work.

Closing Paragraph of the Email

The third and the last paragraph is very important. The closing paragraph should explain what you will bring to his lab or institute. My tip here is to link your CV to his profile. This way he would seriously consider you as a candidate. One last important element to add in the closing paragraph is Call to Action. State what you want the Professor to do? Do you want him to write an acceptance letter for you? Or you want him to discuss a research idea? Just state it in the closing paragraph and he’d surely respond positively.

At the end, tell him that you will be waiting for his response. Give regards and state your name at the end.

That’s it! You see, there is not rocket science behind writing emails to the professors. 

Just be concise, short and to the point and you are good to go. Thanks for reading. Hope it will help many students.

Final Words

I hope you’ve liked our simple tips on writing an effective email to contact professors to acquire an acceptance letter for a scholarship.

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