Favorite student emails

[kaysixteen]

Random points:

1) you are right that there have developed vast differences in the expectations of what a graduating senior ought to be able to show, in a grad school app, in order to be considered.   This is certainly especially true in STEM, but sadly has made inroads in places where it is much less appropriate, such as my own field (most graduating undergrad classics majors, even from places like dear alma mater, simply do not know enough to have serious contributions to make in most realms of classical scholarship, given the widespread nature of what training classicists have to get).   

2) interthreaduality here: wrt the 'other stuff' that non-old boy network kids, even those going to elite schools, largely DO NOT KNOW, would be the types of comments and 'reasons to write me back' stuff that Polly puts in her three sample letters.   But surely she, and others like her who have already been in a position to have to answer such emails (or refuse to do so ) knows this, and knows that refusing to consider the application of a kid who does not know these things, but may well be a great candidate (and grad school is after all supposed to be *school*, not a place to go if one already knows everything there needs to be in a prospective field) is shortsighted, unwise, and unfair.

3) And in any case, spending oh, say, ten seconds, to send off a form email response to inquiries is just plain professional, and courteous.   Even if one is a bigshot.   Actually probably especially if one is a bigshot.

[science.expat]

Random points:

3) And in any case, spending oh, say, ten seconds, to send off a form email response to inquiries is just plain professional, and courteous.   Even if one is a bigshot.   Actually probably especially if one is a bigshot.

But then they respond, sometimes over and over again.

[kaysixteen]

But your initial form email can make it clear that you will not respond to additional emails sent prior to any follow-up emails sent by you.   It really is very simple.

[jerseyjay]

It seems to me that NOT replying to sincere emails about postgraduate study is both rude and self-defeating. To me, no response = a reason to try to follow up. The following responses, each of which took less than a minute to compose, both acknowledge receipt and indicate that future correspondence will not serve any purpose. If you do get follow-up emails, then you can just ignore them.

To be clear, I do not think people should answer every email they receive. That would be stupid. But I do think that being a professional does require replying to sincere emails when possible. Emails about conferences (especially in sunny places); journals (especially dodgy ones); exciting business opportunities; new textbooks; medications by mail; etc., do not need a reply. But there are also emails I do respond to that are in relation to my position as an expert in the field, or as a spokesman for the university, or as a professor, that I do reply to, even if it is just to say, thanks, no thanks.


Dear Prospective Student,

Thank you for your email regarding possible postgraduate study. Unfortunately, I am not in a position to accept new students at this time.

Sincerely,


Dear Prospective Student,

I have received your email about possible postgraduate study. I will contact you if you are a good fit for our current needs. Unfortunately, the large number of applicants does not allow a personal reply to those whom I cannot accept.

Sincerely,

Dear Prospective Student,

In regards to your recent email about possible postgraduate study, please be advised that all applications must be made through the office of graduate admissions (www.postgraduate.university.edu).

Your sincerely,

[marshwiggle]

It seems to me that NOT replying to sincere emails about postgraduate study is both rude and self-defeating.

But Polly's example is a great illustration of the question about what constitutes "sincere".

Dear esteemed professor Polly X. Mer,

I am seeking a position with your research group.  I am an A student and have many letters of recommendation.  Please allow me to work with you in the area of <current buzzword that the institution does indeed do, but I do not and we are inundated with students requesting to work on the most bleeding edge of the bleeding edge technology>

My LinkedIn page is <blah>.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Respectfully,

Not a Chance

The student has cleary made no effort to determine whether the prof they are contacting even works in the area they are supposedly interested in.


If that counts as "sincere", then so do the calls I repeatedly get from carpet cleaners even after I've told them I have hardwood floors.

[jerseyjay]

Well, yes, student A seems to have not done any homework. But Student B and Student C seem to have at least sought out Polly personally instead of picking a random name from the phone book.

My school does not offer graduate degrees in my field, so I suppose that it is easy to pontificate here. That said, what I do when I do receive repeated emails on the same subject is make a template in word and just copy and paste the response.

[kaysixteen]

Doing homework I can  understand, but, again, many potentially very excellent grad students will not have had any advising or instruction as to what to do in circumstances like this.  Really, they won't have.   Ignoring such emails because of classist presumptions is not only potentially self-defeating, but also sounds really rude.   The sample reject letters and 'we will consider but will not be able to give further responses if negative' style letters are normative for private k12 schools, though of course they are less normative, actually by a goodly amount, than they used to be.

[marshwiggle]

Doing homework I can  understand, but, again, many potentially very excellent grad students will not have had any advising or instruction as to what to do in circumstances like this.  Really, they won't have.   Ignoring such emails because of classist presumptions is not only potentially self-defeating, but also sounds really rude.   

What "classist presumptions"? I know a form letter when I get one, even it it starts with "Dear MARSHWIGGLE", or especially, as in this case, "Dear Dr. MARSHWIGGLE", since anyone who spent 2 minutes looking at my profile on the department website would see that I am NOT a "Dr."

The person is not saying "I'm desperate and I'm applying everywhere on the planet." The person is claiming to be specifically interested in the research of the person being addressed, which is patently untrue.

[kaysixteen]

Yes, in the specific case you are talking about.   But that was not the main issue of this point, which is what to do with generalized inquiry letters sent to grad school professors, that lacked the sort of decidedly non-first-generation college student knowledge base verbiage.   IOW, classist.

[the_geneticist]

I teach a graduate class.  They are presenting on key topics with a partner in class this week.
Got this gem from a graduate student late last night:

Dear Dr. [misspelled name],

I hope you are well. Tomorrow I will not be able to attend the [Graduate Basketweaving Seminar] since I have to attend the second day of the [graduate symposium] from 9 to 12pm. The participation in the symposium is mandatory and I have to present a poster at 10am.

Please let me know if you need any information.

Thank you,
Grad Student

You bet I have questions!  Like, when did you know about this conflict?  Did you plan on saying anything to your presentation partner?  Why did you wait until 11:30pm the night before to bring this up?

[mamselle]

Sounds like some graduate student is going to learn the meaning of "professional courtesy" very quickly...

M.

[the_geneticist]

Sounds like some graduate student is going to learn the meaning of "professional courtesy" very quickly...

M.

Oh, they already failed miserably at that by ignoring my previous emails at the start of Fall.

[marshwiggle]

I teach a graduate class.  They are presenting on key topics with a partner in class this week.
Got this gem from a graduate student late last night:

Dear Dr. [misspelled name],

I hope you are well. Tomorrow I will not be able to attend the [Graduate Basketweaving Seminar] since I have to attend the second day of the [graduate symposium] from 9 to 12pm. The participation in the symposium is mandatory and I have to present a poster at 10am.

Please let me know if you need any information.

Thank you,
Grad Student

You bet I have questions!  Like, when did you know about this conflict?  Did you plan on saying anything to your presentation partner?  Why did you wait until 11:30pm the night before to bring this up?

"Dear Stu,

Please give me the name of the organizer who waited until 11:30 p.m.the night before the conference to inform you of your need to be there and present. That was incredibly irresponsible of them and I'll need to bring this up with the Dean, since it is totally disrespectful to our class and your partner in particular who has been scheduled since <long ago date> to do  the presentation with you tomorrow.

Dr. Genetecist"

[kaysixteen]

Questions:

1) do you know exactly when this grad student was informed that his presence at this symposium was required of grad students in your dept?

2) why did the dept allow such a symposium to be scheduled at a time that grad seminars are being held?  Or is this in a different dept?

[the_geneticist]

Questions:

1) do you know exactly when this grad student was informed that his presence at this symposium was required of grad students in your dept?

2) why did the dept allow such a symposium to be scheduled at a time that grad seminars are being held?  Or is this in a different dept?

1. No idea, but I'm 100% certain it wasn't at 11:30 pm the night before the symposium.  Especially since they are presenting.
2. It's a different department and a HUGE university.  We always have some overlap.