Dr. Bijesh Mishra

If you are unsure how to write an email to approach professors for MS and Ph.D. asking for research assistantships and fellowships, you may follow this general template. This template helps you to shape your email and cover letter to approach faculties in the initial phases. You can further modify it to fit your specific needs. The cover letter is a slightly lengthy version of this email template. Good luck with your future endeavors.

Dr. Last Name

Greetings/Good Morning/Good Afternoon. I hope you are doing well.

Open your first paragraph by stating why you are writing this email in 1-2 lines and introduce yourself with your name, your degree [Eg: B. Sc. (Agriculture) from Tribhuvan University, Nepal], your academic achievement, GRE and TOEFL scores, publications history, and your research/work experience. You can close the first paragraph in 3-5 sentences. After reading your first paragraph professor would continue reading your second paragraph if you can be an asset to their program. Make it more formal and systematic. Give an impression as you are professional and you are ready to take the opportunity.

In the second paragraph, mention that you are interested to work with the professor in their research and tell why. It is always better to do research about their works beforehand and write your interest in their research, which part of their research impressed you, and why you are interested to work with them. If your previous research work matches their work, write about your research and how you can advance your research if you get a chance, Attach a link to your publications if available. If it is not available online or published, you can upload them to an online drive such as dropbox and share the link. You can write about your own research work and how it matches their work.  If you are approaching for Ph.D. you may need a good research interest match. However, if you are approaching for M.S. your research experience could be valuable.

In the third paragraph, mention you want to discuss more if they are interested in your achievement and interest and tell them you are willing to share unofficial documents if they are interested. Never forget to share your CV or Resume. There is a big chance that the professor will open your CV/Resume and skim through it if they open your email even though they do not reply. They are very busy people and may not respond unless they find you are a potential fit. And finally, thank the professor for their time and for reading your email. And, don’t forget to mention “I look forward to hearing from you” or any line that says you are waiting for their email notification (whether yes or no).

Sincerely,

Your Full Name

University and Country

Notes:

• You can combine the second and third paragraphs to shorten your email. Always, be creative to reduce the length of email with more or at least, the same amount of information. Sometimes you have to cull out information to make email short and sweet if it is less important. Decrease the “Ink to Information” ratio (by increasing information and reducing words).
• Make your email as short as you can but don’t exclude information that you think could be helpful to get professors’ attention. Please be aware that professors are very busy. Professors are really concerned about saving time and don’t entertain long emails, especially, if it is from an unknown source.
• If the professor responds to your email, you can acknowledge/thank them for responding to you whether they have good or bad news for you. They might remember you for your kind gesture which could help you in the future. If they don’t respond to you, you may follow up 2-3 times in 2-3 days intervals during their workdays.
• Social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Twitter are gradually becoming common means of communication as they are quick, accessible, short, and informal compared to email exchanges. Social media platforms also provide additional opportunities for professors and students to learn more about each other’s work. So, utilize social media platforms to connect, learn, and communicate with professors if you can.

Never forget:

• Don’t dump complex and uncommon words and complex sentences in the email. Simple and common words with formal language make email interaction comfortable, attractive, and readable to everyone. Professors might just ignore emails if an email contains uncommon words and complex sentences.
• Avoid grammatical mistakes as much as you can. Grammatical mistakes are not uncommon among native english writers. However, having several grammatical mistakes could give an impression that you are not a good writer and does not pay attention to minor details while writing.

Post edited and revised: August 25, 2020, for content.

Post edited and revised: Nov 3, 2022, for content.