You have something to discuss with your professor and need to ask them for an appointment. The email needs to be short and simple but you don’t want to spend too much time crafting it.
Fortunately, we’ve got you covered as we’ll provide some samples to get you started. Additionally, we’ve included some tips to keep in mind when emailing your professor.
Tips For Emailing Professors
Keep these tips in mind when emailing your professor. They can also be useful when emailing instructors in general.
Use Proper Title
Before you write the email, find out what their formal titles are. You should use the proper title “Dr.” if they don’t yet have the title “professor.”
On the other hand, if they are a “professor,” you ought to refer to them by that title. To get their designations, professors go to great lengths. Appreciating their titles won’t hurt in any way.
Examples:
Dear Professor {{Last name}}
Dear Dr. {{Last name}}
Use School Email
All postsecondary institutions give their academic members and students access to official email accounts. We’ll later demonstrate how to locate the professor’s email address if you don’t already know it.
Remember that if you send an email to your professor using your personal email or just to their personal email, they might not respond.
Using your school email also guarantees that the professor will receive the message because spam filters may block personal emails.
Additionally, some professors make an effort to maintain a balance between their personal and professional lives. Any work-related emails, especially from students, to their personal emails would simply be ignored.
So, if you want them to receive and read your email, you should make sure that you use your school email.
Formal Tone
When emailing your professor, it’s important to keep it professional. No matter how close you are to the professor, you should avoid using any kind of informal language.
Emojis and other terminology that you typically use with friends should be avoided. The professor would merely become irritated.
The professor might interpret it as a sign of disrespect. You should be aware that this email is accessible to the school, and that they control it.
Therefore, any signs of overfriendliness between faculty and students could raise red flags. Unless the professor specifically instructs you to use informal language, always use formal language in any official email discussion between yourself and the professor.
Correct Grammar
If you are aware that your writing isn’t the best, ask a friend for assistance or use software like Grammarly to help you.
Professors expect students at the tertiary level to have basic writing skills. This is especially the case when the content is made up of a few paragraphs.
Your email will become difficult to read if there are too many grammatical errors, which will only irritate your readers.
Using tools like Grammarly would be helpful but you should keep in mind that they aren’t perfect. It is advisable to review your email once more before sending it.
Be Polite
Professors dislike entitled students and would most likely just ignore any emails from them. So, you should always strive to be polite in your email to the professor.
It doesn’t matter how you may feel about the professor, you should be polite in your emails. Do not presume that they would stop everything they’re doing just to accommodate you.
Students sometimes believe professors are being paid by their school fees so they’re entitled to certain things. Avoid sounding like that, if you don’t want to get on the professor’s bad side.
Identify Yourself
The professor may not remember every one of their students. Don’t take it personal. Professors may teach multiple classes and may not be able to remember every student.
You don’t want to give them additional work to do by not identifying yourself. No professor wants to spend the next 30 minutes looking through their student list to identify who you may be.
Either identify yourself in the introduction of the email or include it in the email signature. You can also do both to make things easier.
Clear And Brief
This isn’t the time to show the professor how verbose you may be. You may have the time to do that but that doesn’t mean the professor does. Avoid writing long emails to the professor if you want them to read through it all.
Professors receive multiple emails from students, other staff members, publications, and more. Don’t make things difficult for them by writing lengthy emails. Shorten the email as much as possible while also maintaining a polite tone.
Explain Your Situation
If you need them to do something for you, ensure that you specify this in the email. You don’t want them to spend the next 30 minutes thinking about all the other options and whether it’ll be convenient for you.
Any back-and-forth emails may end up making them lose interest. So, if you have an idea what you need from them, politely explain it in the email. Try not to sound entitled in any way.
If you’ve already discussed what you need with the professor, you can simply remind them of the discussion in a few words.
Don’t Forget Attachment
Don’t forget to attach any necessary documents if necessary. Confirm this before you send the email. I can’t tell the number of times I’ve sent an email simply to receive a response that I neglected to attach the necessary documents.
The professor may simply ignore the email if you don’t include any necessary attachments. The results could be detrimental, in the case of time-sensitive documents.
So, it’s advisable to always double-check to ensure that the email has successfully been attached before pressing the send button.
Wait Patiently
Avoid bombarding them with reminders or you can get blocked. If it has been more than 24 hours since they responded, you can send them a reminder.
Remember that some professors might not check their work emails on weekends and holidays. You must therefore be patient.
If you haven’t heard from them in a while, you can also go to their office. If you are going to give them reminders, you should be careful how frequently you do so.
Act Early
If you’re requesting the appointment in hopes of discussing something urgent, you shouldn’t wait till the last minute to contact the professor.
Reach out to them as soon as possible to request the appointment before there’s the need to rush things.
Professors deal with different kinds of students and may mistake you for someone who feels entitled and wants the professor to help them on their own time without any consideration.
Clear Subject Line
Don’t forget to include a subject in your email if you want a response. Professors receive loads of emails daily and subject lines help them identify urgent emails so they can quickly respond.
It makes it easy for them to understand the content of your email without spending too much time reading the full body of your email, which saves them a lot of time.
Example:
Request For Appointment
End Formally
Thank them for their time and consideration as you close the email. If you didn’t specify them in the email’s introduction, provide your full name, class, and section information.
Example:
Thank you
Sincerely
{{Your full name}}
{{Class and Section}}
How To Find Your Professor’s Email
So how do you find the professor’s email address if this is the first time, you’re reaching out to them?
School Website
Check your faculty page on the school website. These pages usually include information about professors including their official contact information.
Course Overview (LMS)
If your school uses some form of learning management system (LMS) you can check the course overview page for the professor’s assigned course.
You’ll find the professor’s official contact details on the course overview pages.
Course Syllabus
You can also check out the professor’s syllabus for their contact information. You’ll usually find the professor’s contact information as well as their attendance policies on the course syllabus.
Other Students
You’re most likely not the only student who had to email the professor at some point. So, you can ask your classmates for the professor’s email.
Even if none of them has it, you can be sure that someone will provide some advice on where they may have seen it along the line.
Sample Email To Professor Asking For Appointment
Template 1: Request Appointment With Professor
Email Subject
Request For Appointment Regarding {{Topic}}
Body
Dear Professor {{Last name}},
I hope this email finds you well. My name is {{Your name}} and I’m in your {{Class title}} class that meets on {{Meeting days}}. I would like to meet with you for approximately {{Duration}} minutes to discuss {{Topic}} at your earliest convenience.
I know you have posted office hours on {{Days}} from {{Time}}. May I have an appointment for this {{Day and Date}}, at {{Time}} to discuss the issue? Looking forward to your response.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely
{{Your full name}}
{{Class and Section Number}}
Template 2: Requesting Appointment With Professor
Email Subject
Request For Appointment To Discuss {{Topic}}
Body
Dear Professor {{Last name}},
I hope this email finds you well. My name is {{Your name}} and I’m in your {{Class title}} class that meets on {{Meeting days}}. I have some doubts regarding {{Problem}} and would appreciate your help in clarifying it.
I was hoping you could make some time this week, so I could come and discuss this challenge with you. I understand that your time is valuable, so this week might not be possible. So, I would appreciate it if you could let me know what time would be convenient for you.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely
{{Your full name}}
{{Class and Section Number}}
Template 3: Requesting Appointment To Discuss Notes
Email Subject
Request For Appointment To Discuss {{Topic}}
Body
Dear Professor {{Last name}},
I hope this email finds you well. My name is {{Your name}} and I’m in your {{Class title}} class that meets on {{Meeting days}}. I was going through the lesson on {{Topic}} but I’m unable to understand {{Problem}}.
Would it be possible to schedule a 15-minute meeting to discuss at your earliest convenience? Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely
{{Your full name}}
{{Class and Section Number}}
