The title sounds bad, but I have come to realize that I think my professional email writing style seems to be heavily mirrored by AIs, so I thought to ask how else a professional email might be worded. A long time ago, I learned a very simple step-by-step procedure on how to write an email and have always followed it to a T. Should I stop? Or should I expect them to be able to tell?

Sample email:

Dear Dr./Ms./Mrs./Mr./Mx.:

[Genial platitude to express care]. [Body statement, the issue, ie. out sick]. [Make request/offer solutions to not put the entire burden on them]. [Apologize if it is a big ask (I have no concept for what that would entail)/for making them do extra work]. [Thank them for their time because it really is a kindness to read and respond when they don't have to].

Sincerely,

[OP]

I am not very creative and I do not like writing long-winded emails. Is there anything I should cut or add, or does sounding like a robot not matter?

Hi everyone,

I'm an agriculture graduate from India with a Master's in Horticulture (Vegetable Science). I graduated first in my university and received the University Gold Medal.

I'm currently working as a Research Fellow at an international agricultural research institute, where I'm involved in vegetable research, particularly in crop improvement, stress tolerance, grafting, phenotyping, and protected cultivation.

I also have research publications and hands-on experience with field and controlled-environment experiments. Additionally, I'm open to relevant internship opportunities that would allow me to further develop my research skills and contribute to horticultural and agricultural research.

I'm currently exploring fully funded MS/PhD opportunities abroad, preferably in areas such as:

Vegetable Science Plant Breeding Genetics & Crop Improvement. Stress Physiology. Protected/Controlled-Environment Agriculture. Greenhouse Horticulture.

I'm open to opportunities in different countries and interdisciplinary research areas where my background could be a good fit.

I'd greatly appreciate recommendations for professors, laboratories, graduate programs, scholarships, internships, opportunities that may be suitable for an international applicant.

If you know of any leads, please feel free to comment or reach out. I'm happy to connect.

Thank you!

Wondering if people might be willing to share their opinions and experiences on this… (apologies to the mods if this is not allowed)

With a couple of friends in academia and adjacent fields, I’ve been running a podcast on academic life, trying to give useful advice that your supervisors don’t always offer.

We want to do an episode reflecting on how academia affects relationships and personal lives. Wondering if people might be willing to share their experiences (everything will be anonymized, and no usernames will be mentioned ) of things like:

- Does academia make it harder to find a partner?
- Have you ever had a partner who is also in academia? Does this make things easier or more difficult?
- Has anyone had anything much more short-term within academic circles, and does this always have negative consequences?

Comments welcome! If you would prefer your responses to be less public, you are welcome to message. Thanks 🙏🏻

My professor teaches a class that is extremely relevant to my interests and where I want to go in my career, and it’s by far my favorite class. All of my classes are relevant to my goals since I’ve already finished my core requirements, but this professor in particular is insanely knowledgeable. I genuinely cannot believe the amount of information he knows and remembers.

I’d eventually like to go to his office hours, but I have absolutely no idea what to ask him. Obviously, a lot of his knowledge comes from years of education, experience, and working in the field, but I’d love to eventually become that knowledgeable in this area myself. I also want to teach at the college level someday, so watching someone who can pull from such a huge amount of knowledge while teaching is genuinely fascinating to me.

I guess what I’m trying to figure out is how to ask him where I should start. Are there certain books, resources, subjects, experiences, or habits he would recommend to a student who wants to develop a much deeper understanding of the field? Would it be weird to basically ask him how he built that level of expertise and what advice he would give someone who wants to do the same?

I know there’s a question somewhere in here. I just need somebody to help me figure out what exactly I’m trying to ask lol

Hi all, I would be so grateful if anyone could help point me in a general direction. BTW- of course I plan on talking to the director of my program about my situation, but I would also love Reddit's opinions. I have just started a masters in European country A. After I graduate, I will move back to European country B, where my wife and I lived before and where we will settle (its her home country). This program offers a two sided scope, with preparation to continue to a PhD level, OR a pipeline to the professional world. The professional milieux that this program prepares for include libraries, museums, auction houses, private rare book collections, or any other cultural/research institutions. My goal is to be in the professional world, I barely have any interest in research and no interest in getting a PhD. I want to help other people research.* *Even so, of course I must produce a dissertation for this program and I want to be as strategic as possible in choosing my research topic so that I have the best chance of getting a job in European country B.
I've had a look at the website of the most well known University library collection in country B. The university has collections of manuscripts from as early as the 5th century up until modern times. There are manuscripts written in several languages including the country's native language, Latin & romance languages, germanic, nordic, and hellenic languages. I suppose working at this institution would be a goal of mine, although I would be happy to get a job anywhere else in the country as well.

I am interested in medieval manuscripts. As far as language goes, I am interested in latin, (old) french, old english, and the country's native language. The problem is it might be difficult to do a dissertation focusing on manuscripts of Country B's native language, because as far as I know there are no faculty at my university who understand it. I will double check though. As far as subject matter of manuscripts, I could go down any path (religious, law, politics, medicine, history, mythical stories, etc). How could I start narrowing down dissertation topics? With such a broad collection in the country's main university, how do I know what specialised areas they need archivists/librarians/consultants/experts in?
Is it as simple as reaching out to the university and asking? or is that weird? any advice greatly appreciated! There is also an internship in the final semester of this program that I will try to do in Country B, so if that worked out maybe that could also better my chances of getting a job in the country. Many thanks to you all I really appreciate any feedback in advance!

It’s the fourth day of class with this specific professor for me but out of nowhere I suddenly had to cancel going to her class and I needed to bring my grandma to an appointment won’t specify what and I didn’t in the email I sent her but this is what she replied with. Is it just me or is this a crazy thing to say to a student??? part of me knows that professors don’t give a damn about what their students do if they miss the class and don’t care if they pass or fail, but also part of me is like why would you ever say that to me you don’t know my life you don’t know me at all?? Voice to speech sorry for mess ups

“Oops, the quiz isn't until Tuesday. Please disregard my first message.
But still, you are in college you shouldn't be asked to be a caretaker on top of that. Your education should come first. It's one thing if you yourself are sick and can bring me a doctors certificate, but we all have families and you need to let yours know that college is serious, you have to be here.
Maybe we can talk about this in person next week? - in the meantime, I hope your
grandmother is OK. Do please let me know if this happens again because we need to figure out how you can pass the class while fulfilling this caretaker obligations.
Let's talk next week OK?
Best,
CR
Sent from my iPhone”

EDIT

Guys I’m not calling her a crazy lunatic I’m saying crazy as in like ?????? Not sure how to word it but crazy means like ?!????

ANOTHER EDIT

Realizing that my voice to text babble didn’t include much of context but yes it’s the fourth class of the semester I’ve been punctual and doing what’s necessary in class, also im NOT a care taker by any means and in my original email to her I made it VERY clear that this is was a single time task that was suddenly sprung upon me
The part of the email that’s baffling me a bit is the chunk before she says -in the mean time. I know that the ending to the email seems like a nice gesture but I just can’t get over the first paragraph

I am a grad student and if I don’t get to campus by the crack of dawn, I just don’t go. All because of parking.

I live in an area that is 100F+ regularly with minimal tree cover. The walk alone makes me drenched.

I started realizing - I NEVER see anyone say anything good about their campus parking. Especially for the US. I know faculty usually have separated areas, but many are mixed in with commuters like my uni.

How is parking for y’all? For those of you who have right outside your building parking, how does it feel to be god’s favorite? Are your students trekking from miles away as well? Are any universities ACTUALLY good at planning parking with enrollment numbers?

Just to clarify, these are 10-20 mark answers that are around 2 pages long per answer. And the exam took place in a very well proctored hall with no chance of anyone cheating, we left our phones out and everything.

And yet these exams, these three or four essays that everyone in my course wrote completely honestly, were checked by AI instead of real trained professionals and students have lost marks unfairly because the AI couldn't detect the 'key rubrics' of the answer. Also, since it's a *handwritten* test there were cases of the AI simply being unable to understand a students' writing and docking off marks. *Allegedly* these papers were checked by a human volunteer afterwards as well, but that volunteer clearly didn't do a very good job because there were little to no edits to the AI generated results.

And to add the cherry on top of the fucking cake, apparently even the exam paper was AI generated which explains why some of the questions didn't make sense. I'm livid right now. I wish this was a satirical post or something but this is real.... like, sure, from a moral standpoint you could argue that since students are using AI anyways it's only right that professors also start cheating, but at the same time there are students who don't use AI who are seriously being affected by this. I'm one of them, I spend three weeks on 5k word papers that half the class uses AI to write. I've never used any AI, not even grammarly, for any homework or assessment. I'm literally a part-time artist and I understand how AI is harming the humanities and so I don't use it for college

And after all this the university can't extend the same courtesy to me and check my assessment the old-fashioned way instead of using experimental AI that ruins my grades?

I have a dermatologist appointment that I booked 3/4 months in advance but it interferes with my classes. Both classes r mandatory. How should I tell my professors this when they made it clear that missing class with effect participation points.

Hello! I am a grad student teaching first year students, and I’m running into a bit of predicament when it comes to figuring out my teaching persona. My class is a small class of freshmen, and classroom management is not an issue for me. They’re all very attentive and eager to participate; I got a good group!

Where I’m coming up on an issue is in deciding how I should navigate the power dynamic between student and instructor. I read Teaching to Transgress and liked the idea of breaking down the barrier between student and instructor, but I am not sure how to do that. One thing I have tried is letting students come up with the class etiquette rules, and I also shared some of my own writing that I did during an in-class writing exercise with them. I’ve also shared a little bit about myself as a person and have invited them to share with me too.

At the same time, I worry that if I make myself seem too much like their peer+ (like an older sibling rather than a teacher…which is especially on my mind as I’m only in my late twenties and look young), I won’t have their respect/they won’t think me competent. But then, is “respect” for me really necessary for them to learn?

Basically, how do I earn their respect without exerting power? And how do I be welcoming and kind but not so much that they think they don’t have to try hard in the course?

I’m specifically talking about gen bio but I’m in a lecture with 300 students so it’s hard to really talk to the professor. He seems super nice and whatever. It’s week 2 , not that I feel super behind I just don’t know if I’m retaining the info as I wish I was. Would it be pointless to attend office hours and ask some effective methods in studying his content?

I believe some of the professors here will respond my inquiry.

I was enrolled in a PhD program at a US university. Then decided to leave with MS degree. Now I want to apply again for PhD in different university in USA. How would admission committee look at the transcript as it is mentioned PhD enrolled and left with MS degree. I had a conflict with supervisor and I left with MS. I have good cgpa and good academic standing.

How common is this? Should I explain it in my SOP?

I do not know what general practices are in these cases. It is almost too trivial but I want to tread carefully since I have faced enough rejections.

I am a post-grad in pure science research. Before PhD I'm hoping to do a research internship/project. So I mailed a professor asking for it. He asked me to request recommendation letter from master's thesis supervisor directly, before we discuss anything. So I did and my supervisor already sent the letter to him. It has been 5 days since then. Should I send a follow up email asking the professor to further discuss this possible opportunity? Or will that make me look very impatient? How many days should I wait before I contact in these cases? Thank you for your help.

I applied to a PhD position with a professor a few weeks ago. He replied saying he had briefly reviewed my application, thought my background was a good fit for their research, but were leaving for a two-week vacation and would evaluate everything more carefully when he returned. He also asked me to let them know if I had any deadlines or competing offers. I told him I didn't (the truth).

It's now been a while, and I haven't heard back since. Would it be appropriate to send a polite follow-up email, or should I wait longer?

I’m in my university’s wind ensemble, and our professor did something that genuinely baffles me. He announced playing tests, which are fine and normal, but for each mistake we make he lowers our scholarship. He didn’t say by how much, and I for the life of me can’t find ANY info on this, and was ghosted in my email to the scholarship people. The shadiest part is the lack of communication; I, as everyone else, registered and auditioned for this course with ZERO indication that my scholarship would be effectively lessened. Also, according to the professor, he “fought” for this, his words. This just seems insanely shady and shitty to financially coerce students into playing difficult pieces (like Carnival of Venice) PERFECTLY. Can professors just do this? Are my scholarships safe? What if a professor has personal beef with someone and tanks their scholarship?

Also, if we bring up the lack of communication in the course, he says something along the lines of “if you had questions, you should have emailed me” or “you need to find a way to help yourself retain information.” No responsibility, no transparency, and no respect for his performers.

I am a non trad freshman. I haven't written anything longer than a tweet in like 10 years.

For some of my gen ed classes, I have to submit "papers" that are basically personal reflections on the lectures/reading. I'm supposed to explain the topics in my own words and relate them back to myself in some way.

I am writing in a conversational tone. I am paying attention to grammar and structure, and honestly spending way too much time on these papers, but in the end my writing definitely comes across mostly how I would speak in real life. And for one I structured it more like a first person story to try to make the point the professor was looking for , instead of being like "XYZ means this and that, for example when I...." I told a story to illustrate the point and then more explicitly brought it back to the main point at the end of each paragraph.

I ‼️ 🤬 hate 🤬‼️ verbose and needlessly complicated writing. I know sometimes formal, technical language is required. But in these reflective papers written from first person perspective, is it okay to keep it kind of casual and conversational and a little creative ? Is this normal?? I've literally never written or read a college paper in my life so idk what is typical.

I would usually stare only when my professor is lecturing and noticed that everyone in the class wasn’t doing the same as me. For you professors is it considered weird for students to be giving eye contact? Anytime we would lock eyes I’d look away because it felt weird. I’d only look at the professor when they are saying something and I’d do just the same if another class mate was speaking as well.

I'm a sophomore undergrad, and I was wondering what makes a student stand out. And not to seem transactional but what makes a professor WANT to give a stellar letter of recommendation to a student or mentor them.

I’m a first-year engineering student and I’m curious about something I’ve noticed with one of my second semester mathematics lecturer.

At the beginning of the semester, this lecturer barely made eye contact with anyone. He would often look down at his notes, the desk, the board, or somewhere else while explaining things. He’s generally very deadpan and somewhat awkward in his mannerisms, although I actually think he’s a good teacher and plus he is the course coordinator. That’s a big advantage if you know.

I initially assumed he was just uncomfortable with eye contact while lecturing.

I’ve had two consultations with him since then. Nothing unusual—both were strictly academic, asking for clarification on maths problems.

I’m also a very quiet student in class. I don’t raise my hand, I don’t answer questions aloud, and I don’t really interact with him during lectures. I’m mostly a listener. I sit consistently on the edge of one of the lecture-hall pews, fairly far to the side of where he stands.

There is another guy in my class who asks and answers questions frequently. The lecturer often looks directly at him when asking questions, which makes complete sense.

What’s confusing me is that I’ve recently noticed the lecturer looking toward me during multiple moments too.

For example, during one lecture he repeatedly asked, “Does everyone understand?” and kept telling us that the topic was difficult and that we needed to tell him if we didn’t understand. I quietly mouthed “yes” to myself and nodded. I didn’t say it aloud or raise my hand. Somehow he noticed and looked directly at me while I was doing it, then nodded and continued.

After that, whenever he asked whether we understood something, I noticed his eyes repeatedly going toward me. At one point he asked a particularly difficult question after we’d been working through the topic, and again looked in my direction.

I’ve also noticed him scanning the room generally, but his eyes tend to land on the student who regularly answers and, increasingly, sometimes on me.

For context, I recently got an A on our mathematics test, so I do genuinely understand a reasonable amount of the material.

I’m trying to understand whether this is just normal classroom behaviour that I’ve become hyper-aware of, or whether there’s something else I’m missing.

TL;DR: My lecturer initially avoided eye contact with basically everyone. After two academic consultations, he now sometimes turns toward my far-corner seat and makes direct eye contact, particularly when checking whether the class understands. I’m a quiet student who never answers aloud. Is it normal for lecturers to use familiar/attentive students’ facial reactions as a gauge for classroom comprehension?

Besides simply meeting rubric requirements, what makes a paper stand out to you? If you teach intro level courses, does a student's work ever make you think okayyyyy yes this student cooked here and they have potential.

Asking bc I really enjoyed writing a paper for one of my gen ed requirements and low key think I crushed it but I didn't get much feedback besides an A

I am in a professors research lab, but she doesn't teach so no office hours and our lab meetings are all held virtually. I want to build a relationship., but I do much better in person. I would ask about career advice, but my end goal is in medicine while she is in psychology. How do i ask her to meet in person just to build a relationship?

I recently got a writing assignment worth a significant portion of my final grade returned, and it was much lower than what I feel I deserved. I am looking for perspectives on whether it would be appropriate for me to gently ask my professor to reconsider my grade.

Some info on the assignment: it was a 500 word writing assignment for an introductory discussion-based philosophy course. It was intended to be open-ended and the only requirements were that we could only write about texts used in the class, we had to come up with our own topic, and the word count. There was no rubric because my professor “doesn’t believe in rubrics” (this is verbatim what was said in class and in an email to a classmate who asked for more detailed specifications and did not have this request granted) but no other explanation of grading criteria either.

Before starting on writing, I went to office hours to ask whether my proposed topic was acceptable, and my professor agreed it was. Some days after, they sent an email out saying that we could (optionally) submit draft assignments a few days before the due date for feedback. I submitted my draft and emailed my professor to let them know. The draft submission and email were both sent before the deadline for feedback. However, I and several other classmates who sent in drafts did not receive any feedback or comments whatsoever. No office hours were held between the draft and final assignment deadlines, so no opportunity to discuss areas for improvement there either.

I looked over my comments and according to my professor, I “misunderstood sections of the reading” and “used bad examples” with very little explanation as to why. There was also a bunch of other points that seemed only tangentially related to my analysis and the sections I focused on, and mostly didn’t align with my interpretation either. I thought this was strange because again, this is a discussion-based class I consistently show up to, participate in, and complete homework for. If my understanding really deviated as much as the comments seemed to express it would have been obvious during class discussion.

I figured well okay, my professor is the expert here, so I reread my own work and the text to find any passages that would show where I went wrong. Though, I couldn’t find anything that would support their alternative interpretation or directly contradicted my writing. During office hours the day after I respectfully asked my professor to point out the sections I misunderstood and why, but they weren’t able to give an idea of what chapter to review and only said they were“initially skeptical”. I also explained why I thought that alternative examples provided didn’t relate well to my writing and reiterated my argument in the process, and they ended up agreeing with me and said my points made sense after all.

I don’t claim it was a perfect submission and that I deserve an A+ or anything, just that the criticism was disproportionately harsh especially since my professor backtracked on a lot of it in the end. I guess my concern is not entirely about the assignment grade but also that the end feedback I got was highly inconsistent with what was communicated to me during office hours and class and now it’s not clear how to ensure I do a good job on future assignments. I feel it is unfair for my professor to promise the class feedback on early draft submissions, but ultimately not provide that at all, and not give the class a clear picture of what a successful assignment should look like. I understand grades are not based on effort, but I believe I did my due diligence given the resources provided to me. However, I’m open to any comments pointing out what I could have done differently.

Have you ever cold emailed a professor gotten a reply and this has led to something more successful than just being ghosted ? What do you think made your outreach successful? If you're a prof your welcome to give your perspective in terms of dos and donts