phd application no response

How to write a follow-up email to a potential supervisor(With examples)

February 6, 2022
GRADUATE ADMISSIONS

follow-up email to a potential supervisor

You might have been working so hard to craft that decent looking email to a potential supervisor , But you haven’t heard from them back after you sent it.

This is quite a stressful situation to be in. But do not get too stressed to the point where you make bad decisions that will potentially lead to losing a potential research opportunity. This is why a follow-up email to a potential supervisor should be well-timed and crafted.

Do your research first

There are plenty of technical reasons why you are not getting any response. Your email might end up in the spam folder, for example. If you haven’t thought of that and sent another email, it wouldn’t make any difference.

I made the mistake of sending a follow-up email to a potential supervisor from my Outlook account, and no one was writing me back. When I realized my messages were likely being filtered to their spam mail and started emailing from my university email, I received responses right away.

Give them time

Give them a decent period of time in which to respond. A week is a reasonable amount of time. You can also wait two weeks to respond to your original email. They may be busy. Some of them say right on their research page that they won’t write you back if they don’t want to work with you.

I emailed a professor on 8th January when I was applying to graduate school, and I never heard back from him until 18th April. He mentioned in the email that he was intrigued by my application, but he wasn’t sure at the time where he had the resources to take a new graduate student.

After a quick interview within a week after that email, I got my acceptance letter to join his lab. Looking back at that nerve-racking three months now, I am 100% certain that it was worth the wait.

Never lose hope! Timing is Everything, but everyone has different Timing.

Do not send the same email back

This is kind of a mistake most students make when they write a follow-up email to a potential supervisor. The point here is to be practical. If you send the same email twice, you are already assuming that your potential supervisor missed your email. That is just a single possibility out of many.

If they saw your email and were not interested in your application, sending the same email would not make any difference.

But, if you send a short “follow-up” email, forward with the email you sent earlier, you might at least get a response saying that they are not interested in your application, which is extremely important if you are applying for several universities at the same time.

Do not demand a reply and only follow up once

It might be better not to include the request to respond either way. If they feel they are too busy to respond, they will likely disregard that response. If you did not get a response to your second email, it is a good indication that you have to move on.

Never send a follow-up email for a follow-up email! You should only follow up once.

Always be polite and not admonish them for not replying or ask them why they haven’t responded.

Follow-up email to a potential supervisor: Examples

A general example.

Subject: Follow-up about [Reason for Follow-up] Dear Professor [Last name] , I hope all is well. I wanted to follow up on my email from [when you sent it] about [your concern or question]. I understand you have a busy schedule, but I wanted to see about [whatever you are following up on]. I greatly appreciate your time. I look forward to hearing from you soon! Thank you again in advance for your help with [ question ] . Sincerely, [Your name] FOLLOWED BY THE REST OF THE ORIGINAL EMAIL’S CONTENTS.

If you are sure your last email went to the spam folder

Subject: Follow-up about [Reason for Follow-up] “Dear Professor [Last name] , I emailed you on mm/dd from my personal email, but I am concerned that my message may have been blocked, so I am emailing you again from my former student account. Sincerely, [Your name] FOLLOWED BY THE REST OF THE ORIGINAL EMAIL’S CONTENTS.

Final words

Do not lose hope. Timelines are different from one person to another. It is always important to respect your potential supervisor’s time.

A follow-up email to a potential supervisor could potentially be a starting point of being accepted to your dream school.

Do not forget to share your experience in the comment section.

Images courtesy: Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash , Text vector created by stories – www.freepik.com

Aruna Kumarasiri

Founder at Proactive Grad, Materials Engineer, Researcher, and turned author. In 2019, he started his professional carrier as a materials engineer with the continuation of his research studies. His exposure to both academic and industrial worlds has provided many opportunities for him to give back to young professionals.

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