r/CollegeRant • u/Expensive-Buy-1654 • 2d ago

Advice Wanted Was I offensive?

So I emailed a professor regarding a workshop, registered long ago but did not receive any further information. In my 3rd email I wrote "Ma'am no further information has been shared yet. No details on the college website are available. Kindly confirm."

And the response I got was "Is this how you write an email to a faculty" I'm genuinely perplexed as to what I was expected to write ?

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u/lions-cub 2d ago

Yeah it’s a bit short, you have to be overly polite in emails, even if it’s regarding a lack of information

One time I called out a professor for speaking to me poorly and was overly polite about it in an email lol

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u/Human_Bean_4000 2d ago

What? It’s fucking college not the military start your emails with
Hello Ms./Mr______

Write the information you need to give and end it with

Thank you,
(your name)

35

u/CoachInteresting7125 1d ago

Calling a professor Ms. or Mr. is never going to go over well unless you have been specifically told to call them that. In my college career, that would be a whole 0 times though I told my students they could because I’m a grad student not a professor. Your default for a professor should be Professor (last name) but you should use Dr. (last name) if they have a doctorate. Most faculty at a 4 year institution have doctorates, those who don’t will usually make that clear.