Emailed a professor and I have not gotten back their reply. Answered
Hello,
About 3-4 days ago, I submitted an email to a professor at a University I want to attend expressing my interest in both his research and asking him about the research opportunities that the school might offer. This professor works in the department of the subject that I want to major in. I don't know if he didn't see my email or not. Should I try emailing him again?
I kind of need his response by approximately the end of the week, but I don't want to bother since I know that University professors are quite busy.
Please let me know!
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3 answers
It is very unlikely for professors to reply back to high school students on research. This is why it is recommended, as a high schooler, to email multiple professors at the same time as their is a slim chance anyone would respond. A lot of professors are often busy as if they would like assistance in their research, they are more likely to turn to undergraduate students as they tend to have more knowledge and experience than a high schooler. Unless you have specific connections to a professor or your mom's coworker's brother's dogwalker's cousin is a professor, then expect yourself to be sending 50-75 or even 100+ emails to other professors.
If you are still confident about this one professor, I'd recommend sending the same exact email one more time only. If they don't respond, then try moving onto the next professor you could find. Also, the professor you are willing to work with doesn't have to be from the college you intend on applying to. Any other local university would still be impressive.
Research programs for high schoolers are often the best bet rather than cold emailing multiple professors. I'm not aware of any research programs with applications open right now though.
Try sending a follow up email just as a reminder and they usually end up replying then. If it still doesn't work, maybe email a different professor or the head of the department since professor's job isnt to help out high schoolers its to help out college students. The head of the department is usually more attentive to emails and can be more helpful then a single professor.
email back again like " I know you get busy and might have missed this email so I'm replying to it to send it back up in your inbox" it's what I do with my teachers and it seems to work most of the time.
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