Talking to people is horrifying. You don’t have to say it, because I’m right there with you- talking to professors I’ve never communicated with, emailing counselors, even texting classmates is terrifying to me. As someone who’s socially inept, I’m going to share with you my guide to the momentous task that is communication.
Professing to the Professor! How to talk in your league!
Now, honestly, higher-ups scare me to death. If you hold any sort of power in my life, I’m going to be scared of you, at least until I get to know you. So, what do you do if you’ve got to email your professor about an assignment you can’t make, or you have a question? There are a few easy ways: the Text, the Explanation, and the Formal.
The Text
The text is the most simple, and probably the most intimidating if it’s your first time emailing someone- It’s essentially just…wording the email like a text message. If you’re comfortable with the person in question, it’s simple. It’s essentially texting them like anyone else; “Hey, how do you do [x]? Thanks,” or “I’ll be unable to do [y] assignment until [date],” and moving on. I suppose if you’re gutsy, or you can’t word it right, it’s fine! I don’t recommend it the first time, personally.
The Explanation
The Explanation- or… over-explanation, if you’re as bad as me, is just as it sounds. You explain the situation at hand and go from there. Be careful about getting too long with it, or else you could give your professor a sea of text that could have been shortened down to a few sentences. This hits a little closer to assignments or extended leave. The format I use is as follows: “Greetings [Professor], I’m emailing you today about [Topic]. I will be away during [date]/I am currently sick and do not know when I will be able to resume/Something has happened in my life. Could I have an extension/What path of action do you recommend? Thanks in advance/Sincerely [Name] (optional)” Remember. There’s no need to feel guilty if you need to take a couple of day’s break for something or the other- You’re human, just as the rest of us are, and life happens.
The Formal
The Formal is a rare one for me to use. It’s typically for more dire situations- Say, someone has passed, or you need to withdraw from the class; it’s similar to the explanation, just much longer, a lot harder to be scripted because of how personal something like that can be. This could be written much closer to a resignation letter for a company, which I recommend researching beforehand. Leaving a class can be very hard, especially if you enjoy the class but just can’t do it at the moment. While it may be scary to email your professors, you have to remember that they’re people like you. They may be a lot less intimidating than you think, and they’re usually reasonable! The same goes for advisors, classmates, what have you- People can be friendly, even if they seem intimidating.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
E.MCALISTER
Student Author - Fall 2020
I’m just a small-town student.
