How to tell professor you’re sick (written by one)

What should you email your professor when you are sick?

If you want to email your professor when you are sick, you should make it short and simple without sharing too many details about your illness. Use this professor’s email template to let your professor know that you are going to be absent and that it was unavoidable because you are ill and cannot attend.

But before I give you an email template of what I would say in an email to your professor, I will share with you some major pointers.

And you might be wondering why you should listen to me?

Because I was a professor who received countless sick emails from my students, and I will tell you the ones that were the BEST and I personally recommend.

How to email your professor you’re sick

Keep it simple

Don’t give too many details about your illness.

Over the years as a former professor, I got a lot of detailed emails and phone calls from students about their absence. And if they were sick, some felt the need to elaborate more to make it realistic. If you give too many details, your professor might not want to hear all of that information and it could be too personal and seem fake.

Also, students who overshared seemed like they were exaggerating so that I would believe them. I did not need to know that you went to the toilet six times in the last hour.

Contact them yourself

Please do NOT have your parents contact your professor UNLESS you are seriously ill and it is an emergency.

Parents should only be communicating with their kid’s professors if they have signed a waiver otherwise there isn’t much a professor can tell parents due to confidentiality.

And don’t be tempted to have someone else contact your professor about being sick because they will likely tell them to have you contact them directly anyway. It doesn’t look very mature to have someone else do all your dirty work for you.

I know it can be scary to reach out to your professor and it is tempting to put the responsibility on someone else, but you’ll need to step up and take care of it personally.

Give them advanced notice

Make sure you let your professor know in advance. If you tell them that you are sick days after you missed class, and assignment, or exam, it won’t seem believable unless you were hospitalized.

They might think you are making it up just to get another opportunity to complete the missed assignments.

So, make sure you let them know as early as possible. If it is the day of class, that’s okay. But if you can contact them the day before, even better.

If you need them to accept any late work, this email is going to help you get that accommodation.

Provide documentation

Bring documentation but don’t give out all your personal information like your medical condition. You can get the doctor to write you a note that you can miss class, and it will contain minimal details about you.

In my opinion, you do NOT need to provide your professor with all your detailed medical information unless your college is officially requesting it. They have no business knowing that you have strep throat or are dealing with a urinary tract infection. You’re sick, bottom-line.

I don’t think it’s necessary to give them details of your medical history.

And in reality, you are probably going to send this through email that is not encrypted and if their system is ever hacked, your information is at risk.

PRO TIP : Not every illness will require medical documentation because everyone doesn’t visit the doctor when they don’t feel well and some people don’t have access due to financial constraints so this isn’t usually necessary. Check your professor’s attendance policy.

How to contact them

If I were you, I would review their syllabus and understand more about how they want you to contact them.

Most students are probably going to email their professor real quick, but I wouldn’t stop there.

When my students contacted me, the majority would send me emails. And while I always appreciate the speed of email, a telephone call can help ensure your professor understands your commitment.

When you email or call them, keep it short and sweet. I have a very good article that discuses how you could be annoying when you email your professor here. Follow that guidance too.

It is okay to call your professor on their work number, but keep in mind that your professor might not check their phone messages often, especially if they are an adjunct professor.

Either way, the more attempts you make to contact them, the better. They will truly know you care and you are missing class because it is incredibly important.

I would definitely tell them how many days you are planning on being absent and let them know your expected date of return too.

And BEFORE you email them, check out my other post where I detail the times students should NOT reach out to their professor. It is not always straightforward.

Sample email to professor telling them you are sick

When you email your professor about being sick, you want to say that you are not feeling well in a professional way. A formal way to tell your professor that you are sick is to keep it brief and include few details about your illness.

It is VERY important to email them from your college email. Otherwise they might not get it and you are NEVER going to get a reply and you might think they are ignoring you.

What to put in the subject line of sick email

When I received emails from students about missing class for a sickness, me favorite ones included the class and section number (if applicable) and the student’s name.

It isn’t always clear who the student is by their email. So, this format made it super simple to know what class they were even talking about.

Sick email template

Dear Professor,

I am in your ENGL 1101.233 class and I am experiencing an illness that requires me to remain at home therefore I will not be in class today, and I plan on returning Monday unless I continue to experience symptoms. I will be asking my classmate for notes, and I realize that I won’t miss any assignments. However, I will still be covering all the material from the textbook on my own. If there is anything of significant importance that you will be discussing that is unexpected, please let me know. Thanks for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely, Your student.

If you want to learn more about emailing your professor when you are going to miss class, I have my most POPULAR guide here.

How do you call in sick to college?

If you want to call in sick to college as a student, there is not necessarily a number that college students need to call to document an illness to be absent from class. You will most likely handle any absences directly with your professor and it will be according to their attendance policies.

It wouldn’t be necessary to call the college and let them know you are sick because the university is likely large and they cannot track all the students themselves.

Go read your professor’s syllabus right away as this will contain their attendance policy.

Chances are, you might not even have to tell anyone that you are sick to begin with.

Read all my information above to write the perfect email to send to your professor when you are sick.

Can you miss class for an illness in college?

Yes, most universities and professors will allow students to miss class due to an illness as it’s very COMMON for students to get sick during the semester. But there might be a limit on how many times you can miss class.

Things are going to happen and students are going to get sick. Even professors get sick and have to cancel class too.

When I was a professor, I would occasionally get sick and have to cancel all my classes. I never needed to cancel more than a day or two of my classes, but illnesses can linger on for some people.

Some professors might require students to attend a certain percentage of their classes or you might risk failing. For example, I knew a professor who would fail any student who missed more than 50% of their course.

If you want to learn more about attendance in college, you should read about it here. And don’t be fooled, attendance does matter.

Do you have to let your professors know that you are sick?

Most college students will not have to let their professors know that they are sick but it isn’t always so obvious.

Every professor’s attendance policy may be different.

When I was a professor, I tried a wide range of attendance policies.

Once, I didn’t require any attendance. Another semester, I tried offering extra credit for attendance. And then I finally started counting attendance as a grade.

If you are sick and need to miss class, your professor may not have any requirements for attendance. But every professor is different and most universities let the professors determine their own sick attendance policies.

But I will be REALLY HONEST here, professors can get overwhelmed with emails from students and they may not want another unnecessary email.

You can read the information above to learn how to tell your professor you are sick and that you will be missing class.

Will your professor care if you miss class because you are sick?

No, your professor will not care if you miss class because you’re sick because they don’t want students coming to the college and getting other students or themselves ill and they know that students cannot learn well if they are sick.

I know you will likely have a lot of guilt if you miss class and you might worry that your professor is totally judging you for being absent, but they won’t care unless it becomes a habit.

Professors are used to hearing about students’ excuses for missing class, and understand that people get sick.

Chances are you’ve had a professor who has called into work and canceled class. Life happens and we don’t expect our students to NEVER miss class because they get sick.

I just recommend that you follow my steps above to ensure your professor knows why you aren’t attending class, and continue communication until your return.

If you have to miss more than once class, check back in with them and it will show them that you care.

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