Do THIS if your professor doesn't respond to email (template)
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TABLE OF CONTENTS (jump ahead)
How to send a polite follow-up email to your professor when they didn’t respond
What happens if my professor still doesn’t respond to my second email?
What to do if my professor didn’t respond to an urgent email?
What does it mean if your professor doesn’t answer your email?
How to write a follow up email to your professor
You took a leap, and sent an email to your professor but did not get any response and now you’re wondering what you should do.
You do need a response, but you are worried you’ll come across as rude. And that your professor will be offended.
I am going to tell you exactly what to do, and show you an example of a follow-up email.
As a professor, I actually appreciate students who send follow-up emails because sometimes things get overlooked, emails don’t get delivered, or it was an emergency and you need a quick response but I haven’t opened your email yet.
So don’t hesitate to send a follow-up email to your professor if they fail to respond in a timely manner. But make sure you consider a few things first.
How long should you wait for your professor to respond?
If you have sent an email to your professor, I would wait for a few business days to pass before you assume that your professor isn’t going to respond in a timely manner. Keep in mind that you need to consider holidays, breaks and a professor’s professional schedule. Sometimes professors are out on break or they are at a professional conference and may not be able to respond.
But if none of these things apply, I would give it a few days first. Sometimes professors overlook emails or they get deleted accidentally so it’s okay to reach back out.
When should you send a follow up email after no reply?
If you are not getting a response from your professor after you sent an email, I would send a follow up email after a FEW BUSINESS DAYS have passed. But before you do that, you need to consider some of these important factors first.
You need to always make sure you send emails to your professors several days, even a week, in advance of a necessary reply. You don’t want to be in a situation where you need a response to a critical question, and don’t get one in time.
So plan ahead, send the email days before a response is required. And I even recommend a week or more. This way you can have a delay in response and not be panicking.
A lack of preparedness on your part shouldn’t be an emergency for your professor.
But there are some circumstances when you don’t have adequate time to send an email so early. And that’s understandable.
And if you have waited until the last minute to send your professor an email, realize you may not have left your professor much time to even respond and you may be out of luck.
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Was your professor’s email address correct?
Before you send a follow-up email to your professor, check your sent outbox and make sure the email address was correct. It may not have been received. Check every letter to make sure it was correct. Check your inbox to see if you received a failure to send email in response to your original email.
If you didn’t, it’s safe to assume they received it.
I have had students misspell my email address or send the email to the wrong professor, and I never knew about it until they asked me in person and we figured it out together. So check that first.
Did you send the email from your college’s email address?
Also, make sure you are sending your email through you college’s email address, if you have one. Sometimes college’s use fancy spam filters and professors may never receive your email. That is important to remember.
If your email comes from an internal sender (college’s email system) they will very likely receive it. But when you start sending things from your personal email address, it may not arrive, could get marked as spam, or your professor ignores it because of a college policy for cybersecurity reasons.
Should you follow-up with an email?
If you emailed your professor, and did not get a response, you can politely follow-up with another email. But there are some precautions to take first.
Check their syllabus. They will likely have their response times in their syllabus. For example, did they say that they do not return emails on the weekends? Or they have a 48 hour turnaround time during business days?
Make sure you have let that recommended time pass and follow all their requirements for email communication.
If you send this on a college break or holiday, they won’t likely respond. If you want to send another email to follow-up, you need to make sure you let enough time elapse and have followed their policies.
Check their syllabus
Maybe the answer to your question can also be found in their syllabus. Make sure you check there first. Your professor may not respond to your email because the answer was clearly in your syllabus.
And you shouldn’t waste your time sending them an email when you can quickly find out the answer yourself.
If you do check the syllabus or other class materials and locate the answer, send another email letting them know you solved your problem independently so they don’t waste their time sending a response.
They’ll appreciate that.
Can another department answer your question?
Is your email about a registration? Email that department instead.
Is your email about financial aid or a technical issues? Email those respective departments first.
It is possible that another department could answer your questions, but sometimes you need your professor’s direct response and I understand.
See my email template below then.
How to send a polite follow-up email to your professor when they didn’t respond
Now, here is the information you want. How to word the email for a follow-up to an un-replied email from your professor.
If you have followed all the steps above to ensure you’re ready to send your second email, see my example below.
Email template for follow-up email to professor
Dear Professor Smith,
This is Jane Doe in your ENGL 1301 class that meets every Tuesday at 7pm. I sent an email on March 13th and I am not sure if you received it. I understand times are busy for you in preparation for spring break so I wanted to send a follow-up email to make sure my other email did arrive safely. For sake of time, I will include the original contents of my previous email below so you don’t have to worry about searching for it. I know you are busy. I definitely appreciate your time, and I am looking forward to your response. If you prefer to meet in person to discuss this matter, please let me know and I am happy to stop by.
(Include original email here)
Sincerely,
Your student.
Critique of this email
You made sure you introduced yourself and told them which class you were enrolled in. You included the date when you sent the previous email. This allows your professor to go back to their inbox and sort by date. They could easily find if your email was received.
Secondly, you explained that you understand they are busy and you are wanting to confirm the other email was even received.
Instead of saying something like, “you ignored my email” you made it about their potential circumstances and gave them an appropriate excuse. And by asking if they ever received it, that helps to not offend them.
Probably the most important thing is that you gave them your original email in your follow-up. It saves them time. They no longer have to go back and search for your email, and read that original email. Everything is there for them and it’s easy to reply now.
Lastly, you offered to come by in person. This just gives them the seriousness of your concerns.
What happens if my professor still doesn’t respond to my second email?
If you have sent two emails to your professor, and they still haven’t responded to your follow up email, you should try to find your professor in person to find a resolution. If you cannot go in person, you might reach out to the department chair or Dean to make sure there isn’t an issue with your professor that is keeping them from responding.
Well, now that you’ve sent two emails, and you’ve still heard nothing, you are probably getting very frustrated.
When I was in college, I had a professor who never responded to emails. It was a ghost town unfortunately. And no matter how nice my follow-up email was, I never got a response.
So there may not always be a solution.
You are going to have to find other ways to approach your professor.
I know that you may come across professors who don’t routinely respond to emails appropriately, and I understand how difficult that is but you may be able to locate them and talk in person.
As a professor, I would recommend that you try everything to contact your professor before you start going up the chain of command because it could get them in trouble.
However, students come first and your email should be answered. But make sure you give your professor plenty of time to respond. Sometimes professors are out of the office and they don’t have an out-of-office message setup.
If you have followed all of my advice, then try and meet your professor in person FIRST or reach out in another way.
Do they have office hours?
Can you talk to them before or after class?
Message them from your online learning management system (Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard)
Before I started reaching out to the supervisor, I would probably try one more email if nothing else has worked. If you have sent them three emails, and given them adequate time the respond, and you need a response, it might be time to try something else.
You may need to start contacting their boss. You might first go to the chair of the department. And then the Dean, as a very last resort.
When you send this email, you should just tell them that you have been trying to reach your professor, and have not received a reply. I would send the dates of communication too. And then ask them if there is an issue with your professor’s email or something that is preventing them from communicating like an illness.
This is the most polite way to talk to their boss. You aren’t being accusatory but more concerned.
If you don’t know who their boss is, try and go to the college’s website and see if there is an organization chart. It might take some digging, but you can probably find it. Try and find their department and see if there are any other potential contacts, like a secretary you could contact.
This is where I would start if your third email doesn’t get a response.
What to do if my professor didn’t respond to an urgent email?
If your professor doesn’t respond to an urgent email, you can try to meet with them in-person instead. As a former professor, I would recommend students find their professor on campus to get their question answered rather than wasting time emailing them or call their telephone number.
Do they have office hours?
Stop by.
Can you meet with them before or after class?
Do that instead.
This is the best route if you need a response immediately. Try and find them in person instead of communicating via email.
Before you get really worried, check their syllabus for their policy regarding feedback and their responses. They may say that they take 48 hours to respond to an email or that they don’t respond to emails on the weekends.
If this is the circumstance, there isn’t much you can do but wait.
If you have given them plenty of time to respond, it is time to follow up with another email regarding your first unanswered email.
I have that information above. But since it is likely URGENT, you don’t have time to wait.
A phone call might be the best scenario here. Go to their syllabus, and see if they have a telephone number listed.
Try to call them in their office first and if you can’t get ahold of them in their office, try to call their department or division office. They might be able to reach out to them and get a response for you. It’s worth a try.
Who to contact if my professor won’t respond?
If you’ve tried everything above, and nothing is still working, the very last resort after exhausting all these options, is to send an email to their supervisor. Usually this is a Dean. So, if your professor won’t respond to your email, and you already sent them a follow-up email, you could contact their boss.
But before you do, make sure you’ve done everything else first! Don’t skip any steps. However, I know that there are some professors who NEVER respond to their emails. This can definitely be a problem and I am sorry you are experiencing this.
Make sure the matter is important enough to contact their superior.
You can easily find the organizational chart on the college’s website to understand who is the next chain of command is or someone at the college can help direct you.
You want to start with their immediate supervisor and not go straight to the top. Because your email will probably get routed back down to their immediate supervisor anyway. This just saves you time.
I also recommend trying to visit that office in person instead of sending an email. And remember, you should exhaust every other method of communication first before doing this. And the matter should be pressing.
You aren’t trying to get them in trouble, but sometimes you have a critical concern that needs a response from your professor.
And if you are in this circumstance, make sure you discuss this on your student evaluation. Your professor and their superiors need to be made aware of their lack of communication so they can improve.
What does it mean if your professor doesn’t answer your email?
If your professor doesn’t answer your email, do not worry too much because it probably doesn’t mean anything. Your professor probably didn’t answer your email because they overlooked it, accidentally deleted it, or were out of their office.
Remember, professors don’t work 24/7 so it is possible that they are on break. If you want to learn more about when professors are on vacation, check this article out.
But otherwise, emails get overlooked and ignored, but it doesn’t mean it’s on purpose.
However, there were some emails I got as a professor and they didn’t seem like they required a response so I read them and deleted them.
Then I would get a frantic email from the student asking why I didn’t respond. Well, it should be very clear that you need a response or have a specific question because your professor may assume that you are just letting them know something instead of asking a question.
Otherwise, it’s probably an honest mistake. Sure, there are some professors who could be lazy, hardly work and ignore emails, but I’d like to think that’s a small minority of professors.
Is it rude to email a professor twice?
It is not rude to email a professor twice if you are polite in your email exchange both times. I would recommend that you wait long enough before emailing them a second time. But after that, you should feel free to email them again.
Just keep calm, be polite, and send a polite follow-up email as I have outlined above.
You got this.
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