nonresponding profs

[Jarwulf]

So I'm attempting to see if I can do some volunteering in lab. I have a degree already and some research experience. Someone said visit them in person but another says they'll get annoyed if you don't email them first and find out if its okay. Different things annoy different people but I assume that overall its safer to email first.

 

The problem is I email profs and I get no response over and over again. Yeah they're busy, but when I was still in the research scene that was never an excuse for me and I'd get raked over the coals for even appearing to take to long to reply, plus the professors back then got back to me.

 

I sent to the account of a student friend and they got the message so it doesn't appear to be in the spam folder. I dunno, I keep hearing about how academics are hard up for money but it sure seems like everybody is wildly successful if they can't even be bothered to type 'sorry no' to me.

 

Any suggestions?

Edited January 24, 2012 by Jarwulf

[ajb]

Not everyone is good at responding to emails. It is quite possible that a spam filter has killed your email, this is especially true if the professors are inundated by quacks. I am sure this has happened to me when trying to email a more well known scientist (I won't say who).

 

You could try using "snail mail".

 

Whatever happens, keep trying.

[TonyMcC]

If you can then appeal to their vanity. If you know (or can find out) their name then write to them by name. If you know (or can find out) their special area of interest then mention that also interests you. Be careful over details such as your spelling. Best of luck.

[Klaynos]

What email address are you using to send?

 

They might not be taking you seriously if you are sending messages from say bigman69@genericemailservice.com

 

Do you know anyone who might be able to put in a good word for you? Someone to approach on your behalf.

[timo]

It's not an answer to your question, but I can't help to wonder: If you have a university degree and research experience, why don't you apply for a real job rather than for volunteer work?

[DrRocket]

Not everyone is good at responding to emails. It is quite possible that a spam filter has killed your email, this is especially true if the professors are inundated by quacks. I am sure this has happened to me when trying to email a more well known scientist (I won't say who).

 

You could try using "snail mail".

 

Whatever happens, keep trying.

 

Yes.

 

I know that my e-mail to a mathematician was culled out by the spam filter when I e-mailed him that I was in town and would stop by for a visit.

 

It was not that he ignored it, but that he never saw the e-mail. That was more than confirmed when I saw him. (He has since fixed the filter.)

 

Snail mail, the telephone or just dropping by in person are more likely to be successful.

[Appolinaria]

What email address are you using to send?

 

They might not be taking you seriously if you are sending messages from say bigman69@genericemailservice.com

 

Do you know anyone who might be able to put in a good word for you? Someone to approach on your behalf.

 

Gene rice mail service... gene rice mail service.... hm...

 

 

That took me way too long, did I take my vitamins today?

[zapatos]

There are usually many more volunteers than there are volunteer openings in a lab. Your best bet is with some sort of personal connection, either someone who knows them to put in a good word, or some way of getting in front of them. Email is unlikely to get any sort of response.

 

You might want to try visiting the professor during open office hours and asking if you can just sit in on their lab meetings as a learning opportunity for you. Then make every one of them, pay attention, look for openings. If an opening does become available, who will they choose? The person who has been there every week, or one of the 30 people who sent emails?

Edited January 25, 2012 by zapatos

[CaptainPanic]

What I would do:

1. Send a mail.

2. Wait a couple of days.

3. Call them by phone, politely ask if they have a minute to spare, and that it is not a problem to call back at a later time. Be sure to mention they can also reply to your email at their own convenience!

4. Repeat step 3 until you have an answer.

 

And do not be discouraged if you need to call back 15 times.

 

Professors will typically have the university email account completely swamped with hundreds of mails from students, conferences, announcements of papers, other interesting stuff, people who press reply-to-all when normal reply would be sufficient, invitations for workshops, newsletters, FYI-emails, and also some important stuff. You'll end up on the not-so-important list, if you don't end up in the spam. That's not an insult to you, that's just the scientific community spamming itself to death.

 

Also, some professors will be out of office a LOT... like 4 out of every 5 days. They might even be officially part-time professors.

 

Bottom line? Don't give up.

[CharonY]

Professors will typically have the university email account completely swamped with hundreds of mails from students, conferences, announcements of papers, other interesting stuff, people who press reply-to-all when normal reply would be sufficient, invitations for workshops, newsletters, FYI-emails, and also some important stuff. You'll end up on the not-so-important list, if you don't end up in the spam. That's not an insult to you, that's just the scientific community spamming itself to death.

 

All good points. Especially PIs of large collaborative projects can be swamped by hundreds of mails per day (I have seen that personally). Adding to that admininistrative mails and student's mails from existing courses, there is simply not enough time to answer even most of them.

 

Also there are people who basically mass-mail people with requests to join labs, become graders etc (I got a sizeable amount of those myself). Thus, if the mail even looks remotely like a mass-mail/spam (e.g. by being generic and impersonal) it will end up in trash mostly unread.

If you really want to join someone, research him/her, ask for a time for a call, or, if possible, show up during office hours. In other words, make it personal. Also, try to leave a positive impression, but do not try too hard (no one likes the guy who pretends to be a know-it-all).