How to Email a Professor for a Research Position and Funding
What you'll learn
- Practical tips on beating competition for admission and funding (with a case study)
- How to market yourself with a captivating email for funding and mentoring request
- How to follow-up in case of a negative response or no reply
- Email and academia CV templates that has worked for me and my mentees
- The mindset of graduate admission and funding decision makers
Requirements
- Self-confidence regardless of how little you have achieved
- Readiness to prepare your own funding and mentoring request by actively participating in the course activities
- Optional: An idea of the universities, field, and/or potential mentors (you are hoping to work with in the USA)
Description
Admission and funding for graduate school are always very competitive. Oftentimes, qualifying for admission does not guarantee funding. In addition, applicants are sometimes required to find a mentor before getting accepted. This course will teach you how to get that competitive edge by creating a captivating first impression using an effective request letter/email to sell your qualities. This is very important because it is usually the first look at your writing style. Using a case study, I will share tips that some of my mentees have used to beat the competition for funding; tips that resulted in receiving funding offers from all schools applied to.
This course will be taught by Dr. Babajide (Bestman) Ojo. After 6 years in graduate school, with several thousands of dollars in tuition waivers, scholarships/fellowships with monthly stipends, I will use my personal and acquired experiences to educate you on the following:
Understanding the process and mindset of Professors and other decision-makers
How to give yourself an edge in the race for funding
Types of funding to look out for and suggestions on where to find them (depending on the university)
What a "ghost applicant" is, and why you cannot afford to be one regardless of how qualified you may be
How to select the most important qualities to market to the Professors and other decision-makers
How to write, format, and arrange your request letter/email using a real-life example. For this, I'll walk you through writing your own captivating request email, paragraph-by-paragraph.
How to follow up appropriately when you get no reply or a negative reply.
Who is this course for:
Everyone seeking to further their career by getting a funded Masters's or Ph.D. Although I tend to focus on graduate education in the USA, the ideas presented in this course can be applied to any country where you are required to prove yourself and fight for a competitive funded Masters, Ph.D., or Postdoc position.
Applicants with the confidence to "sell" themselves regardless of how little they have achieved.
Who this course is for:
- Anyone seeking a Masters degree
- Anyone seeking a PhD
- Current undergraduates seeking clarity on graduate school
Instructor
- 4.7 Instructor Rating
- 37 Reviews
- 134 Students
- 1 Course
I grew up and completed my Bachelor's degree (Biochemistry) in a rural part of Nigeria. With a deceased father and little support from my retired mom, I sought graduate research opportunities in the United States and ended up at Oklahoma State University (OSU) where I received a Masters and Ph.D. in Nutritional Science. At OSU, I received several thousand dollars in tuition waivers, monthly stipends, and university-wide scholarships/fellowships throughout my six and a half year study period. My personal and acquired experiences from mentors, colleagues, and from my past/current mentees show that most MS/PhD applicants and current students fail to achieve their funding goals mostly because they lack an understanding of how academia works, and how to package/present themselves (in writing) to get the desired results. Hence, I have dedicated part of my leisure time to educate interested folks on admission, funding, and getting ahead for a Masters or PhD in the USA. You can see more detailed tips on my YouTube channel (Bestman Academy), Facebook page (Bestman Academy), and Instagram (@bestman_academy).