PhD Candidate @Baylor Curriculum Design/Participatory Action Research & Community Civic Engagement/ 2026 iCivics Educator Network Fellow/ Opinions are my own
I have sent cold emails to professors I had no business knowing.
Some of those emails changed the trajectory of my academic career.
Most prospective graduate students, especially international students, get this wrong.
Here are 8 steps to writing cold emails that actually get responses from professors: