How to Write an Email to a College Admissions Office

It can be intimidating to contact a college admissions office for any reason — but if you keep it professional and direct, you’ve got nothing to worry about.

Introduction

It’s no secret that college admissions officers are busy people, especially at the height of the college admissions process every year, so it would be impossible for them to communicate directly with all prospective students. To that end, prospective applicants are often instructed not to contact their admissions officers directly, if their contact info is even available on the website.

However, there are certainly justified reasons to get in touch with college admissions officers, such as asking a legitimate question that isn’t answered on the website or sending a deferral letter (more on that below) — and admissions officers are often happy to answer, time permitting.

So, how (and why) should potential students go about emailing college admissions officers? In this blog post, we break it all down for you.

Why Emailing a College Admissions Office is Important

You’ll probably find a lot of information online about why you should not email college admissions offices — for instance, it is not advisable to drop a line to the admissions officer responsible  for your application just to say a quick “hi.” If you’ve worked hard on your application and ensured that it reflects your unique voice and experience, that should speak for itself. (Important note: this is particularly applicable to college admission officers at larger competitive schools with thousands of applicants — smaller schools with a smaller applicant pool might be more amenable to conferring with students in an introductory context. Use your discretion!)

Still, these offices provide contact information and email addresses, even for each specific regional admissions officer, for a reason: they want to be accessible to students. Your job in the application process is to “advertise” yourself as a student, and they are doing the same thing on their end for the school. They want each college applicant to feel welcomed and enthralled by the prospect of attending the school in question, hence the information session and campus tours available for each prospective college student who is visiting. Not all information about the school is easy to find, especially if you’re unable to visit the campus, so that would be the perfect time to send an email to college admissions officers.

Another good reason for emailing a college admissions counselor is to send a letter of continued interest if you were deferred or waitlisted at your dream school.  Oftentimes, the emails that accompany these LOCIs (usually sent as attachments) describe any significant updates to the application, as well as a renewed enthusiasm for the school in question. If you would like more information on how to deal with being waitlisted, you can check out this blog post, and this blog post gives an in-depth look at how to write a letter of continued interest.

Preparing to Write Your Email

Before you even start writing your email, make sure you’re clear about the purpose of the email, as described above. As you can imagine, admissions officers are busy people, particularly at the height of the college admissions season — if you’re sending an email to them, make sure it is necessary to ask them directly and not just another meaningless email they’ll send to the trash. Don’t ask a question about application deadlines or the school’s location; this info is easily available with a quick Google search.  Simply trying to get attention or recognition isn’t going to cut it since they’re probably receiving hundreds of emails doing the exact same thing, especially if it’s an Ivy League school or another top college.

Depending on the purpose of the email, you’ll want to prepare the details you’ll send accordingly. Sending over a letter of continued interest? Make a list of notable new achievements (i.e. awards, extracurricular successes, publications) to add to your application materials — emphasis on notable and new, as this info will get added to your file. Popping in to ask about a specific degree? Make sure you’ve exhausted the links and descriptions on not only the admissions office website but also the academic department’s site, which is often a separate thing. You can also use this as an opportunity to sneak in a line or two about how you’re certain this degree aligns with your experience and career trajectory (just don’t overdo it). If you do that, it could be wise to research and draft your “Why This School” essay if you have yet to do so, assuming you are reaching out before the application deadline.

Structuring Your Email to a College Admissions Office

Okay, you’ve decided that sending this email is worthwhile — great! How do you structure the email body? Regardless of why you’re writing an email to college admissions counselors, you’ll want to make sure your email is professional, concise, and easy to read. You have so little “face” time with college admissions officers, which means the details of each interaction really matter. This email is likely the only time that you’d make contact directly with this school’s admissions team, so it’s imperative that you send a well-written email.

You’ll want to write a concise email with a clear greeting, introduction, body paragraph, and concluding paragraph. Obviously, the specifics of this will vary based on the purpose of the email, but it’s best to limit yourself to this structure to make the email more easily readable for its intended audience. It’s more difficult to respond to a long and complicated message with multiple paragraphs, and you want to make their already stressful job as easy as possible.

If your intention with the email is to inquire about specific aspects of the school, don’t just send over a list of questions. Would you want to receive a laundry list of questions via email, especially if those questions are already answered somewhere else online and you’re swamped with work? Instead, take a more conversational approach to the question(s) and weave in the context of why you’re curious about this specific thing. You should also limit yourself to 1-2 specific questions — it’s preferable to send a few thoughtful, well-researched questions as opposed to a list of ten or more simple, easily answered questions.

Some examples of questions include:

• Is there a community of people at the school of people from my state or country? (If you’re talking to your location-specific admissions officer, they should be familiar with this!)
• What are the most popular campus traditions, and which are your favorite? (This works if they’re an alum, which is very common and usually publicized on the admissions website.)
• Can you tell me more about the alumni network and opportunities both pre- and post-graduation for networking amongst the alumni, particularly for (your desired subject/profession)? (Could be public information, but they can probably give you a more honest assessment of what the network is like.)

Again, personalize these questions for your specific interests and needs to make these even more thoughtful, well-researched questions that actually suit your purposes as an applicant and potential student.

Best Practices for Writing an Email to a College Admissions Office

You’ve written at least a draft of your well-structured, effective email — now it’s time to refine it!

Let’s start with the basics, starting with the email address itself. Make sure you’re sending this email from a professional email address, like your school email or a basic “firstnamelastname@gmail.com” kind of email address; do not use the unprofessional email address you named when you were 8 years old, even if that’s the one attached to your application. You should also make sure that you’re contacting the correct person and that you’re addressing them by the proper name and title (i.e. Ms. Smith, Dr. Brown). This might take a little more research to verify, but it is definitely worth it.

Make sure you avoid any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors by proofreading. Run it through a spelling and grammar checker like Grammarly, which can also help you edit and improve your tone and sentence structure. You could also ask your college counselor, a teacher, or a parent for any feedback. This may seem over the top for one single email, but you never know how important this one email could be in the grander scheme of your entire college application process!

Examples of Emails to a College Admissions Office

Here’s a template you can use for your college admissions email:

Dear [officer’s name and greeting; you can say “College Name’s Admissions Office” if contacting the general email],

I hope this email finds you well. My name is [your name], and I am a [current grade level] at [your high school name] [you can mention here whether or not you’ve applied already and include your Common App ID if you have]. I am very interested in [College Name] and would love to learn more about [specific programs, majors, opportunities, or aspects of the school that interest you; this is an opportunity to weave in information about yourself and your interests, but make sure not to overdo it].

I am particularly drawn to [mention a unique aspect of the college, such as a specific academic program, research opportunities, campus culture, or extracurriculars]. I would appreciate any additional information you can provide on [specific topic or question, e.g., application requirements, financial aid, internship opportunities].

[If applicable, mention here that you’ll be attending an information session or campus tour — they could possibly be available to meet you before or after, but let them make that invitation!]

Thank you for your time and assistance. I look forward to learning more about [College Name].

Best regards,
[Your Name]
[Your Contact Information]

Please note that this is still general, and it’s wise to find more subject-specific email templates for your intended purpose or customize this to suit your needs. And, like you have done (or will do) with your college application, make sure you let your unique voice shine through, albeit with a professional tone.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Writing an Email to a College Admissions Office

As described throughout this post, there are many ways you could make a faux pas in your emails to college admissions offices, from grammar mistakes to using informal language. Don’t be vague or overly informal, and get to the point as soon as possible to make it easy to reply to you. Once you’ve ensured those errors aren’t present in your email, you can take it to the next level in your revisions.

A successful email will strike a nice balance of personality and professionalism. It’s a delicate art, but it easily demonstrates a maturity and deftness that could single you out as a top applicant. Of course, a single email isn’t going to determine your fate — but if you’re clever, a well-written email will direct attention towards your application and help admissions officers put more of a face to your name.  

And once you’ve sent the first email, you can then send a follow-up email if you don’t hear back.

When and How to Follow Up on Your Email

As is the case with constructing your initial email, there is an ideal way to follow up and/or respond to their response.

If you don’t hear anything back within two to three weeks of sending your first email, it would be appropriate to follow up with a gentle nudge — make sure it’s not too demanding or pushy, especially if it’s between January and April when they’re in the midst of reviewing applications (including yours). Just give it a gentle bump, and reiterate your appreciation for taking the time to respond. A polite follow-up can go a long way in actually ensuring you get a response, seeing as they likely got busy and simply forgot to respond. Only send one follow-up though; no response to two emails is a sign that they’re too busy to answer (but don’t take it personally).

If you do get a response, nice work! You will want to reply shortly after to express your gratitude for their responses. Don’t use this as an excuse to ask more questions or send more application materials. Say “thank you” and wish them the best with application season. If they did offer to meet you during your campus visit, make it as convenient as possible for them so it would be easy to say yes.

Additional Tips for Effective Communication with College Admissions Offices

We’ve covered basically everything about how to communicate with college admissions offices, but here are a few remaining tips to keep in mind when communicating with your admissions rep:

• Don’t use emojis or emoticons in your email. That doesn’t really qualify as “professional,” and even if the recipient doesn’t care, you would rather be safe than sorry. 
• Write an effective subject line. Condense the question or topic you’d like to discuss as if you were titling an essay about the subject. You don’t need to put identifying information in the subject line, but you should…
• Add a picture and name to your email account (if you haven’t already done so). This way, it’s easy to identify you, and you can, quite literally, put a face to the name. This is especially important if your email address is just a random combination of letters and numbers like many school email addresses.
• Keep a record of your communication. Don’t delete the emails! Maybe this is obvious, but it bears repeating. You could even create a spreadsheet detailing the communication you’ve had with the admissions offices with the schools to which you’re applying, especially if any of those schools track demonstrated interest.

Conclusion

Applying to college can be both exciting and nerve-wracking, and your communication with the admissions office plays a crucial role in the process. A well-crafted email can set the tone for your application, while a poorly written one can leave a negative impression. Make the most of this chance to impress the college admissions committee by putting in the requisite time and effort into your email!

Want help navigating the college admissions process? Schedule a free consultation today with one of our seasoned college admissions consultants.