Campus to corporate

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  • How to Write a Responsive Email

    We’ve been listening to you and, thus, have decided to start a soft skills professional development series. Be on the lookout for articles focused on building the soft skills necessary to have larger yields on your professional success. To start, let’s focus on the email, which is usually the first step. 

    Why do we email? We want info. Social security, zip code, credit card.. just kidding just kidding. But really, it’s because we want to (1) want to connect with someone and (2) typically learn something. Maybe you are reaching out about internship opportunities, asking a teacher about being in their research lab, or connecting with someone at your dream company to hear about their work. We want to support you and make sure you have the best odds of a response because these individuals can be critical for your success 

    We’ve all been there: sent an email to a cool person from LinkedIn and received no response. In fact, both of us were there until we learned how to write an email that got responses. We know this will seem basic, but hold on to this. You’ll never stop having to write emails, so let’s learn how to do it the right way. 

    First, what’s the layout of the email? Here are the 5 major parts of an email:

    • Intro/greeting: Introducing yourself and professionally greeting them
    • Body: Your goals, why you are reaching out. Essentially, the background information 
    • The request: Ask for a specific and direct request. It is helpful and clear to use a question mark, and if you are trying to set up a meeting, GIVE YOUR AVAILABILITY.
    • Wrap-up: Finish out the email formally
    • Email Signature: Adds professionalism to the email 

    That was the basic layout but let’s build this out further. Remember, the whole *point* of an email is to get a response, so your goal should be to connect with the receiver of the message and consider what in your email would get them to respond and why. 

    Intro: this is where you say hello and introduce yourself and your background

    1. Good morning/afternoon or Hi (want to maintain formality)
      • No ‘dear’ – it’s a little emotional/familial
      • “Hi” – for colleagues or people you know well
      • “Good morning/afternoon” – for professors and people you don’t know well
    2. Make sure you say their name not just the greeting word
      • Try to find their appropriate title (don’t assume all professors are “Dr.”)
      • Some people prefer to go by their first name, but don’t assume this unless you have previously talked to them or if in a response they say their first name 
    3. Introduce yourself!
      • Your name, major, brief relevant background, interests etc. 

    Body: this explains why you are reaching out to THEM and your goals in possibly connecting me with them

    1. How you know them
      • Were you connected to them?
      • Did you connect with them on Linkedin?
      • Were you on a website and found their name?
    2. Why you decided to reach out to them
      • Is there something you want to learn about?
        • Are they in a job or position you find appealing?
        • Did they do an opportunity you are considering?
      • Tip: give them something to relate to you with, a similar university organization, a connection they know, etc.
    3. Your goals of having a conversation with them
      • This is your chance to explicitly state why you want to talk to them

    Request: this is where you ask to connect with them, offer times over one or two weeks that you are available

    1. Ask: “Would you be willing to meet over the next two weeks? If so. here are times I am currently free”
      • ‘currently” is important because schedules can change depending on how long it takes for you to get a response
    2. Give literal dates: (i.e. Mon, Mar 7)
      • You want to make it as easy as possible for them to compare their calendar to yours
      • Reminder YOU are taking time out of their day, so be courteous and save an email exchange by giving times you are free
    3. Tip: Maybe ask to just talk about their background. Not even necessarily getting a job
      • At the same time, people you are talking to are busy, and they shouldn’t feel like you are wasting their time
    4. Tip: Don’t be too straight forward!! This can come off wrong
      • Don’t just say: “can you give me a referral?” or “can you connect me with a partner?” or anything out of line
      • You do not want the exchange to be or even come off as transactional

    Wrapping up: this is where you end the email

    1. Mention “thank you again!” and “please let me know if any of these times work for you”
    2. Wrap with a final greeting: “Hope you have a great afternoon!”
    3. Best, FIRST NAME
      • i.e. Best, James

    Email Signature: builds credibility and professionalism

    1. Times New Roman 11pt
    2. First line: First Last name (bolded)
    3. Second line: The University of XXX | Class of 202X
    4. Third line: Major(s) 
    5. Fourth line (optional): Minor(s); certificates
    6. Fifth line (optional): email/phone
    7. Sixth line (optional): position in relevant organizations

    Let’s take a look at some examples:

    To a prospective research mentor: This was written while looking for a research lab in biochemistry

    Good afternoon Dr. XX, 

    I am a current second-year student majoring in Biochemistry and Economics, and I am looking to get involved in research with biochemistry this upcoming semester. I was exploring the biochemistry website, and I found your research extremely interesting with Glycobiology. Through my coursework in genetics and biology, I have become familiar with sugars and the central dogma and am most interested in how your research applies outside of just studying OGN. I am currently finishing CHEM 2212, Organic Chemistry II, and I will be starting BCMB 4010 next semester as a third-year and have undertaken undergraduate research before. 

    I am interested in potentially obtaining an MD/PhD, and I want to build further research experience in the Biochemistry space. I have done research on Johns Hopkins and their programs as well and I would be extremely interested in hearing about your experience as a postdoc there. 

    Would you have time within the next month to talk about your research? I would greatly appreciate it and would love the opportunity. Below are some times I am currently available:

    • X, 
    • X
    • X
    • X

     Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns or what would be the best way to meet if you have time. I also have my resume attached below. Thank you so much! 

    Best, 

    Dawson 

    Dawson J. Templin (he/him)

    The University of Georgia | Class of 2025 

    A.B. Economics | B.S. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

    Certificate: Personal and Organizational Leadership

    To an individual at a firm I was curious about: This was written to learn more about a company that I was considering applying to intern/have a full-time job at

    Hi XXX,

    I hope you are doing well!! I am planning on submitting my application within the next few days for [position] at [company] in the [city] office. If you have some time, would you be available to speak to me about your experience on XXX? I enjoyed  getting to connect with you in Athens a few months ago and would love to follow up. I would appreciate any guidance or support you can provide through the application process as well. I have listed some times that I am available next week below. I can be fairly flexible with my internship, so please let me know what works best with your schedule:

    – Mon, June 24th: before 3pm

    – Tues, June 25th: 8am-5pm

    – Wed, June 26th: before 5pm

    – Thurs, June 27: before 10am / after 12pm

    – Fri, June 28: 8am-5pm

    Do any of these times work for you? Thank you so much again, and I hope you have a great morning!

    Best,

    Saanvikha

    Saanvikha Saravanan (she/her)

    The University of Georgia | Morehead Honors College

    B.S. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology | A.B. Spanish

    Well, there you have it. I know this gave a brief template on how to write a successful cold email, but the most important thing the receiver is going to look for is genuinity. They want to see that you truly want to connect or talk with them, so make sure your email is personal and authentic. Don’t simply copy and paste the same template to each person you reach out to without taking the time to edit it based on what would be appropriate to the specific receiver. Remember, don’t write a novel, be on the briefer side (unless you reached out on Linkedin and they know you’re gonna write them). Try to form a connection with the recipient of the email (university, club, etc.) because this makes them more likely and excited to respond.
    If you have any questions, feel free to email us at [email protected] (haha get it?). But really, be on the lookout for more professional development soft skills and hope this helps you create excellent emails that get responses!

  • How Our Restaurant Adventures Started

    How Our Restaurant Adventures Started

    Saying we love trying food and restaurants would probably be the understatement of the century. At least once a week (usually more), you can find us trying a new restaurant and dropping upwards of $40 on a meal 🙁. Oftentimes, it is an excuse for us to hang out with friends or spend quality time with others. We have found that food is an experience rather than simply eating food, but, you may be wondering how our restaurant adventures even started, and it’s a little different for both of us. 

    For Saanvikha – I quite literally grew up watching Food Network – Giada, Chopped, The Pioneer Woman, Holiday Baking Championship – you name it, and I’ve probably watched it with my mom. I loved testing new recipes, and it honestly is a little scary that I knew words like caviar, pâté, paris-brest at the age of 7. However, I didn’t really have the interest or the freedom to try restaurants until we studied abroad in Cortona. 

    Dawson’s story is a little different – I grew up the pickiest eater you’d ever meet. Coming from a military background in rural Missouri, the closest restaurant we had to modern civilization was a McDonalds. Similarly, studying in Cortona, Italy expanded my horizons, exposing me to rabbit, duck, pasta types and sauces, and I became entranced. Moreover, I spent the summer in Washington D.C. and fell in love with the food scene, often preferring to eat out than warm up some microwavable chicken. 

    Now that you have a little look into the origin of this newfound passion, let’s dive into something wonderful that came out of it – the discovery of Beli! Subtle flex, but we have introduced the app to so many people and practically forced them to download it. So, to all of our friends that now use Beli, you’re welcome for getting you into it. And to Beli, please sponsor us 🙂. For the rest of you, follow us at @dawsontemplin + @ssaravanan.

    We’ve absolutely loved using Beli to track all the food we’ve eaten from literally across the globe. It’s so useful to look back on and see what you’ve eaten and liked in the past, but it also is incredible for recommendations. It gives you a recommendation score for restaurants, cafes, and more based on your taste and rankings in the past for categories of (1) restaurants, (2) bars, (3) bakeries, (4) coffee & tea, and (5) ice cream & dessert. It is also great to remember when you ate at a restaurant and allows you to bookmark a place you have been wanting to try, a wonderful feature for when attempting to decide where to eat. If you follow us on Beli, you know that we give our honest thoughts and opinions about each place, but some of these highlights on Beli don’t have the full story behind everything we have tried. A lot of you have been asking for more fun stories so we will jump right in. 

    The Chase for Fine Dining

    Starting off strong, let’s head to Paris. This was during one of our weekend trips while studying abroad at Oxford University, so as you can imagine, it was chaotic and planned last-minute. We had a lot of places on our list to try, but we didn’t really account for the fact that we would need reservations for most restaurants on the fancy-ish side in Paris. So, while on the Eurostar train to Paris (which we barely made it on as Dawson had to run back to the house to get his passport), Saanvikha somehow was able to get a reservation at La Renommée for that same night. The catch was that we had about 30 minutes from the time we got to our Airbnb to make it to the restaurant but it was an hour walk away. Instead of taking the metro like normal people would, we decided to quite literally RUN to make our reservation (which we made) with time to spare. Shoutout La Renommée for introducing us to the best fries in existence. 

    The four days that Dawson visited New York over the summer were PACKED. Another restaurant is featured in the next section, but we decided to try out Le Jardinier, a French restaurant. What made this so memorable was getting to talk to a sommelier about her experiences and various alcoholic and non-alcoholic champagnes and wines. This sparked Dawson’s own interest in wine culture but also taught us to ‘appreciate wine as a food,’ a phrase we’ve heard often since Italy.

    London is famously known for its Indian cuisine, and when we got to London, we knew we wanted to try it out. Well, maybe reserve three months in advance. With our squad that pre-traveled the UK, we decided to make a reservation at Gymkhana, a 2** Michelin restaurant for Diwali, despite not knowing our class schedule or whether any of us could make it. For both of us, it is still one of our favorite meals to date.

    Unexpected Discoveries

    These three stories are ones we will probably mention a few more times, so get pumped. First, we wanted to recount our rabbit soup at Osteria del Teatro. This rabbit soup, to put it bluntly, looked extremely unappetizing. However, we were recommended to just try it, and it turned out to be the best dish out of 5 for that night. Osteria del Teatro was one of the first dining restaurants that really allowed us to expand our horizons.

    Second, comes the pesto gnocchi at Nocello, a restaurant just south of central park in New York City. To this day, this pasta is both of our number one ranked dish on Beli. When I tell you this was life changing, it literally changed our lives. Saanvikha heard of this restaurant from a mentor of hers, and we decided this restaurant out of a list of three when Dawson was in NYC the summer of 2024. Although it also looked like vomit, to put it lightly, it was a wonderfully unexpected discovery that has been a fun story to tell our friends about.

    Third, you never know what to expect when you enter a new city. While in Oxford, we took a scenic rail from Tirano, Italy to Chur, Switzerland on the way to Geneva. While waiting for the four hour train, we stopped at Leti, a local pizzeria. It was incredible pizza, it was amazing. The entire pepperoni and margherita pizzas were devoured on the trains, and it was a wonderful beginning to our scenic ride.

    Well, there you have it. We cannot share too many meals or restaurants or else you wouldn’t read anymore, and well, we still need to save stories to write about in the future. But, hope you enjoyed and possibly feel inspired to use Beli and see food as an experience and art rather than just something to consume. Be on the lookout for more food flicks to come!