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An institution in New Mexico is offering a scholarship to people that want to join the institution, and I think I may be a good candidate. I contacted the head of the group I would like to join, with a long mail introducing myself, my work, and my passions, and what I could bring to the group. On her page in the Institution webpage is clearly stated that she is the person to contact for who wants to join the group.

Now 6 days have passed and she hasn't come back to me yet. What do you suggest me to do? I can find on the internet other people that work in the same group under her supervision. Should I contact them? Should I wait more? Should I write again?

I doubt she just found my professional figure uninteresting, as it really matches what they are looking for. Maybe my mail was too long, she put it aside, and forgot to reply? Should I write her again?

Is it maybe uncommon to contact directly the head of the group you want to join through a scholarship?

Thank you.

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    6 days is not too long IMHO. Especially if you wrote "a long mail"...
    – asquared
    Sep 24, 2018 at 15:25
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    She hasn't replied yet - perhaps she is busy with classes, perhaps waiting to accumulate enough responses to make it worthwhile going through them to make a decision, perhaps just happily contemplating the nice change in the weather indicating fall, perhaps working on roasting green chilies. (The second might be key - I don't read applications one-by-one as they come in. I prefer to look at them in batches where differences become more apparent quickly).
    – Jon Custer
    Sep 24, 2018 at 16:27
  • This was not my application. This was just a mail i sent to introduce myself less formally and to ask her how was I as a potential candidate. Is common to do here in the uk, what about the states?
    – Vaaal
    Sep 24, 2018 at 18:20

1 Answer 1

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6 days is not a lot of time to wait. After 2-3 weeks I would send a short followup.

In general, long emails are bad. The advice I try to follow is keep them 3-4 sentences if I don't know the person and they aren't expecting an email from me. Give them the opportunity to either ask for more details or to setup a call.

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  • Thank you, I had no idea that 6 days was not too long.
    – Vaaal
    Sep 24, 2018 at 16:05

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