Writing emails.

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imasillynarb

In all honest I recommend not emailing them at all. Theyre entirely unhelpful about everything and anything. Dont even go down the subject area of grades, if you ask about the grade requirements theyll just say 'Youll be made an offer if youre application is deemed good enough' or whatever...

You've emailed these particular people asking this particular question?

If not then I'm not sure why you think you can predict the answers - the response to enquiries like this vaires enormously between universities and subjects - and to be honest for the sake of half an hour sending off more or less the same letter to a few people it's hardly a real problem if they do come back with a standard reply.

Standard replies are VERY common if you email this sort of request to the university level admissions/enquiries email address - send it to a person involved with admissions for your subject however and have a little personality and enthusiasm for the subject and uni come across in your letter and the response can be very informative and helpful.

Reply 21

Hoofbeat

PublicSchoolAnn

Im starting to think about courses and universities that i would like to apply for in september. I want to email admissions to find out a bit more about the courses, subjects that i should take ,grades etc but I do not know how to write a formal email(sounds very retarded.) All the emails that I have sent before have just been to friends and I basically write them in the same style as a text message(informal but good english.) How should i address the email if i actually do not know who I am sending it to? Would 'dear admissions' be appropriate?
Thanks for your help. Ann.

You really don't need to make them formal! Even my dad's company don't write "formal" emails when they are contacting some of the biggest utility companies in the UK!!!

I wrote all mine like I normally did (don't write love, tho! I would just write, thanks....then my name). It worked for me, even writing them like that to Oxford!

Reply 22

Cellardore

?m?xblack

That is incorrect. If you know the person you are to, you close the letter with "Yours Sincerely", or variants (ie Dear Mr. Brown... Sincerely Yours,). If you don't know the person you are writing to, you close with "Yours Faithfully" (ie Dear Sir/To Whom It May Concern ... Yours Faithfully). That Informal/formal distinction you mention might be an americanism.

You had written exactly what i had written except missed the formal and informal out?? :confused:

Reply 23

Clearing and Applications Advisor

Cellardore

You had written exactly what i had written except missed the formal and informal out?? :confused:

No the difference to do with faithfully and sincerely isn't to do with the formaility of the letter but ONLY to do with if you know the name of the person it's going to - if you don't know their name then you're having faith that they will respond (and that it'll reach the right person).

If you right a formal letter but include the recipients name then it's "proper" to use sincerely, if you right a formal letter but don't know the recipients name then it's "proper" to use faithfully.

In an informal letter you can use any sign off that you want to (eg "see you soon", "good luck", "love from" etc etc).

To be honest it shouldn't really matter in this circumstance - so long as you include your full name and contact details and use non txt spk and paragraphs to clearly explain your questions then you can make your letter a little less formal/more friendly if you want to - in fact it's much better for a little bit of your personality to come across in a letter like this than just a bland "Dear Sir blah di blah :yawn:

blah blah blah" letter that sounds like it's been written by a computer.

Reply 24

Cellardore

OK, let me get this straight, lol

I SAID that you should write yours faithfully if you don't know them and yours sincerely if you do know them....

i have been so confused about what people have written about this :redface:

Reply 25

Flicker

Saf!

just write it the way you write a normal formal letter :smile:

if i know the name i'd write "Dear......", if not probably to whom it may concern, and i end formal emails "Regards"...i've been emailing a lot of admissions people recently as well!

Reply 26

Flicker

imasillynarb

i emailed all of my universities about various things at one time or another, and found them very helpful. If the person i emailed couldn't help they would forward my email on to someone who could. It's worth a try asking about grades anyway but that sort of thing should be in the prospectus.

Reply 27

Clearing and Applications Advisor

Cellardore

I thought you said:

Cellardore

and put yours faithfully (formal)
and yours sincerely (informal)

But yes "faithfully if you don't know them and yours sincerely if you do know them" - formal doesn't mean you don't know someone though - and informal doesn't mean you do?...I think this is were the confusion arises.

IMO a formal letter is one where you should use the faithfully/sincerely split based on whther you adress them personally at the start of the letter or not. An informal letter has NO rules - hence it's informal :smile:

But yes - everyone agrees...I think :0\

Reply 28

Cellardore

yeah, you write formal for someone who you don't now, and informal if you do know them....that's what i thought you did, lol :rolleyes:

ok, i get it now....

Reply 29

аmеxblack

Cellardore

yeah, you write formal for someone who you don't now, and informal if you do know them....that's what i thought you did, lol :rolleyes:

ok, i get it now....

No! This is what you said originally, and it's wrong! You can write formally to someone you know or to someone you don't know. Am I explaining this really badly, or do you have a learning difficulty? No offence intended at all.

Reply 30

Helenia

Cellardore

yeah, you write formal for someone who you don't now, and informal if you do know them....that's what i thought you did, lol :rolleyes:

ok, i get it now....

No no no. A formal letter uses either yours faithfully or sincerely depending on whether you know the name or not. For example, I know the name of the Master of my college, so I would address him by name at the start, and sign "Yours sincerely." That would still be a formal letter though.

An informal one is one where you don't use the conventions - something you would write to your friends, starting "dear..." or "Hiya ...." etc, and finishing "Yours," "Love," "Thanks," etc.

Reply 31

Cellardore

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv245.shtml

Reply 32

mg84

Cellardore

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv245.shtml

Doesn't that repeat exactly what Helenia, amexblack & Pencil Queen just said?

:confused:

Reply 33

Cellardore

mg84

Doesn't that repeat exactly what Helenia, amexblack & Pencil Queen just said?

:confused:

it is exactly what i said at the very beginning!!!!

Reply 34

Clearing and Applications Advisor

mg84

Doesn't that repeat exactly what Helenia, amexblack & Pencil Queen just said?

:confused:

And also what Celladore said too - we just weren't all quite connecting.

We all agree...this is probably a first...so lets all celebrate instead of trying to argue over nothing :smile:

Reply 35

Cellardore

Pencil Queen

And also what Celladore said too - we just weren't all quite connecting.

We all agree...this is probably a first...so lets all celebrate instead of trying to argue over nothing :smile:

lol

you don't know how confused i was......

Reply 36

mg84

Cellardore

lol

you don't know how confused i was......

I'm still confused. :rolleyes:

Reply 37

KandyKane

Have I done things horribly wrong or sounded impolite? When emailing universities, I´ve always started with "Dear Mr/Mrs/Ms..." if I knew the name of the person I´m writing to, and if I didn´t, I started with "Dear Sir or Madam". I´ve always ended the emails with "Yours sincerely" regardless of whether I knew the recipients´s name or not.

Reply 38

Pixelfairy #1

KandyKane

That's polite and correct :smile:

But I think with emails you don't need to do it like letters :rolleyes:

You don't need to adress the person becuase its already been sent to them, and I personally wouldn't put yours sincerely... i'd just put thanks n then my name

There are different rules for emails and letters... but remember to still sound polite :smile:

Reply 39

Clearing and Applications Advisor