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After two years, six months, and 22 days, I am going to stop sending emails to Canadian professors. During these two and a half years looking for a Ph.D.studentship. The majority of my friends said that university professors are bombarded by emails from all the countries across the globe. I said ok. During this period I have published many articles in some reputable journals. Unlike Canadians, the Americans, New Zealanders, and Australians are the best ones, always reply to your email, say "yes" or "no". If Canadian professors are busy, please set your automatic answering in your email setting to reply NO. Thanks.

Afshin
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    Is this a real question or just a rant? Maybe it is your approach, actually. – Buffy Aug 16 '20 at 15:33
  • This is a real question. I do not know how to approach it?! I did the same for Australia, the United States, and New Zealand. I got some offer, and also how to prepare my initial proposal. Some gave some subjects for proposal. – Afshin Aug 16 '20 at 15:40
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    I'm American and ignore almost all such requests. Too many are just blind outreach driven by mailing lists and contain hints that the sender has no real idea what it is I do (did, actually, I'm now retired). Flooding the arena makes it harder for the serious candidates to be heard. And, are you sure you understand the Canadian system of admitting students? If not, you may be addressing the wrong people to start with. If you don't make formal applications to the university, there is little that can be done by a professor to help you in many places. – Buffy Aug 16 '20 at 15:51
  • Related: https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/924/68109 – GoodDeeds Aug 16 '20 at 15:51
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    Oh, and, in general, I think Canadians are a lot more polite that we "Yanks". That is the stereotype, anyway. – Buffy Aug 16 '20 at 15:52
  • Thank you Dr. Buffy for your comments. – Afshin Aug 16 '20 at 16:16
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    I don't know of any automatic email answering system that is sophisticated enough to identify emails about studentships and reply with an automatic "no", distinguishing them from other random emails that should get a different response or no response at all. That suggestion doesn't really make sense. – Nate Eldredge Aug 16 '20 at 16:24
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    Why not post some of your email so we can have an idea of what you wrote, how it is structured etc That may be illuminating. – Solar Mike Aug 16 '20 at 16:35
  • My name is Armin ....and I am from the ...... University of Iran, ......branch. I am writing to you in order to find a suitable Doctorate (Ph.D.) student research position in your esteemed research group in the field of industrial engineering for fall 2021. – Afshin Aug 16 '20 at 17:11
  • Currently, I hold my Master’s degree in industrial engineering. My research project for my master’s program is inventory and production management of blood platelets under uncertainty in the countries with inappropriate infrastructure that recently published by the Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing on 18 July 2020. I have also two other publications and two other submissions as co-authored. Besides that, I have more than 15 years of versatile professional work experience in different fields which I mentioned in my Curriculum vitae. – Afshin Aug 16 '20 at 17:11
  • I have explored your department’s graduate school website and google scholar in detail. Moreover, I have studied your research interests along with some recent publications and it seems like an excellent fit for me. I want to do my doctoral research under your kind supervision. If you find me a potential candidate, I would be pleased to be interviewed by you and if you find it I am suitable for your team, then I can write your name as my potential supervisor on the application form so that I can timely proceed with my admission application. – Afshin Aug 16 '20 at 17:12
  • I have attached a copy of my C.V. for your review. I would appreciate it if you could review the attached document and let me know what the possibilities might be. – Afshin Aug 16 '20 at 17:12
  • Best regards, Armin – Afshin Aug 16 '20 at 17:13
  • @Armin the use of the word “esteemed” would put this straight into my spam box and I’d never see it. It’s never used in idiomatic academic English, and often used by people wanting me to publish in fake journals or attend worthless conferences. – rhialto Aug 19 '20 at 17:34
  • @Armin You probably want to write something briefer, more specific, and that doesn't look like it was sent to a huge number of people. Instead of "I have explored your department’s graduate school website and google scholar in detail. Moreover, I have studied your research interests along with some recent publications and it seems like an excellent fit for me", reference some particular topic that they've written about. Also, if your supervisors know any prospective advisors, then perhaps your supervisors could make the introduction. Good luck. – academic Aug 20 '20 at 16:14
  • Thank you all you guys for your advice and recommendations. Best regards. – Afshin Aug 21 '20 at 14:38

2 Answers2

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It seems as though you might be the issue here, not the professors. I say this because the odds that every single professor you’ve emailed from a Canadian institution not responding because of their geographical context is near zero. Particularly because those at Canadian institutions are not necessarily even born Canadian‘s themselves, so you’d have to argue that Canadian academic culture is the problem, which again, I can’t envision being the case.

You should do some serious reflection on what your email titles are, your body paragraphs, how you come across, and the Canadian system will help you to find a more rational answer.

GrayLiterature
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I suspect that Canadian academics get a far larger number of queries from prospective Iranian students (I gather from poking around in your question history that that's your country of origin), certainly compared to the US in recent times, because Canada is more open to student admissions from Iran. Therefore, Canadian academics may be increasingly overwhelmed by inquiries, and your inquiries may be more likely to be lost in the flood.

From here, "The number of Iranian student applications [to Canada] has more than doubled since 2017." (presumably the number of inquiries is roughly proportional to the number of applications ...)

(I am a Canadian academic who doesn't always manage to send a polite and timely e-mail response to student requests, even domestic ones! I get large numbers of inquiries from the Middle East and South Asia ...)

Ben Bolker
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