Follow-Up Email to a Professor Who Hasn't Replied: Samples

When to use this

You sent a careful email to a potential supervisor and heard nothing back. This is normal. Professors abroad receive many enquiries, travel, teach and mark exams, and a busy week can bury your message. One short, polite follow-up often gets a reply. A second or third one rarely helps.

Use the samples below when:

• A potential supervisor hasn't replied to your first email after about two weeks
• A professor replied with interest, then went quiet after you sent your proposal
• A referee agreed to write your letter, but the portal still shows it as not submitted as the deadline gets close

What works in a follow-up:

• Reply in the same email thread, so the professor sees your first message without searching
• Three or four lines at most
• One clear question that can be answered in a sentence
• No pressure, no guilt, and no mention of how many times you've written

The sample

1. No reply to your first email

Subject: Re: Prospective PhD student: Groundwater recharge in the Indus basin (DAAD applicant)

Dear Professor [Surname],

I am following up on my email below about PhD supervision starting in [intake]. I would be grateful to know whether you are taking new doctoral students, and whether my work on groundwater recharge modelling might fit your group.

Thank you again for your time.

Kind regards,

Mahnoor Iqbal Research Associate, [University name], Lahore

2. The professor was interested, then went quiet

Subject: Re: Research proposal: Groundwater recharge in the Indus basin

Dear Professor [Surname],

Thank you again for your helpful reply last month. I sent my revised research proposal on [date] and wanted to check that it reached you.

The [scholarship name] application closes on [date from the official page], and I would need your confirmation letter before then. If anything in the proposal should change, I would be glad to revise it.

With best regards,

Mahnoor Iqbal

3. A referee's letter is still pending

Subject: Gentle reminder: reference letter for [programme]

Dear Dr [Surname],

I hope you are well. Thank you again for agreeing to write my reference for [programme] at [university]. The portal shows that the letter has not been uploaded yet, and the deadline is [date from the official page].

The upload link was sent to [their email address] on [date]. If it did not arrive, I can ask the university to send it again.

With thanks,

Mahnoor Iqbal

Mahnoor is fictional. Write your own follow-up in your own words.

Template you can fill in

Subject: Re: [your original subject line]

Dear Professor [Surname],

I am following up on my email below about [PhD/MS supervision / my research proposal] for [intake]. I would be grateful to know whether [one clear question].

Thank you again for your time.

Kind regards, [Name] [Current position, institution]

How to adapt this

• Wait about two weeks before the first follow-up. A week is fine only when a deadline is close.
• Follow up once. If there is still no reply after another two weeks, move on to the next professor on your list. Silence is not a judgement on you; many professors simply don't answer unsolicited emails.
• Keep your first email below the follow-up, with the CV still attached, so the professor has everything in one place.
• Give real dates. Take deadlines from the official scholarship page, never from memory or a social media post.
• Check your spam folder and university email before following up. Replies sometimes land there.
• Be warmer with referees. They have already said yes. A reminder about a week before the deadline is enough.

Common mistakes

• Sending a follow-up two or three days after the first email.
• Writing a fresh email with a new subject line, so the professor has to search for your CV.
• Guilt or pressure: "I have emailed you three times", "My future depends on your answer".
• Following up on WhatsApp, LinkedIn or by phone when the professor has never invited it.
• Copying the whole first email again instead of writing three short lines.
• Emailing several professors in the same department at the same time, then following up with all of them.

Related samples

• Email to a potential supervisor
• How to ask a professor for a recommendation letter
• Thank-you emails to referees, professors and interviewers