How to approach professor for internships to universities and colleges?

Here is the second part of “How to apply for internship Series”. I am sure you guys would have definitely found the first part interesting. I am continuing from where I left in the last post. Click to read How to apply for internships to universities and colleges? Part- 1

Now let’s see, what an ideal intern mail should look like. Your ideas may definitely differ from mine, but the basic requirements and ingredients of the mail will match.

I would recommend that whenever you mail any professor for the intern, always refer him with his surname in the mail. Most of the students mention a “Dear Sir” / “ Respected Sir”/ “ Dear Sir/Madam” in their mails but this is certainly very informal as it clearly underlines the thought that you have sent it to various professors with the same content. (Remember- Respected Sir is considered wrong in English because Sir itself is respectable word and you are making it redundant by doing so)

Suppose the professor’s name is Prof. Rajesh Kapoor ( any resemblance is purely coincidental :P ), so always start with “Dear Prof. Kapoor” or “Respected Prof. Kapoor” You may find it a little uncomfortable to refer him with his surname but in the professional world, it is perfectly fine.

Secondly, when it comes to the main content of the mail, a general trend is to prepare a standard mail which can always be forwarded to any number of professors conveniently. Here I would like to state that this is the biggest mistake a student does in this process. Never prepare a standard content and always try to personalize the mail by mentioning his domain of work along with linking your interests to that field.

I would mention an example to make it clearer. Consider two professors with their domain of work as marketing and finance respectively. Your mail should clearly state his area of marketing or finance and should always be linked to your past work experience with marketing or finance.

I can understand that many of the students would like to know the approach if they do not have any sort of experience in any of the related field. In that case I would mention that you yourself should propose a project or a rough draft of the work you would like to do with the concerned professor. He may not consider your proposed project but would definitely appreciate the efforts.

As far the CV is concerned, obviously you cannot help much with the content of the CV promptly. They have to be procured as your life in your college advances. One very important thing I would mention is that every student should get the CV structured in a professional manner so that at least the professor does not find any informal writing in the entire application process.

I think, I should summarize it by saying that the entire idea is to make the professor feel as if the mail is personally sent to him and should reflect your passion to work under him.

I sincerely believe that if you focus on these small points, you will definitely be able to make it to a good institute of your intern.

In the next mail, I will reveal what an IIM professor has to say on his procedure of selecting interns from the hundreds of such applications he receives every week.

Click on the link to read How Professors select Interns?