Tell High School Students to Stop Contacting Professors

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you're a parent pretending to be a professor to discourage kids from trying to get ahead.

If not, you're pretty out-of-the-loop. Many kids now have had internships/research experience by the time they apply to college. Lots get it through connections, but for those who can't, cold emailing is the alternative. It's understandable that you find it irritating, but don't expect it to stop anytime soon. Lots of professors actually do write back and try to find something the student can do.

You spend too much time on Reddit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It IS kind of funny that high school kids (and younger) think college professors should give them positions instead of giving positions to the current undergraduates.

Some have programs for HS students, but it's not the norm.

I worked for a college professor and every summer he hosted either an undergrad or a high school student in his lab for an internship. They didn't even have to attend undergrad at our institution. The only thing he seemed to care about was that they were the same ethnicity that he was.

That is a different issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yup, it’s your admissions office and every admissions office out there that makes kids think they have to be absolutely perfect to go to college, any college. Tell your admissions office to post a message on their opening page that they will not give any weight to any research or mentoring relationship a high school student may have with any professor at your school.

You are mad at the wrong people. The kids are trying to do what the colleges and the college consultants and their parents tell them they must do.

+1,000,000

Colleges are incentivizing this behavior and they have the gall to complain about these teenagers who are honestly trying to do their best.

As much as I hate Musk and Trump, one area where we do need DOGE type cleanup is college admissions process.

I don't think you really mean the last sentence. I agree 100% that there are problems with the college admissions process. However, realistic and productive change takes time. There are many things I do not know, but I definitely know that the solution is not to go in and mess things up so badly in just one week that it ruins entire the process for all the kids applying to college next year. This has been their MO so far. They are like terrorist bombs rather than scalpels.

[Anonymous]

I am a professor who has a lot of sympathy for these kids. I respond politely whenever I can. However, I also do not have the time to mentor high school students. It already takes up a lot of my energy to mentor undergrad students because there is so much for them to learn before they can be productive members of a lab.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are admission services that target kids for elite schools that suggest kids write a professor at a school they want to attend and express interest in their field or work and ask for some literature to read or to assist with research.

The idea is that the admissions officer ultimately works for professors, and professors at elite schools ultimately want smart kids who are excited about their field and its possibilities. Of course, that may be true, but I’d be pis*ed if 20-30 kids contacted me every year for this brown nose effort.

But they don't. Professors report to Dean/Provost. Admissions reports to a VP/VC of Enrollment Management.

[Anonymous]

I am horrified by this and would never allow it as a parent. But you are a business professor: they want something from you.

On the other hand, sometimes professors in severely undersubscribed areas are really the ones who should be wanting something from the student. After all, some humanities departments are dying on the vine.

For that reason, I did allow/encourage DC to write two very brief emails: one to a professor in a niche humanities major at a top 10 SLAC, and one to a professor in the same field at a very large but prestigious oos state flagship.

To my great surprise, the large school professor answered; he was lovely and informative. The SLAC professor did not.

Guess where kid did not apply?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yup, it’s your admissions office and every admissions office out there that makes kids think they have to be absolutely perfect to go to college, any college. Tell your admissions office to post a message on their opening page that they will not give any weight to any research or mentoring relationship a high school student may have with any professor at your school.

You are mad at the wrong people. The kids are trying to do what the colleges and the college consultants and their parents tell them they must do.

+1,000,000

Colleges are incentivizing this behavior and they have the gall to complain about these teenagers who are honestly trying to do their best.

As much as I hate Musk and Trump, one area where we do need DOGE type cleanup is college admissions process.

I don't think you really mean the last sentence. I agree 100% that there are problems with the college admissions process. However, realistic and productive change takes time. There are many things I do not know, but I definitely know that the solution is not to go in and mess things up so badly in just one week that it ruins entire the process for all the kids applying to college next year. This has been their MO so far. They are like terrorist bombs rather than scalpels.

I agree, just being dramatic! Definitely need a thoughtful multi-year cleanup.

[Anonymous]

I get it- my husband is a professor and his time is spread thin. But at the same time, our D26 cold emailed the research dept in her area of interest at our local state university, and is in the process of job shadowing- which will hopefully turn into a research spot. You can't fault kids for trying to learn about their potential careers/majors before their parents dump $$$ into a college education in a specific field. I'd rather know up front if it's not a good fit going into her freshman year of college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am horrified by this and would never allow it as a parent. But you are a business professor: they want something from you.

On the other hand, sometimes professors in severely undersubscribed areas are really the ones who should be wanting something from the student. After all, some humanities departments are dying on the vine.

For that reason, I did allow/encourage DC to write two very brief emails: one to a professor in a niche humanities major at a top 10 SLAC, and one to a professor in the same field at a very large but prestigious oos state flagship.

To my great surprise, the large school professor answered; he was lovely and informative. The SLAC professor did not.

Guess where kid did not apply?

Same poster. Should have made clear kid was not asking for anything, other than some insight/brief advice on what it's like to study there (to inform DC's decision whether they wanted to apply early).

[Anonymous]

I don't blame you, OP. The entitlement with these kids is off the charts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am horrified by this and would never allow it as a parent. But you are a business professor: they want something from you.

On the other hand, sometimes professors in severely undersubscribed areas are really the ones who should be wanting something from the student. After all, some humanities departments are dying on the vine.

For that reason, I did allow/encourage DC to write two very brief emails: one to a professor in a niche humanities major at a top 10 SLAC, and one to a professor in the same field at a very large but prestigious oos state flagship.

To my great surprise, the large school professor answered; he was lovely and informative. The SLAC professor did not.

Guess where kid did not apply?

The SLAC professor was probably conserving her time for the students who contribute to her salary and for whose learning she is responsible.

The idea that faculty have a duty to respond to unsolicited junk mail is nuts. The idea that mentoring high school students would be cost effective for anyone who is doing PhD level humanities or social science research is also nuts. (I have no lab experience. Though I think the value added of a high school student to a lab would be negative, perhaps there are some low level repetitive-but-not-critical tasks that a young student could be made responsible for.)

One reason Lumiere and the other pay-to-play research experience services cost so much is that they have to pay (very junior PhD and postdoc level) people to mentor them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yup, it’s your admissions office and every admissions office out there that makes kids think they have to be absolutely perfect to go to college, any college. Tell your admissions office to post a message on their opening page that they will not give any weight to any research or mentoring relationship a high school student may have with any professor at your school.

You are mad at the wrong people. The kids are trying to do what the colleges and the college consultants and their parents tell them they must do.

I do blame the college 'consultants' for a lot of this too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am horrified by this and would never allow it as a parent. But you are a business professor: they want something from you.

On the other hand, sometimes professors in severely undersubscribed areas are really the ones who should be wanting something from the student. After all, some humanities departments are dying on the vine.

For that reason, I did allow/encourage DC to write two very brief emails: one to a professor in a niche humanities major at a top 10 SLAC, and one to a professor in the same field at a very large but prestigious oos state flagship.

To my great surprise, the large school professor answered; he was lovely and informative. The SLAC professor did not.

Guess where kid did not apply?

The SLAC professor was probably conserving her time for the students who contribute to her salary and for whose learning she is responsible.

The idea that faculty have a duty to respond to unsolicited junk mail is nuts. The idea that mentoring high school students would be cost effective for anyone who is doing PhD level humanities or social science research is also nuts. (I have no lab experience. Though I think the value added of a high school student to a lab would be negative, perhaps there are some low level repetitive-but-not-critical tasks that a young student could be made responsible for.)

One reason Lumiere and the other pay-to-play research experience services cost so much is that they have to pay (very junior PhD and postdoc level) people to mentor them.

No mentoring or research was asked for. Just questions about studying there to decide whether to apply ED. You can disagree on whether the SLAC professor was kind of a jerk, but it is a very bad look for SLACs trying to sell themselves on intimate interaction with students. And it is against the prof's self-interest when the department is only producing a few majors a year...and basically has almost no students "for whose learning she is responsible."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Shouldn't you be writing your "five things I did this week" email and sending it to your supervisor?

Trump really got to you this week huh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am horrified by this and would never allow it as a parent. But you are a business professor: they want something from you.

On the other hand, sometimes professors in severely undersubscribed areas are really the ones who should be wanting something from the student. After all, some humanities departments are dying on the vine.

For that reason, I did allow/encourage DC to write two very brief emails: one to a professor in a niche humanities major at a top 10 SLAC, and one to a professor in the same field at a very large but prestigious oos state flagship.

To my great surprise, the large school professor answered; he was lovely and informative. The SLAC professor did not.

Guess where kid did not apply?

The SLAC professor was probably conserving her time for the students who contribute to her salary and for whose learning she is responsible.

The idea that faculty have a duty to respond to unsolicited junk mail is nuts. The idea that mentoring high school students would be cost effective for anyone who is doing PhD level humanities or social science research is also nuts. (I have no lab experience. Though I think the value added of a high school student to a lab would be negative, perhaps there are some low level repetitive-but-not-critical tasks that a young student could be made responsible for.)

One reason Lumiere and the other pay-to-play research experience services cost so much is that they have to pay (very junior PhD and postdoc level) people to mentor them.

No mentoring or research was asked for. Just questions about studying there to decide whether to apply ED. You can disagree on whether the SLAC professor was kind of a jerk, but it is a very bad look for SLACs trying to sell themselves on intimate interaction with students. And it is against the prof's self-interest when the department is only producing a few majors a year...and basically has almost no students "for whose learning she is responsible."

You have no idea how many junk emails a particular professor gets per week. If you're on DCUM you know that many many applicants apply for niche subjects with the plan to switch to econ freshman year.

SLACs have whole departments tasked with responding to queries from high school students. It's not the role of teaching faculty to do so.