<p>For professors it's usually "Dear Professor ______" or something like that. What is it for graduate student instructors?</p>
<p>For professors it’s better to say “Hi Dr. _______” . 99% of the time your prof has a doctorate…otherwise use the “Hi Prof…”. I don’t like using “Dear” because they’re not your dear. Some professor will say you can call them by their first name…but never assume you can unless they tell you so.</p>
<p>Graduate students / TAs you can address by first name.</p>
<p>Just start with Hi, or something like that.</p>
<p>Grad students have more pressing things to worry about than how undergrads address them in emails.</p>
<p>QuoraQuoraQuora</p>
<p>actually try Yahoo Answers too :D</p>
<p>Unless they say specifically that they want to be addressed by their first names, I would address them as Mr. _____ or Ms. ____<strong><em>, b/c it’s not really appropriate to address them as Professor or Dr., but at the same time, it’s a lot more respectful then saying, “Hey, </em></strong>!”</p>
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You can offend a lot of people like that, especially foreign professors who place more value on titles. “Professor” is an academic rank and one that’s much harder to obtain than “Doctor.” It’s also used as a title. Ever noticed that drop-down menus for title selection often give you a choice between Mr./Mrs./Ms./Dr./Prof. (and maybe Rev.)?</p>
<p>I’ve never encountered a prof. that has such a stick up their butt that they become indignant if you use Dr. vs Prof. You’re still showing deference by using either one.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t use Mr. or Ms. under any circumstance to address a prof., however. I’ve seen lot’s of Dr.'s correct someone who uses Mr./Ms. instead of Dr. If they’re not a Dr. then use Prof.</p>
<p>And Hey/Hi is safe IMO because the correspondence is casual most of the time. It seems out of place to use some hyper-formal letter writing system when all you’re doing is asking a homework question.</p>
<p>How did the instructor reference himself/herself to the class? That’s probably a good way to address them.</p>
<p>Most graduate students will just go by first name.</p>
<p>I’ve had many professors ask to be called by their first name as well. Some want to be addressed as Dr/Prof though. Professor is the safest bet in that case.</p>
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<p>I’ve never known a professor to care about whether they’re called “Dr.” or “Professor” - also, you still call your professor “Professor” whether they’re a full professor or an associate professor or assistant professor or wherever else they fall on the academic totem pole. You don’t address your e-mails to “Assistant Professor Jones”.</p>
<p>And for grad students, I agree with whoever said that they have better things to care about than what an undergrad calls them. I can’t remember any of my grad student TAs going by anything other than their first name. You’re probably safe with that unless they specifically introduced themselves as “Mr. XYZ”</p>
<p>Sometimes I’ll call a professor “Admiral” or “Duchess.” He or she always gets a kick outta it.</p>
<p>It really depends on the person. I just recently contacted my professor, a grad student, through e-mail, and she told me to just address her by her first name. However, i’ve met professors who strictly want to be addressed as “Dr.”</p>