<p>Hi. I've just received a mail from one college I'm applying for. It includes information about majors, clubs and so on, plus a letter from the dean of admission that elaborates a bit more on the college - with a personal handwritten note "Best wishes to you, [My name] !"</p>
<p>What I'm wondering is, should I send this dean of admission a thank you email? I really appreciate that he took the care to write that note next to his signature. I know he probably does this to all prospective students he sends mails to, I'm just personally impressed by that, and I kind of believe this is simply a right thing to do. Also in the letter he says "We look forward to keeping in touch with you through monthly emails and online chat opportunities. Please do not hesitate to contact our office if we can address any specific concerns for you."</p>
<p>I haven't submitted my application on common app yet, so would this negatively affect my whole application process somehow? I specifically don't want to appear to be ingratiating with the admission officers or anything, but I also don't want this to backfire either. How much should I write in the email, and how personally should I contact him through "monthly emails"?</p>
<p>Finally, I'm not a native English speaker, so could anyone help me with the beginning and concluding of a proper thank you email? What conventions are there, what should I include and what should I avoid mentioning? Anyone here has done something like this before?</p>
<p>There’s no compelling need to reply – it’s just routine marketing for them. You can if you want – but the best reply they are hoping for is your application! You can say: “Thanks for the materials. I’m definitely going to submit my application to you.”</p>
<p>Thanks! I was just wondering about the “monthly emails” part…</p>
<p>Just in case I’ll have to email the admissions office at some time, should I include “Dear…” at the beginning and “Sincerely” (or such) at the end, or will just my signature be enough? And if their only contact email is <a href=“mailto:admission@”>admission@</a>… , should I write “Dear [name of dean of admission]” or just a general “Dear Officer”?</p>
<p>You are overthinking it. The recipient will read your note in 3 seconds and shoot back a reply. And then delete your message or just move to the next one. Seriously.</p>
<p>You definitely don’t need to write a thank-you note for this.</p>
<p>If you’re writing to a specific person at admissions and you don’t have their email address, simply address the message to the person you want to speak with. Make sure to use their proper titles (e.g. Dr. instead of Mr. if the person has a doctorate).</p>
<p>If you don’t know who will be reading it and you don’t know specifically who you want to speak with, you should begin your letter or email with “To Whom It May Concern:” under most circumstances. This is one of them :)</p>