Question: Is it rude to contact current college students?

Hello! I am currently in the process of deciding which college I would like to attend and have a question. I want to know if it would be impolite to contact a current student of one of my top choices to ask some questions about the program. Unfortunately, this school does not have student ambassadors (at least not to my knowledge), however, I was fortunate enough to find a student taking the exact same path I wish to follow on the road to post-grad school. I wanted to email them to see if it would be possible to set up a time to talk or if it would be possible to ask some questions over email. I’m hesitant to do so however, primarily because I don’t want to impose or come off as rude. I’m fairly indecisive and would sincerely appreciate any input on the matter: would it be impolite to contact them through their school email?

Did this student give you their email address?

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When kids from school have contacted others ahead of them, most have been happy to offer their thoughts. Some have even offered overnight stays and more. I see no harm in asking as long as you are polite and don’t push it if they don’t seem interested.

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I see no harm in sending an email IF the student gave you their email address.

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How did you find this student? Did a friend or the admissions office refer you? In that case, it would not be rude to contact them, mention how you got their info and ask your questions. But, if you found this student by snooping on social media or something similar and have no connection, then it would be creepy.

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It sounds as though you found the email address, rather than the student giving it to you. Did you do a lot of snooping, or was it easily accessible?

It might be a bit off putting to some, but I’m going to be a naysayer to what others have said. I think if you write it very politely and make the subject line clear, I don’t have a problem with it. The worst that can happen is that the student ignores it. But, don’t be surprised if you don’t get a response, and I would only suggest emailing if the address was easy to find, such as a grad student whose email address is published on a college’s website. I would definitely keep the initial email short.

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If the email is unsolicited and the address was not provided to you by them or someone from the school on their behalf, yes, that is rude, and I doubt you’ll get a response regardless. See if the AO can get you in contact with a current student based on your interests.

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Have you thought about contacting the admissions team at your school and asking if they have any students taking a similar path that you can talk to?

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This happens all the time on LinkedIn. S gets lots of enquiries from college students who are applying to places he’s interned at. He’s happy to answer. If he got a LinkedIn message from someone who was admitted to his college I’m sure that would be fine too.

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I want to point out that info about grad students, along with their college email address, is easily available. Simply Google, for example, biology grad students, X College, and the page comes up right away.
Presumably, grad students want their name and contact info accessible for academic and professional reasons.

It isn’t wrong to contact a student whose college email address is easily accessible to the public. It’s up to the student contacted if they want to respond. The OP wanted to know if it’s impolite to do so, and I don’t think it is.

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Thank you all so much for taking the time to answer my question. Just to clarify, I did find the email through LinkedIn, but I sincerely appreciate the variety of feedback I received. I never thought about contacting the admissions office about this matter, but I think that’s a great idea, so thank you so much for suggesting it!! I hope you all have a wonderful day, thank you for you input once again : )

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Thank you so much, that is definitely my strongest source of hesitation. I really just wanted to be sure that I wouldn’t be disrupting the student or be an inconvenience. Thank you so much for all of your help!!

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For my kids….anyone NOT in their contacts goes right to their spam folder.

My kid was a student ambassador…and had a student ambassador email…and was very willing to answer questions. I agree that contacting the admissions office is a good idea. Student ambassadors are often the ones who give the tours…if you had a tour it’s likely the school has student ambassadors even if they don’t call them that.

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Send a LinkedIn message not an email. It’s much less likely to go to spam and the recipient can choose whether to answer or ignore. They can also see your profile before deciding to respond.

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