Hi everybody,
I recently started looking for a PhD position in America, and thus contacted a couple of professors I'd really like to work with. In one case I got a very quick, positive reply. What startled me, however was that the professor I contacted signed the email by only his first name.
As I am not too familiar with American politeness rules and obviously at this stage do not want to offend anybody at all, does that mean I am now allowed to call him by his first name (e.g. Dear John, ...), or should I better stick with "Dear Dr / Prof Smith"? (And which of these two would you prefer in case you didn't know the person?) I'm asking because of in the part of Europe where I come from academia is pretty hierarchical, I.e. typically you are only allowed to call people by their first name when you know them reasonably well...
Thanks for your answers.