PaintedLizard

Well I don't think I'll be able to get either rescheduled, as Class B is a seminar-style class offered by a different department and just cross-listed in mine (since it's an interdisciplinary topic) and Class A is a regular-style class in my department. And they've both already decided on scheduling already. That said, I've decided on which one to take, and even bought the textbooks. I'll take the seminar-style one, as it fits the sub-field I want to work in perfectly, and the prof finally replied to me with a tentative syllabus. Thanks for your tips. Now, though, I have to tell the Class A prof (the one whose class had "let the prof know if you're taking it") I'll take his class next year. He's offering it every fall I think. (There's actually a chance that I might not take it, because I've already taken a graduate-level class on the topic before.)

Class A has 15 slots and 9 are currently filled (which probably includes me). Class B has 25 slots and 9 are currently filled. (That doesn't include me; I can't be registered for both at the same time.) I think I'll switch to Class B and ask the Class A prof whether he'll offer it again soon. Thanks for the tip; I'll keep this in mind when talking to him.

Just a simple, quick question. I wanted to take this one class, let's call it Class A. The registration info said that I need to contact the prof after registering. I did that, and also asked him what textbook we'll be using. The prof is a cool guy who invited me to take the class even before I registered. Then suddenly, a second class that I'm more interested in, Class B, comes into existence. Class B schedule-conflicts with Class A. Would it be good form, or unnecessary, to tell Class A professor that I won't be in his class because of a schedule conflict? I'm asking because I've spoken to him before and, even though I didn't really say much, I clearly showed my intention take his class.

Thanks for all your input; I should have thought of these things. I've sent off a short reply to Center B director apologizing for sending that e-mail. And now I've discovered that I can't edit my own posts after a while.

I'm actually worrying whether there's any serious harm done, to my reputation or my school's, and how to fix that. I've got an e-mail written up apologizing to him already, but I'm just very wary now of what I ought to address, beyond just an apology.

I know this is my first post here, but this is kind of an urgent issue that needs resolving. People in related research groups in a few schools are organizing a small conference about the topic they're researching. One of these schools, let's call it School A, is located near where I live. Another school--the host school and the school I'll be starting my PhD at in the fall, let's call this School B--is located about seven hours' drive away. After being accepted into School B, I met with the head of School B's research center (let's call it Center B ) on this topic. I expressed my interest in joining Center B, and he gave me a warm welcome as well. Several days ago, the head of Center B sent an e-mail out to a large number of recipients announcing that he and the head of the corresponding research center at the school near where I live (let's call it Center A) were organizing this conference. The conference is planned to happen in about a month. Center B head also asked people to let him know if they can or can't attend. I would love to attend, but...well, I'm just not too sure. I can make arrangements on my own, but it would be quite an expense and a hassle (between driving seven hours each way and probably three nights of hotel stays). Since School A is near where I live, I thought about trying to maybe carpool or share hotel accommodations with them. However, I don't know anyone at Center A personally. I reply-all'd to the mass e-mail, introducing myself very briefly (saying I'm an incoming PhD student at School B looking forward to working with Center B ) and asking how people at School A were planning on going there. I originally wanted to ask if anyone would like to share a ride or a hotel room but decided against it, just going for a more general "how are going to get there" question. The head of Center B replied to me saying that my e-mail was not appropriate, and I should have asked him for help with arrangements. He also told me that he's asked a leader in Center A if anyone's driving, though that leader also (before this reply from head of Center B ) separately told me that they're probably going by train. 1. What exactly did I do wrong? Was it mass-replying, was it going over my school's (School B's) organizer/host's head and contacting School A, was it my blindly asking this question to people I don't know, was it the fact that I'm not even a student yet (much less an official member of Center B, or was it all of these things? 2. What should I do now? Edit: daggone smileys, screwing up my capital b followed by close parenthesis...