Mr, Dr. and Prof.

[Nats]

Hi,

I am an international student currently working on my PhD application. I am a little confused with the way we are supposed to refer to the professors we mention as potential advisors.

1 / If the person is a man, PhD: Do we have to use Mr. Brown ? Dr. Brown ? Prof. Brown ?

2 / What if it is a woman PhD: Mrs Brown? Dr. Brown ? Prof Brown ?

3 / What is he/she is an assistant professor: Mr Brown ? Dr. Brown ? Assistant Prof. Brown ? Prof Brown ?

Thank you very much for your help !

Nats

[newms]

Never use Mr or Ms or Mrs if the person has a PhD. You could generally use Dr. or Prof (if they are an assistant prof or professor).

So to answer your questions:

1 / If the person is a man, PhD: Do we have to use Mr. Brown ? Dr. Brown ? Prof. Brown ?

2 / What if it is a woman PhD: Mrs Brown? Dr. Brown ? Prof Brown ?

3 / What is he/she is an assistant professor: Mr Brown ? Dr. Brown ? Assistant Prof. Brown ? Prof Brown ?

1) Dr. or Prof. is acceptable.

2) Dr. or Prof. is acceptable, it doesn't make any difference if the person is male or female.

3) Dr. or Prof. is acceptable. I've never seen someone addressed as Assistant Prof.

Edited November 30, 2010 by newms

[LJK]

I am using Dr. XXX though Professor XXX would also be acceptable. It is the most formal title and therefore most appropriate for the formal application I believe. Mr. and Mrs. (or Ms.) are incorrect titles for people who have doctorates. Even on things as removed from academia as family wedding invitations they would be addressed something like: Dr. and Mr(s). XXX (presuming they share a last name).

In email, I start with Dr. XXX but when a professor signs their response with their first name I will use that in any further less formal exchanges.

Hope that helps!

[Strangefox]

Hi,

I am an international student currently working on my PhD application. I am a little confused with the way we are supposed to refer to the professors we mention as potential advisors.

1 / If the person is a man, PhD: Do we have to use Mr. Brown ? Dr. Brown ? Prof. Brown ?

2 / What if it is a woman PhD: Mrs Brown? Dr. Brown ? Prof Brown ?

3 / What is he/she is an assistant professor: Mr Brown ? Dr. Brown ? Assistant Prof. Brown ? Prof Brown ?

Thank you very much for your help !

Nats

I was advised against using abbreviations like Prof. in a SOP so I wrote it like this: "I would like to work with Professor Great_Guy"

Edited November 30, 2010 by Strangefox

[eklavya]

I am a little confused with the way we are supposed to refer to the professors we mention as potential advisors.

if you are mentioning the name of all professors in a single sentence, you can say something like: i am interested in working with profs abc, def, ghi, and jkl.

if the names go separate, something like: dr (OR, prof) abc's research work overlap with my research interest, and therefore,............

however, let me tell you that in the US, most profs like to be called dr, and not prof.

as someone said above, NEVER use mr/mrs/ms

[modernity]

Use Dr. its simple and shows respect... but you can get away with Professor as well - definitely do not use something like Assistant Prof. you could hit a nerve referencing that, considering the politics of educational hierarchy.

[modernity]

I am using Dr. XXX though Professor XXX would also be acceptable. It is the most formal title and therefore most appropriate for the formal application I believe. Mr. and Mrs. (or Ms.) are incorrect titles for people who have doctorates. Even on things as removed from academia as family wedding invitations they would be addressed something like: Dr. and Mr(s). XXX (presuming they share a last name).

In email, I start with Dr. XXX but when a professor signs their response with their first name I will use that in any further less formal exchanges.

Hope that helps!

I don't mean this to sound snarky - but what else would they sign their response with? I don't know many people that refer to themselves by their last name, nor many that would sign it Dr. even if they were. Have you had profs that sign with Dr. XXX ??

[Strangefox]

Have you had profs that sign with Dr. XXX ??

I contacted a professor who signed her letters with "Prof. XXX" She signed her last letter with just her first name, though...

[modernity]

I contacted a professor who signed her letters with "Prof. XXX" She signed her last letter with just her first name, though...

Ahhh okay! I just had never come across that before! My profs are all very informal first namers though anyway.

[Strangefox]

In email, I start with Dr. XXX but when a professor signs their response with their first name I will use that in any further less formal exchanges.

Hm, I don't think it is a good idea. There was a thread on this forum somewhere discussing etiquette of contacting professors. Many people wrote that even if a professor signs a letter with his/her first name, that does not mean that you can start your letters with "Hi John/Peter/Sue!". They may sign their letters this way without thinking and they may consider it rude if you start addressing them by their first name all of a sudden. You must wait until they tell you that you can do that. Before that it would be more appropriate to always start your letters with "Dear Dr. XXX". It will keep you on the safe side.

[LJK]

I am an MS student in a different department at the same school I did my undergrad at. My senior thesis advisor continues to sign his emails Dr. {first name} even though I've been a graduate student for over a year. Therefore I do not drop the Dr. with him (though I use his last name cuz it is really strange to combine Dr. with a first name...). When I sent an email to all my recommenders I actually addressed it "Dear Recommenders," so that it wasn't "Dear {First Name}, {First Name}, and {Dr. XXX}."

As a graduate student and as an applicant I have mostly (perhaps exclusively, I haven't really been keeping track) been on a first name basis with professors but I wanted to toss that bit of etiquette out there, that it is the professor's prerogative to move from formal to informal, not the applicant's.

Edited November 30, 2010 by LJK

[LJK]

Hm, I don't think it is a good idea. There was a thread on this forum somewhere discussing etiquette of contacting professors. Many people wrote that even if a professor signs a letter with his/her first name, that does not mean that you can start your letters with "Hi John/Peter/Sue!". They may sign their letters this way without thinking and they may consider it rude if you start addressing them by their first name all of a sudden. You must wait until they tell you that you can do that. Before that it would be more appropriate to always start your letters with "Dear Dr. XXX". It will keep you on the safe side.

If you are replying to an email where they signed with their first name, I would think it would be clear why you decided to use it. I guess that staying formal would be 'safer' but I don't think it would annoy a professor to be called by their first name by a potential mentee/colleague. (And in my case, if it really bothered them, I doubt that I would be interested in working with someone who insists on that level of formality and implied distance...)

Edited November 30, 2010 by LJK

[JustChill]

I always use Dr. Brown. It's more succinct and easier to type quickly.

[JoeySsance]

Hey everyone! I've been wondering this too. For all intents and purposes, I realize that Dr. and Professor are both equivalent. In my SOP, I've been writing "Professor X" and "Professor Y." However, a friend of mine who got into 7/8 programs last year had written "Dr. X" and "Dr. Y"... I'm sure the difference is minimal or even non-existent. "Dr." comes across as a tad bit more formal. I realize that as graduate applicants, a certain amount of formality and professionalism is expected of us, but it's not like "Professor So and So" is necessarily disrespectful or informal. Should I just leave it the way I've been writing it or consider changing from "Prof." to "Dr."? Thank you in advance!

[eklavya]

Should I just leave it the way I've been writing it or consider changing from "Prof." to "Dr."?

writing professor/s (or prof.) instead of dr. and vice versa is just fine. these are trivial things anyways.

[waddle]

Hey everyone! I've been wondering this too. For all intents and purposes, I realize that Dr. and Professor are both equivalent. In my SOP, I've been writing "Professor X" and "Professor Y." However, a friend of mine who got into 7/8 programs last year had written "Dr. X" and "Dr. Y"... I'm sure the difference is minimal or even non-existent. "Dr." comes across as a tad bit more formal. I realize that as graduate applicants, a certain amount of formality and professionalism is expected of us, but it's not like "Professor So and So" is necessarily disrespectful or informal. Should I just leave it the way I've been writing it or consider changing from "Prof." to "Dr."? Thank you in advance!

I've always thought it was the other way around, i.e. "Professor" is more formal than "Dr.", since not all people with doctorates are professors, but most all professors have doctorates.

[LJK]

I've always thought it was the other way around, i.e. "Professor" is more formal than "Dr.", since not all people with doctorates are professors, but most all professors have doctorates.

I think the reason I consider Dr. to be more formal than Professor is because of the role it is highlighting. Dr. refers to the person's education and research qualifications while professor is more student focused and is about teaching more that research - at least those are my associations. Dr. says expert, while professor implies teacher. Also, professors at community colleges often have Master's degrees rather than Doctorates. The titles are basically equivalent, with both being equally respectful, I think it is a tone thing more than anything else.

Edited November 30, 2010 by LJK

[Eigen]

You can be a professor without having a doctorate, you can have a doctorate without being a professor.

I refer to all the prof's I know as Dr. XXX (or first name, it depends), the only time I use professor is when they don't have a doctorate.

I'm sure it varies, however.

[Nessie]

I think it varies across the world. In the UK I believe a prof. is a higher position than a Dr. Here, all Profs have PhDs, but not all Drs have reached professor level yet. So I refer to all phds as Dr so-and-so unless they have they have their professorship, in which case they become prof. so-and-so.