Using my gmail account or my school's email account?

[Strangefox]

Here is a twist. I arranged it so that I can send letters from my school's account using my gmail account. I sent an email this way and a person to whom this letter was sent forwarded it to another person. And apparently when she forwarded it, it came as if from my gmail address! Because when the person to whom the letter had been forwarded sent me a reply and the reply came to my gmail address

Fortunately, it's not a problem, because my gmail address includes my name and surname and no strange nicknames But anyway - weird!

[ktel]

My school uses gmail for their school e-mails anyways. I switched from a hotmail e-mail with a silly name to my undergrad e-mail account, so I think I need to make a permanent switch to a personal gmail account with my proper name (I have the account, just don't use it). It makes everything so complicated as I have used the hotmail and university e-mail for the last 4 years. I will also be getting an e-mail address with my next university...so many e-mail accounts.

[Guimauvaise]

Are you going to be a TA? If so, you may not want your students using your personal email address. Though there's no real difference in the scheme of things -- they'll still email you at 2am about an assignment due at 8am, regardless of the email address -- giving them your personal email address may imply a level of informality that could come back to bite you. I don't mind being on friendly terms with my students, but I still need to keep a professional distance from them. It's bad enough when a student gets too friendly and starts sending chain emails to your school account...I can't imagine the headache of having them flood my gmail account.

[Agradatudent]

As many others have said, I just link the account to my gmail and use my gmail. I select the school e-mail when it seems prudent to be official.

[Henry Hudson]

The only problem I've found with forwarding to gmail is that you gmail name can sometimes show up on your emails sometimes, so if your gmail is something silly, I'd use them separately, unless you don't care

My gmail is something silly, and I was forwarding school emails directly to gmail all through my masters and no one said anything, but I probably will keep 'em separate for my PhD

I do the forwarding, but to send a reply, I'll log into campus mail so the reply comes from my school address. But that's basically the only time I have to log into campus mail; for just reading Gmail is perfect.

[Henry Hudson]

Are you going to be a TA? If so, you may not want your students using your personal email address. Though there's no real difference in the scheme of things -- they'll still email you at 2am about an assignment due at 8am, regardless of the email address -- giving them your personal email address may imply a level of informality that could come back to bite you. I don't mind being on friendly terms with my students, but I still need to keep a professional distance from them. It's bad enough when a student gets too friendly and starts sending chain emails to your school account...I can't imagine the headache of having them flood my gmail account.

excellent point. It is best to keep all student emails in the campus system. it keeps your private email private, reinforces the appearance of professionalism, and avoids potentially awkward situations available to a disgruntled student.

[Henry Hudson]

Here is a twist. I arranged it so that I can send letters from my school's account using my gmail account. I sent an email this way and a person to whom this letter was sent forwarded it to another person. And apparently when she forwarded it, it came as if from my gmail address! Because when the person to whom the letter had been forwarded sent me a reply and the reply came to my gmail address

Fortunately, it's not a problem, because my gmail address includes my name and surname and no strange nicknames But anyway - weird!

yeah, as much as I love gmail, I don't trust it to send out school emails. Even when you choose the account settings for sending out mail, it still does wonky things. that's why I do specifically log nito campus mail to send out messages.

[Strangefox]

I do the forwarding, but to send a reply, I'll log into campus mail so the reply comes from my school address. But that's basically the only time I have to log into campus mail; for just reading Gmail is perfect.

That's a great idea, actually! Thanks

[TheSquirrel]

I use my gmail account to communicate with profs, the department secretary, etc. Any university-related emails that are generated automatically (library recall notices, etc) also get sent to my gmail. I have a university email but only use it to communicate with the prof I TA for, and give it out to students in the class I TA. I don't give out my gmail adress to students. I like to keep things very formal and professional between us, and giving them my gmail address might give them the wrong impression. I also use my university email whenever I submit conference papers. I feel that could also make a difference in their decision to accept/reject. I feel like people wouldn't take me as seriously if I send them an email using my gmail account. On the other hand, I don't use my university account for regular communications with my profs simply because the webmail system is atrocious and I really dislike using Outlook or other mail programs...

On the other hand, the fact that I only use the gmail webmail (and not a program that I can send and receive gmail mail with), might come back to haunt me, as I don't have a backup of emails I've sent and received over the past 3 years or so... if the gmail servers somehow crash and data gets wiped out, well... let's just hope that won't happen...

Edited July 17, 2011 by TheSquirrel