<p>I just got an external award last term and in the agreements of my award, it says it would be nice to say/write a thank you letter to the donor.</p>
<p>The problem is that the donor is a professor and I get this feeling he doesn’t like me because I once went to a seminar once and I felt like he was looking at me wondering “why is an undergrad here?”</p>
<p>I got the award through another professor (who is his colleague) who recommended the award for me. </p>
<p>I have a class with the donor next year, would it make him hate me more or does it look like I am sucking it up if I write a letter? Or is it rude to not even write one?</p>
<p>It is always a good idea to say thank you for an award. I don’t see how it could possibly be a bad thing. Sucking up? Being appreciative for receiving an award isn’t sucking up.</p>
<p>Why should it matter if you asked for it? If someone gives you a birthday present or a christmas present that you didn’t ask for…you wouldn’t thank them?</p>
<p>You should always show appreciation for things that have been given to you. Do you just not want to thank the person? Why not?</p>
<p>If the agreements of the award even suggest that you should write a thank you note or something like that…then it’s probably a good idea. I can assure you that it won’t be a bad thing to show appreciation for something.</p>
<p>My name is xxx, and thank you so much for the xxx award I received last semester. The award was deeply appreciated and it made attending xxx University possible/significantly easier. As you may know, I am a [classification] majoring in xxx. I became interested in [major/field] after a class with [professor who recommended you] in [course], and I really love [major] because [reasons]. </p>
<p>In this past semester, I took [these cool classes with these cool people that I loved for these cool reasons that I wouldn’t have been able to unless you gave me money]. I also enjoyed [that cool seminar I took from you] because it gave me some perspective/insight into [topics and things]. On campus, I am involved in [clubs and things], and in this last semester, we [did cool things you should be proud of becaues they were only possible because you gave me money].</p>
<p>In the future, I hope to [do things, like go to grad school or get a cool job relating to major], and I am so grateful for the award, which made it possible.</p>
<p>Thank you again so much, and I look forward to being in your course in the future.</p>
<p>OP, time to grow up. If you can’t even figure out how to write a Thank You for such a great “gift”, I don’t know how you can function in college. Did you know that you should also write a Thank You after a job interview? Time to practice. Or, just give the award back and they can give it to someone else who isn’t afraid to write a genuine Thank You for it!</p>
<p>If this is someone I don’t know, then I know how to write the letter. However this is adddressing to a person who possibly hates me and could probably add more fuel to the fire if I write the letter</p>
<p>The only ‘proof’ you have that the professor ‘hates’ you is a glance he gave you in a seminar where he was ‘angry’ that an undergrad was motivated and interested enough to come and listen?</p>
<p>The world is not all about you. I doubt the professor ‘hates’ you, if he is even able to place the name with the face and has instantly hated you because you dared show up to an open seminar, because professors have way more important things to do than hate innocent, high-acheiving undergrads. If anything else, he has probably heard your name in conjunction with happy things that the colleague has mentioned about your work.</p>
<p>I highly, highly doubt he hates you and almost guarantee that is all in your head, but even if he does, he will 10000000% hate you more if you don’t thank him for the award.</p>