In February my son emailed a Bucknell professor in his area of interest with some questions and received no answer so he tried another professor. Same thing. So I thought maybe they didn’t respond to “prospective” students but would respond after he was admitted. He emailed again last Friday after receiving his acceptance but still hasn’t heard anything. Does anyone know if this is typical of Bucknell professors? I thought the advantage of choosing a small liberal arts college would be having professors who take an interest in the students. I’m sure we could contact admissions and they would make sure that someone responds, but my son has hesitated from doing that because he wanted to get a legitimate feel of what the professors are like. I would appreciate hearing any first-hand experience with professor responsiveness.
D emailed several professors at prospective schools (but not Bucknell). Sometimes she heard back right away. Sometimes not at all. I just tried not to draw any conclusions about the schools from it.
Congratulations on your son’s acceptance. It’s a great school.
@MidwestDad3 Thanks for your reply. We know Bucknell is regarded as a great school, but we’re trying to find out if it is the best fit for our son. He really would like certain questions answered that were not addressed at his visit or on the website, so it is a bit disappointing/frustrating.
call admissions, they’ll answer questions. Go tot he accepted students day on April 18th.
My student’s experience is that Professors are highly available and responsive. Maybe it got stuck in his SPAM/ I agree, call admissions.
Thanks, @chang11. I did call, but apparently they are so busy the only option was to leave a message. I decided to send an email instead.
My D is a first year student and has found professors to be both accessible and responsive. In fact, two days before she was scheduled to give a class presentation the prof emailed her and offered to preview the presentation. My d took her up on the offer and got some great suggestions. After the actual presentation d got an email within an hour with comments and her grade
My son is a freshman engineering student. Overall the feedback I receive has been very positive from him regarding professors.
Just fyi, a response to my email came three days later from a student admissions staffer who did not answer my question as to which professor might be willing to answer my son’s questions, and then proceeded to hardly attempt to answer them himself. We did not learn any new information.
At least when my older son had a similar situation with UVA, the admissions office was super apologetic, and they must have contacted the prof because he emailed right away then and was very apologetic and helpful as well.
That’s really unfortunate.
Okay, maybe I spoke too soon. Later in the day we got 2 more nice and informative email responses from Career Services and the director of my son’s department of interest.
Just seeing this now and I’m sorry your son has had the experience he’s had. My D is a graduating senior and has encountered only incredibly accessible professors. She also works in the admissions office. If you need further help, PM me and I can put your son in touch with my D. Bucknell is an amazing school – congratulations to your S!