How to get an appointment faster

I get a lot of emails asking for appointments that say, “When can I see you?”

This will make it harder to get your appointment. First, there is no indication of when you are available. Second, faculty are busy, but a lot of our time is unstructured. So I have to send you back a list of days and times, none of which may be a decent time for you, because I have no knowledge of your schedule.

You’re much more likely to get an appointment fast if you list about three different times you could make it. Then, I check my calendar and decide on the spot which of those (if any) works for me.

Photo by Serenae on Flickr; used under a Creative Commons license.