Success in this endeavor depends on many things, of course: hard work, perseverance, gumption, hard work, ingenuity, sleep, nutrition and hard work. You will have the opportunity to form lasting relationships with peers, and you will have the opportunity to form lasting relationships with professors and mentors of all sorts. Some of your relationships may be primarily social, with fewer ramifications for your future professional development. However, the vast majority of these lasting relationships - especially those with professors, staff, teaching assistants and administrators - should be viewed a priori as professional relationships.

Indeed it is the 21st century and the flurry of instant messages and text messages have generated a unique pidgin vocabulary of acronyms, abbreviations and symbology. Although those informal and colloquial texts are appropriate for those media, they are not appropriate for term papers, lab reports, or assignments - and also not appropriate for emails. When you are writing anything destined for someone with whom you have a professional relationship, treat the document with care: use good grammar, spell check everything, proofread for clarity and use language that is responsible, respectful and intelligent. Every interaction (including emails) that you have with professors, staff and other university officials can and likely does leave a lasting impression of you on them. Let me share with you a couple of actual emails from students that were sent to faculty members. [Personally identifying information has been removed.]