How To Set Up An Email Signature For College Students

By Elana Goodwin on March 8, 2016

No matter what year you are in college, having an email signature at the bottom of your emails is a good idea and can be an important tool when done correctly. By having more than just your name as the sign-off to your message, you are discretely informing your recipient of other facts about you and flaunting your achievements (without even seeming to do so).

Setting up your email signature is simple and you can easily do so — no matter what email service you use. Once you’ve decided on your signature, you can set it to automatically apply to each one of your emails without any more effort on your part.

Here’s some tips on what you should include in your email signature and how it should be formatted.

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1. Your name. Obviously, the first and most important part of your email signature is your actual signature — meaning your name. Even if you typically go by a nickname, you’ll probably want to put your full, proper first name in your signature, as well as your last name. You can skip the middle or middle initial unless you go by your first and middle name or have done work using either one. Remember, keep it simple and professional.

2. Your school, major, and expected graduation date. The second or third line of your email signature should include the school you’re attending — which can and should include the specific program or college you’re a part of.

For example, if you’re in the business school or journalism college at your university, include it after the name of your university. Next, you’ll want to mention your major or majors, and if applicable, your minors, too. Lastly, include your expected graduation date from your university — and you can also include what degree you’ll be graduating with (B.A., B.S.) if you’d like.

3. Job title/where you work. If you have a job or internship, you may want to dedicate a line of your email signature to that position and job title. If not, skip ahead to notable achievements and positions and use an extra line to include more of your accomplishments.

4. Notable achievements/positions. Are you the president or on the board of your fraternity, sorority, or another campus group? An ambassador or student representative for your college? Do you write for your school’s paper or act as a campus tour guide? You can subtly flaunt these achievements by putting them in your email signature like a mini-bio and let your recipients know what kinds of activities you’re involved in and your level of involvement in them. If you’re very active on campus and a part of lots of groups, pick the most important and impressive positions and groups to include in your signature.

5. Email and phone number. Even though your recipient will have your email address from your email itself, it’s important to put your email in your signature as well. Some college students will put their college email address in their signature, even if that’s not the email address they’re sending the message from, but if you rarely check that email or don’t have it forwarded to your main account, you should pick a different address to put in your signature.

If your email address is one from middle or high school and comes across as immature, consider making a new email for professional purposes and use that in your signature. Putting your cell phone number on this line is a good idea too, so you offer more than one way you can be contacted.

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6. Website and/or social media links. If you’ve got a blog, website, or LinkedIn account, you can include links to those sites and pages in your email signature — but it’s probably best you don’t include links to your Twitter or Tumblr pages unless you’d be okay with potential employers and other students checking them out. If you have an online resume, you can include the link in your signature, too. Generally, you’ll want to use the same font for each line of your signature for a more cohesive and clean look and keep your signature at no longer than five to seven lines.

Creating an email signature is simple and you can easily set up your account to automatically apply it to your messages; yet, it remains an often overlooked and underused tool for college students. So the next time you log into your main email account, take a few minutes and make yourself a customized email signature — it may end up paying off much more than just your name would.

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