When I attended my first college fair as an Admission Counselor, I was shocked at some of the email addresses students used on the inquiry cards. As the night went on, more inappropriate email addresses were coming. Surely the students were giving fake email addresses, right?

As I sent emails to the students I met at the college fair, I wasn’t getting error messages back like I thought I would. And then the first response came back from one of the inappropriate email addresses. He was actually interested in the university and had questions about admission. The email was well written and the student had legitimate questions.

As an Admission Counselor, that first impression of the student stayed with me. Every time the student’s name was mentioned or he called, the first thing that popped in my head was his email address. I couldn’t help it; the inappropriate email made a lasting impression on me.

A few months later, the student applied for admission using the same inappropriate email. Not only was the student an excellent writer, he had outstanding grades and impressive test scores. It was easy to admit him to the university, but that’s because I was at a university that didn’t have a 5% acceptance rate. How would his email address affect his decision at a college that did have a low acceptance rate? No one knows for sure, but in a place that can only accept a small percentage of students, everything can come into play, including email addresses.

So, before you start communicating with colleges, think about your email. Like it or not, your email address says something about you and you want to make sure your email address is making a good impression.

To be safe, stay away from using email addresses referring to:

• Alcohol and drinking
• Smoking
• Drug
• Sex

As an Admission Counselor and Admission Director, I saw numerous emails using the above themes. That’s right, not just one, but MANY!

Your safest bet when creating an email address for college (and job) correspondence is to use your name. It is professional and won’t be seen as inappropriate or funny. When using an appropriate email address, you’ll be sure to be taken serious.