Okay, so someone asked me the other day and I couldn't be of much help so I ask you guys:

If one is to write a personal letter to a university (not certain who the recipient is going to be), wanting to become an exchange student, what are the best ways to start and end the letter? I suggested Dear Sir, Madam, To whom it may concern... Sincerely, Yours faithfully, I look forward to hear from you... What do you think, has anyone here written such a letter?

I hate when I feel like I should know this

Letters should contain certain pieces of information in the correct
order:
1 the full address of the sender including the postcode in the UK.
2 the date the letter was written.
3 the receiver’s name.
4 the information. (The letter itself that is.)
5 the correct ending.
6 the sender’s name.
Beginnings and endings of letters vary according to whom you are
sending the letter.
To someone you do not know:
Dear Sir,
Dear Madam,
Dear Sir or Madam,
Yours truly or Yours faithfully + your signature.
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Cockcroft,
Yours truly or Yours sincerely + your signature.
Dear Paul and Julie,
Yours affectionately or Yours ever + your first name.
Dear Mum,
Dear Dad,
Dear Grandma,
Love from + your first name.

It's better if they know the name of the person, but if they don't I would go with either:

To Whom It May Concern:

(with a colon and each word capitalized) or Dear title of the person like this:

Dear Exchange Student Coordinator,



For a closing I would go with:

Sincerely,

i would go to the library or to the closest barnes & nobles and look through a few books of professional letter samples and see what would work best.

Anxiety said:

or, you know, there's the whole Compuwebtional Hypertube out there that we're all surfing at the moment....

just a thought.