[General] Salutation of official letter

[netgeek]

Hi!

I need your kind advice on deciding an appropriate salutation for an official letter for following scenario.
I need to inquire about visa issue from a graduate school international visa section but don't know any one personally. What would be the appropriate salutation among followings ?

1.To whom it may concern,
2.Dear graduate school international visa section,
3.Dear Sir/Madam,

I feel first one is bit rude and third one is outdated .

Your answers are greatly appreciated
Thank you.

 

[BobSmith]

[not a teacher]

"To whom it may concern" is not at all rude. It is used primarily when sending information "one-way".

To whom it may concern, I will not be attending your college.

To whom it may concern, Bob was a great employee.

Use it when you don't expect or need a response.

Personally, I would use 2., but would drop the "Dear".

 

[Rover_KE]

I don't disagree with Bob, but I always say you can never go wrong with 'Dear Sir or Madam'.

It may or may not be 'outdated', but so are many of the officials who will read it.

Rover

 

[netgeek]

Thanks

 

[Tdol]

Maybe it's a BrE thing, but 3 doesn't seem dated to me either.