Answering form letter graduate school application emails As a professor in a North American university, I receive a number of what I consider to be form letter graduate school application emails from outside the country. These emails generally feature some statement about being familiar with my research or offering generic praise for my research, followed by a description of the applicant's background and skills that have absolutely nothing to do with my research (but fall into the broader field of my department).

I tend to quickly delete these emails, but I'm concerned that not responding may be ambiguous and may further contribute to the practice of these students sending out mass form letter emails. I'm considering drafting a form letter response acknowledging that I received the email and specifying the background/skills I am currently looking for, with an invitation to send another email if the student can demonstrate how their experience aligns with my interests. 

Does this seem productive? Are there better ways to respond to such emails?
I use a form letter to reply to some* of these emails:


  [Given Name of Person],
  
  Thank you for your interest in my research. Please submit an
  application to our graduate program via [my university]'s graduate
  studies website: [link to application]. You will have opportunity in
  the application process to attach examples of any work related to [my
  field and specialty] and can state your research aims there if you
  wish. Our graduate coordinator ([email to grad coordinator]) can
  answer further questions about the application process.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  [My Name]


I do this just in case I might have stumbled upon a Ramanujan-like person whose work is brilliant, but perhaps not yet formalised. This form letter has produced I believe two applicants (that I am aware of), one of whom was accepted to the university and did work with me. Almost always, the person realises that their GRE/TOEFL/IELTS scores are not nearly good enough and they do not even apply. I feel that sending this form letter avoids the unfortunate process of emailing back and forth with a potential student only to find that they have next to no experience in my field and cannot pass the entrance exams. 

If they email me further wanting me to look at their work and they have not submitted an application for graduate school, I usually ignore those emails. Making them apply through the graduate studies department screens 95% of them right off the bat. 

*I say "some" emails because there are some emails that are clear phishing scams.