Tufts Blogs

When I started college, I imagined a huge separation between professors and me. Indeed, they are way ahead of the students; that’s why they are the professors after all. But I thought this gap would be clear in the relationship between students and professors. That is, that all the contact a professor would have with their students would be by lecturing. However, the experiences I’ve had fortunately do not match this description.

Professors’ office hours are extremely helpful. They set aside times in their busy schedule to sit down, and wait for students to come by with any questions. The questions may be related to a class or not at all. During that time, they are there for whoever needs them.

Many times, I have another class during a professor’s office hours. But all I need to do is shoot an email with a few times I’m available, and we find a time to meet. Once, I emailed a professor and then ran into him right afterward. He promptly pulled up his calendar and asked me what time I was free. 

This other time, I had a few questions about the grading on my exam. I emailed the professor asking if we could meet. His reply, besides agreeing to meet, already went over each question of my exam explaining in detail why my answers were graded the way they were. I was amazed at how the professor took the time to go over my exam in such detail.

Another cool story was when I was at the physics department over the summer doing research. A professor I had never talked to just passed by me. On his way back, he stopped by, asked my name, and we started talking. I was impressed at how a professor took the time to initiate a conversation with a student he had never seen before. I later found out I would take one of his classes in the fall. On the first day of classes, he remembered me and again came up to me and started talking.

During my first semester, I made the mistake of only going to lectures but not getting to know the professors. However, I have learned that this behavior is not beneficial in any way. Professors want to get to know their students and to get people involved in their work. Universities are made to promote connections, networking and collaborative work, so we students must take advantage of the privilege of being in such a rich environment.

Picture: barnyz ("landscape").

License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/ No changes made.