Why You Should Get To Know Your Professors

By Bryce Buchmann on March 2, 2014

In an article addressing professor-student friendships, Janni Aragon, a political science professor at the University of Victoria, wrote “I wear many hats, but friendship is not one of them.”

While calling a college professor your friend isn’t always acceptable and draws criticism from some in academia such as Aragon, getting to know professors is something you should try to do during your time in college.

Having weekly conversations with professors can help you make better grades in their class, learn more about the topics they research, and get inside information about the university. But in addition to the advantages it can give you in academics, it may even further your career outside the classroom.

Employers, law schools, medical schools, and many other future opportunities will ask for letters of recommendation. While letters from your boss, religious leaders, coaches, and others will help you, sometimes a letter from a professor might have the right touch.

Photo Credit: parents.wfu.edu

About.com offers advice for how to get a letter of recommendation from a professor. This article mentions “professors’ impressions of you matter” as a main consideration to take into account and gives twelve tips for leaving a good impression. But what the article doesn’t address is how much easier the process can be – and how much more your letter will stand out – if you’ve developed a relationship with the professor writing about you.

Going beyond the letters of recommendation we’ll all need, communicating with a professor on a regular basis may open more doors for you in the future than you know exist right now. As the professor gets to know you he or she will get some insight into your strengths and weaknesses and may be able to offer you advice for your college career and direct your attention to opportunities you were unaware of.

The best ways to start getting to know professors are by sticking around after class and talking to them if you have time or going to their office hours. To talk to a professor after class you should start the conversation with something about course material. They will usually be happy to answer any questions you come up with during the lecture and by showing an interest in their teaching you will make a good impression and stand out in their class as someone who wants to learn.

Office hours are intended to give students time to ask questions of their professors as well. As Francine Fluetsch pointed out on Uloop in January, office hours can be a great way to get to know your professors. By going into office hours you are showing an interest in the class, you will receive answers to questions that will help you do better in the class, and you may start getting to know the professor as a real person.

One important thing to keep in mind, however, is that not all professors will want to be your friend and some may not be as approachable as you would prefer. Some professors just aren’t interested in their students and you probably don’t want to waste your time trying to get to know them, but some will just expect a level of professionalism and this is important to remember.

Last year, researchers at the University of Central Florida evaluated the behavior of four hundred thirty eight college students and their professors. Their study, published in the peer-reviewed Communication Education, found that by making themselves too open to students professors sometimes lost credibility and authority in the classroom. With research like this coming out, some professors may be very careful in their personal interactions with students. But as long as you remember to be cordial and respect the authority of your instructors it shouldn’t be a problem.

While the possibility of forming a friendship with a professor isn’t something you can completely rule out, it is important to remember that they are still officials working for the school assigned to teach students. The type of relationship you foster with one professor may be very different from another. Studying abroad in Europe I was surprised to find that professors would sometimes invite students to join them for coffee after class while others preferred to maintain professionalism in an academic environment with their students. How you can get to know a professor is a decision you must make concerning each individual instead of assuming that they are all the same.

Getting to know professors should remain an important part of your academic experience for numerous reasons. You can learn more, set yourself up to have great letters of recommendation on file, and sometimes may even develop a friendship. Talking with professors after class and during their office hours can be great educational opportunities. It can be hard to remember this sometimes as we copy down formulas from the board and try to focus in class while spring break approaches, but professors are people too and the wealth of knowledge they have is an integral part of the college experience.

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