<p>I'm still a senior in high school. I now feel closer than ever to leaving for college after being admitted to one. </p>
<p>I really don't know what to expect and how college professors are gonna behave. But somehow I feel that they're like gods whose intelligence could smother me! I imagine them to always use big words and act serious.</p>
<p>So please tell me I am wrong. I'd like to hear how you guys expected college professors to be like and in reality how they turned out to be. If you have any interesting first-day-of-school anecdotes please do share!</p>
<p>You will meet all sort of instructors in college. Some are on the tenure-track (assistant, associate, full) while others are on the non-tenure-track (adjuncts, lecturers, visiting). Each professor designs their own syllabus and teaching style. Some prefer powerpoints, while others prefer to lecture from notes. Some are good, some are awful. You will even have TAs (teaching assistants) who help professors in larger classes on managing class discussions and grading homework and exams. It’s how you adapt to each teaching style that determines how well you do in their classes. If it’s truly awful that you don’t want to take their class anymore, you can always drop before the official deadline without hurting your transcript.</p>
<p>As the poster above said…you really get a whole variety. A lot of them probably won’t be all that different from your HS teachers. All of them are certainly normal people who use normal words and have a sense of humor. Some will be extremely intelligent and/or accomplished, at least within their field, but if they’re good profs, they’ll inspire you and impart knowledge to you…they certainly won’t be trying to intimidate you.
The prospect of starting college can be nerve-wracking in many ways, and the academics are certainly a major one…but professors definitely aren’t as bad as you’re imagining!
Congrats on your acceptance, I’m sure you’ll do well and come to love your profs!</p>
<p>I’ve had a wide variety of professors—hilarious, witty, serious, put-you-to-sleep-boring, interactive, and the i-think-these-jokes-are-funny-but-the-students-really-only-laugh-to-make-me-feel-better-about myself.</p>
<p>Some use powerpoints, others just straight up talk/discuss, others do a little combination, etc. </p>
<p>My first class freshman year was cut short (15 minutes in) by a fire alarm, if that counts as a first day of class story. One of my professors last year is an avid marathon runner so he talked about that a lot, my finance professor now is a Florida grad and talks about his dislike of the Iowa winter we’re having but how he enjoys being able to “drink up” to “stay warm” and I have another professor who has an accent like Borat and holds all exams on Wednesdays because (it’s a MWF class, btw) on Fridays our systems are ready to crash and students tend to skip for FAC specials at the bars, and on Mondays our systems are still overloaded from the FAC specials, so he figures Wednesday is a sure bet for attendance. </p>
<p>Professors are human beings, just remember that. Some of them love their jobs. Others hate it but are in it just for the research. I’ve had extremely brilliant professors and just so-so professors who bore me to death. Some professors interact with students better in classroom than during office hours and vice versa. But for many, they are all in this job in the same goals as any good HS teacher- the hopes of inspiring a student to find a passion and work with that student.</p>
<p>I do remember feeling scared during my first year. The only way I was able to overcome my fear of ANY professor is just to visit their office hours and chat for a bit. Let them get to know you, especially if they encourage office hours. Just ask a question about something in the lecture and the conversation might take off. They are all generally VERY smart people (which is a reason that they deserved that PhD) and are very knowledgeable in their fields. I have really yet to see a question that stumped a professor.</p>
<p>Professors don’t scare me, and I’m in all advanced classes. Most of the people I’m in class with are NOT freshmen. They still don’t scare me. It’s also kind of reassuring to know that a professor’s tenure can be revoked or even fired if their research isn’t enough or if they can’t get grad students to work with them or if nobody takes their classes.</p>
<p>Professors are all giant, fire-breathing monsters. If you get too close, they will char and eat you. Also, they all have, at minimum, an IQ of 175 (even the ones that seem really stupid… they just do a damn good job of hiding it). If you get too close to their IQ, you will get smothered.</p>
<p>Also they eat books for breakfast.</p>
<p>I lost a good friend freshman year because he didn’t heed the warnings.</p>
<p>I repeat what others have said. Most professors aren’t intimidating at all, and those who are aren’t intimidating because of their intelligence, but for other reasons, like high school teachers. However, I haven’t had intimidiating profs like I had intimidating hs teachers. College profs are much more relaxed in class, since they don’t have to worry about disciplining disruptive students.</p>
<p>Trust me, you’ll have professors you adore. Profs are much better and nicer than high school teachers, in my opinion. Even though they have PhD’s they are sincerely interested in teaching and opening up students minds and listening to students’ ideas and opinions. </p>
<p>I had one prof who was brilliant in history, won all kinds of awards etc., he wasn’t intimidating at all, he was my favorite prof. His knowledge and passion translated to his teaching and he was great. He also had a great sense of humor.</p>
<p>So, in short, be excited about college profs! They’re great!</p>
<p>My comp sci professor is the scariest guy ever: last semester he gave everyone a high five when we got our robot programs to work. No wait, even scarier are math professors who randomly pop into the math major lounge to make small talk with students.</p>
Some of them love their jobs. Others hate it but are in it just for the research. I’ve had extremely brilliant professors and just so-so professors who bore me to death. Some professors interact with students better in classroom than during office hours and vice versa. But for many, they are all in this job in the same goals as any good HS teacher- the hopes of inspiring a student to find a passion and work with that student.</p>