<p>Just about everywhere I go for academic advice includes a tidbit about going to office hours -- most of the time the justification is to make sure the professor knows who you are. Obviously, these time slots are intended to be resources for students, but to what ends?</p>
<p>Do you guys go to office hours? How often do you go? Do you visit with specific questions about content, or do you go just "put a face to the name" for the prof? How much is too much?</p>
<p>I’m a former professor and my advice is not to show up at office hours just to chit chat so the prof knows who you are. Have a question about something that isn’t answered in the book or wasn’t answered in the lecture. Ask for information on how you can delve deeper into something that interests you related to the course.</p>
<p>It’s annoying when students show up for no reason. You don’t want the professor to remember you as an annoying brown noser, but as a bright, hardworking student who as interested in the class.</p>
<p>I only go to office hours when I have specific questions. I’m terrible at making small talk, and I’m afraid that if I went to office hours with the sole intention of putting in “face time,” the professor would see right through my efforts. With that said, I do go pretty often because I always have questions - both stupid ones and ones that go beyond the immediate material. I learned freshman year that asking lots of questions helps me learn. (Oddly enough, I feel really awkward about introducing myself to professors. I don’t offer my name unless the professor asks because I feel like introducing myself would be a presumptuous thing to do. So I’m not sure that some of my professors ever put my name and face together.)</p>
<p>I’m only talking about science and math classes, though. I only go to my humanities professors’ office hours when I want to discuss paper topics (i.e., about twice a semester).</p>
<p>The office hours I’ve attended often turn into group study sessions with students helping each other and building questions off of other people’s questions. Sometimes students do show up without specific questions because they just want to see if they can glean some insight from these study sessions.</p>
<p>That’s where my reluctance lies: I don’t feel authentic going. I don’t want to show up with some contrived problem just for the sake of face time. Then when I actually do have questions, I end up researching them on my own to avoid wasting the instructors time.</p>
<p>For pre-med students who need letters from their science professors (which, at my school, often include large lectures), it’s difficult to find an authentic way of being “known.”</p>
<p>Last semester, I had a class where I attended EVERY office hour (one hour per day, three days per week) after the first lecture. It wasn’t my intention at all to get to know him, but I had so many unanswered questions. (The nice bonus: he knows my name and keeps asking to write letters of recommendation and all that good stuff.) If you’re taking classes that challenge you properly, you’ll probably need office hours enough that the professor will get to know you. Also, as Demeter said, it tends to be helpful just to sit in sometimes if you can hear other questions.</p>
<p>Go if you have authentic problems (difficult ones that you cannot solve on your own) or wish to discuss a class topic more extensively with the professor. </p>
<p>Showing up too often and asking the Prof to help you with simple problems, tell you facts clearly stated in the book, and the like is not good. Prof’s generally get annoyed at this kind of behavior and it probably makes him or her think that you are incompetent. Not something you want the Prof to think if you ever ask him or her for a recommendation. </p>
<p>A lot of office hours, especially in introductory level classes, turn into giant group study sessions, as demeter noted. </p>
<p>Going twice a month seems to be ideal for me, but again, it would depend on the class content. A lot of my intro classes that I felt to be easy, I hardly ever went to office hours, and when I did, they were study group orgies, and I ended up tutoring people waiting on the prof… If it was a harder class or if there the prof was researching something I was interested in, I would go to OH to talk, and the discussions tended to be awesome.</p>
<p>" feel really awkward about introducing myself to professors. I don’t offer my name unless the professor asks because I feel like introducing myself would be a presumptuous thing to do."</p>
<p>It’s not presumptuous, it would be polite to state your name and to let the professor know what class you’re taking. Otherwise, the professor may hesitate in asking your name because the professor may think that since you haven’t introduced yourself, s/he should remember who you are. Your not introducing yourself places the professor in an awkward position because it’s hard to ask someone, “Who are you?”</p>
<p>My son just finished his first semester. He is interested in pursuing an area in which his intro class professor teaches some upper level courses, so he went in to introduce himself to the professor and get his input on how to plan his academic schedule. The professor was very accomodating. Once or twice the professor singled him out after class, and once gave him information on a seminar he thought son might like to attend–which he did.</p>
<p>S received an A on the first midtern–and an F on the second midterm! He had studied hard as usual, done all the reading–totally shocked. He went in to see the professor. It turned out his exam had been missing a page! Apparently a collation error. Professor ended up just prorating his grade on what he had been given --now my son knows why he felt like he had so much time on the exam, though!</p>
<p>S said he felt much more comfortable going to the professor to talk about the exam because he had already established a relationship with him–he didn’t feel like a grade grubber. He felt also that the professor did not see him as a grade grubber and he felt that was important.</p>
<p>I usually come up with questions to go and ask, although I have had professors beg us to come to office hours just so they won’t be just sitting there. If I don’t have any questions about the material, I come up with my own ideas about what we are talking about to discuss with them. They seem to like that and I think I learn a lot from it. I usually go once in the beginning of the semester, once toward the end, maybe once after midterms if I have anything cool to discuss with them, and/or whenever I have any questions that are too complex to be answered via email. I usually don’t end up going more than a couple times. I do try to go, even if I have to come up with a reason, because I know I need rec letters for law school. But I try to make sure whatever I am going for will be useful so it isn’t wasting my time or the profs.</p>
<p>It is also beneficial to me to establish relationships with profs since I have learning disabilities. They are usually interested in learning about it, since so many people haven’t heard of mine, and when they know me better they understand how to teach me better when I have to ask them to explain something. And it’s much easier to ask someone you know for help. Even if you just foresee yourself struggling, LDs or not, it is a really good idea to get to know the professor.</p>
<p>I try to go as often as I can, which is unfortunately not too much because of other classes on my schedule conflicting. When I do go in though, I first ask about specific topics covered in class, then I transition to finding out more about the professor, what he does, his research, interests, etc. It’s worked well for me so far.</p>
<p>if you have to ask you probably are going to much.<br>
this is true of most things in life.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Oh, what LD do you have?</p>
<p>==
i think it depends on the prof. a lot of the profs will make chit chat to me when i come. i guess that means they’re interested in me, tho i’m always scared of ppl</p>
<p>I’ll PM you, don’t want to go too far off topic.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if I don’t understand this thread. </p>
<p>Don’t professors enjoy having students visit them during office hours? </p>
<p>Unless a student is rude, brownnosing, or grade-grubbing, I can’t imagine a professor not wanting to counsel them during office hours.</p>
<p>It depends on the professor. For most of mine “office hours” was just a set block of time where they’d be in their office available for questions. If students didn’t show up, then they’d keep themselves busy with other work in the office.</p>
<p>As a prof, I’m delighted when students come to office hours. I especially like it if you pop in with a specific question that shows you care about the course or you’ve been thinking about the topics we’ve been discussing. Since my field often involves current events, I’m <em>really</em> happy when a student forwards me a news story related to our class in some way.</p>
<p>What I don’t like:
grade grubbers
whiners
people who expect me to do their paper for them
obvious suck ups (let me at least pretend you actually are interested)</p>
<p>I go in for questions on various things, and maybe tag on a little small talk for some icing on the cake. But some people tell me they just drop by sometimes and start talking to professors, because apparently professors are cold and lonely, sitting all day in front of the computer monitor. That’s their theory.</p>
<p>there are down to earth professors who might like small talk, and there are professors who probably doesn’t want to be bothered. Like our professors sometimes post their weekly schedules on their doors, and this one professor fills it up with the most ridiculous BS and leaves 2 hrs/wk for student office hours. It can be pretty obvious.</p>
<p>There is one type of professor I know who is super into his research that even during his “office hours”, he is really difficult to approach. But once he knew me, we had it going. </p>
<p>Anyways, you shuold go to the professor to clear up a concept on a problem. If possible go to your TA first.</p>
<p>I went to a professor’s office hours once, to talk about my course paper, since I had to get approval for the topic. It was pretty quick; he approved the topic, looked through my annotated bibliography, and scribbled a few more book/paper names in the margins. He did say that he would have had to take more time if my topic wasn’t specific enough, but I guess it was. I also dropped by to turn in papers directly (he didn’t like email), and he was always cordial.</p>
<p>I don’t imagine a professor would mind a student dropping by often, if they had valid questions. The professors on this thread saying so is pretty helpful to the question. Though, given the time of the original post, hopefully everyone involved in the thread back then figured it out.</p>
<p>I never went to an office hour, I never saw the need to. If I had a question that couldn’t be answered by the internet, I just email the professor, simple as that. Actually one time I did go to an office hour, but it was only to ask my professor if anyone turned in my book that was stolen from me during the class.</p>