<p>I am a freshman and I am very eager to get to know my professors and take advantage of office hours, however I honesty don't know what to do when I am there. I don't really have specific questions or problems I want to discuss, but I still want to make sure the professor knows that I am trying and notices me. This may be a silly question..but can I go and talk to my professors about during office hours if I don't really have questions?! Should I just make some questions up to ask!? I don't want to bother them, but I know I need to visit office hours.</p>
<p>The first visit can be just “hi, my name is pointeonstage, I’m in your Bio 101 class and I wanted to come by and introduce myself 1-on-1.” One question you can ask at the beginning of a semester is “what do I need to do to succeed in this class?” “I want to do really well in here, and any advice you have for me in terms of performing well would be appreciated.” In the middle of a semester you might ask how you’re doing. “I think I’m going pretty well in class, but I wanted to take a minute to get your impression on my performance and ask if there’s anything that I could do to improve.”</p>
<p>If you’re interested in the professor’s field as a possible major, ask what it’s like being a major, what kinds of things alumni go on to do, etc. Ask if there are ways you could get more involved in the field outside class, whether it’s washing beakers or summarizing journal articles or actually helping with some research. </p>
<p>If it’s a field you’re not particularly interested in and it’s just a distribution requirement, you might ask how the professor sees the field connecting to others. “hi, Dr. Anthroprof, I’m taking your class as [an elective/a curriculum requirement] and don’t see myself majoring in it, but I wonder what connections you see between anthropology and economics.” </p>
<p>If there’s a paper assigned, you can go talk about potential topics. If there was something interesting that came up in class discussion, you can go ask to talk about that a little more. </p>
<p>In any case, don’t feel like you’re bothering them. Those hours are set aside specifically for you and your classmates. The only thing I’d recommend is being courteous to your classmates; if there’s a line outside the office of people obviously needing help with coursework, maybe ask to make an appointment instead.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>THANK YOU so much! that was very helpful!</p>