<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>I would not take up a professor’s office time without a reason. If you really want to just chat try right after class.</p>
<p>I suggest thinking of a question to ask. There has to be something that sparks your interest that you would like to know more about or something you would like clarified. Then, chat about other things of interest. Don’t take up too much time, but it’s okay to do this to get to know your Profs better. My S and I had a fantastic tour guide at USC who told us he did just that. He got to know many of his Profs this way.</p>
<p>When you get a paper assignment, go to the professor’s office hours and say, "I’ve been thinking about the topic and I just want to be sure I understand what you’re looking for. How about X?</p>
<p>There has to be some preparation on your part, but it can’t be too hard to think of a pretext.</p>
<p>You could check out their research projects and ask about one if it interests you.</p>
<p>That’s great you would like to talk with your professors. Although an occasional professor prefers that no one comes to office hours because the professor is caught up in some other project and wants to use the time to work on that project, most professors are delighted. Speaking as a professor, I am always a little disappointed that so few students come to office hours OR that they come only when they are in academic trouble and wish to “bargain” about their grades. I suggest that when a topic for a daily class session or a reading in your book seems particularly interesting that you visit the professor to ask about that topic/reading. You could ask the professor if he/she also finds it particularly interesting (HUGE bonus for you if this topic is a secret love of the professor). You could also ask for a recommendation of an article or book that you could read as a follow-up to learn more. The professor will probably ask you what you find particularly interesting about the topic, so you need to be prepared to volunteer some information. But professors like to talk - we can share in class such a tiny percentage of what interests us about what we teach - so the professor will be quite likely to do most of the talking him/herself if you feel that you don’t know enough about the topic to talk a lot. Of course, you will need to actually get one of the articles or books to read because the professor might ask you if you got a chance to look at it. But reading beyond the minimal requirements in a class is what A students, especially Juniors and Seniors do, so you will get a good start on this now. Good luck!</p>