<p>How accessible are professors at BU? I’m a little concerned I will be in large classes and not get the personalized attention that I’d get at some smaller schools I’m currently considering. Or that I won’t be able to contact and for good relationships. I don’t need someone to hold my hand, but I’d like a closer environment.</p>
<p>Are profs required to hold office hours? If so, do any students ever attend them? Good relationships with my professors is something that means a lot to me.</p>
<p>I don't know how many students visit professors but they do have office hours and I know that, even with senior faculty, if you show interest then they'll be interested in you. It's much easier to know professors in high level classes. You will not only be in large classes. Writing classes - really literature classes - are small as are many other intro classes. </p>
<p>And lecture is really the best way to learn much college material. A good lecturer is priceless.</p>
<p>you will really only be in large lectures for your intro classes but the professors i had in some of my larger lectures are the ones i'm closest to. because its such a large class they want students to go to their office hours more so they can get to know you. most professors are always happy to have students in their office, about schoolwork or just to talk.</p>
<p>It really depends on the professor. Most are happy to have students visit for any reason during office hours. They are required to be in their offices for a specific number of hours and appreciate the distraction. I've gone to ask questions, talk about projects, just chat about sports, etc. Also, you will always have prof emails and contact info. Getting through to them should be easy. This is especially true for upper level classes when there are very few students.</p>
<p>Something to keep in mind too is that every class above a certain number of students (something like 75) is required to have a smaller discussion component of about 15 students. So even if you aren't getting to know your professor in the lecture, you'll still get to know your teaching fellow from your discussion really well. I often find they're more relatable anyway.</p>
<p>I graduated from BU last year (math and philosophy major) and am now in graduate school for math at Ohio State and let me just say that the accessibility of professors to me at BU was AMAZING. I was struggling in a math course once and my math professor (who happens to be pretty well known around the country) was SO helpful during office hours. He'd have me sit there with him and do the homework for the entire office hours if no one else showed up so he could look over my shoulder to help me. During weeks when there were really hard homework assignments, he'd offer to have extra office hours for me. This isn't that strange for BU. </p>
<p>The thing about BU is that if you go to a professor's office hours, that professor typically is more than willing to go out of his or her way to help you. I'd sit and talk with one of my philosophy professors for an hour after her office hours just about graduate school (I couldn't decide whether or not to go for math or philosophy). She, in all honesty, really enjoyed giving me advice and wanted to help me out. </p>
<p>One of my math professors randomly gave me a pamphlet for a program at Smith for women in math. He also continually asked throughout the semester if I was going to graduate school and what my future plans were. </p>
<p>I seriously feel like the luckiest kid alive. I mean, maybe this is just the math and philosophy departments, but, wow, I felt/feel really lucky. I need to go back to Boston and visit my professors.</p>
<p>Though BU is a big school, many of the departments are fairly small. </p>
<p>One of my old professors is the chair of one department and he loves talking to students.</p>