I have two courses that I am taking where I really like the professor and want to get to know them and their work a little more. My problem is I am not anticipating struggling in the class that much. Most of the concepts listed in the syllabus are familiar to me and the others I know I can get with just a little personal effort to read and find resources online.
This is a problem because I want to meet my professors and I don’t want to go if I don’t need help. Even worse, I think, would be to go to office hours before putting in effort to understand the concept better myself. I feel like with many of the more difficult seeming concepts I could resolve my struggles by watching a youtube lecture or other explanation.
Can I still use office hours to get to know my professor and TA’s better? If so how? What can I talk about?
You could express interest in some topic in the course and see if they can recommend extra reading in that area. Do you have any interest in researching in either area? Profs need students to help sometimes – you could ask about their research, and if they are taking undergrad students to support their research.
@Cubby208 those classes will probably feel more difficult later on at some point, and at that point you’ll feel more comfortable going to office hours if you have been before, so maybe study with the intent of finding something you are curious about, rather than with the intent of just understanding everything. Then you can take those curiosities/questions to office hours. It is good if you have something specific rather than “X seems cool. Can u tell me more about it”
Ask about research, summer internship opportunities, advice on career exploration, etc. Professors often have more insight than the Career Services department.