<p>I know that I am going to have to get at least 1 LOR (letter of recommendation) from a science professor for my application to pharmacy school. I will hopefully have the same teacher for Gen Chem II and Organic Chem I & II, so I'd like to develop a good relationship with him so he will write me a letter. I plan on occasionaly going to his office hours for help and being involved in class discussion, but the LORs have to show that he knows me well. </p>
<p>Would it be ok to go to office hours and talk about something other than the assignment? I'm just worried that he'd be trying to grade papers or something and I'd be bothering him.</p>
<p>What sort of things should/shouldn't be talked about? I just hate to get overly personal or only talk about one thing over and over.</p>
<p>Most of my professors say they are really bored in office hours and wish someone would come talk to them. You can talk about future career plans and internship/research opportunities. Just don’t go in to pester him into being your buddy.</p>
<p>Honestly, if you go to office hours for help and participate in discussions you’ll probably be fine - especially if you’re taking three classes from him. (And hopefully an upper division course after that if you want the best recommendations to pharmacy school.) A lot of people never go to office hours.</p>
<p>It really depends on the prof, but it is generally best to keep office hrs conversations to topics related to the class at hand or other academic matters unless the prof specifically invites you to do otherwise. Remember that while professors are happy to help you during office hours, they do have other things to do (i.e., grading, research projects, coordinate research teams, advise other students, etc.). If you do go speak with a faculty or staff member in order to build rapport, be sure you have a reason for talking to him or her as this will look better when it comes to writing good LoRs.</p>
<p>FYI, to build a good relationship for LoRs, you need the professor to see you work outside the classroom. In my experience, while working hard in classes has made professors willing to write me LoRs, the best LoRs (which are the ones that will actually matter) are written by the faculty with whom I have worked outside of the classroom–for example, on research teams and as a TA. It is in your cocurricular work that professors really see your softer factors, such as initiative, team work, leadership ability, humility, work ethic, and interpersonal skills. It is often these skills that LoRs need to approach since your grades are well-represented elsewhere in an application (especially with grad and professional school apps). Unfortunately, these softer factors are much more difficult to assess in a classroom environment, meaning you need to work with faculty beyond the classroom for them to be able to effectively assess these qualities.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice! I didn’t mean that I wanted to be his friend or anything, I just want him to know me enough to say “hey that’s OKgirl. she wants to be a pharmacist!”</p>
<p>I don’t think my school has research or TAs because it is really small and in the middle of nowhere. I just found out that he is a sponsor of the chemistry club (I have thought about joining for the sake of meeting people in my major). Do you think joining be a good way to get him to see me work outside the classroom?</p>
<p>Regarding office hours, I wouldn’t go for the purpose of talking about something that has no relevance to the class. If you get your questions answered and then stay and chat for a few more minutes, that’s different.</p>