Teacher Hours

Some of the best tips, advice and guidance are missed out on as students fail to take advantage of teachers' office hours. All professors are required to offer some office hours on top of their regular class hours. Yet the only times that any one seems to take advantage is right before exams, presentations and when papers are due.

Why this is so is obvious. Who wants to go sit in front of a professor that pontificates over academics? Yet this is the single best time to get inside information on everything from the lectures, to exams, to assignments as well as strike up great relationships that will stand the test of time.

Professors are proud by nature. Teaching is their profession but nurturing is their craft. As trite as this may sound it is true. As a result, they expect and hope to see students go visit them (at least the good ones do – the ugly ones may not even be there during office hours). Their egos are at stake. Imagine if one professor gets 6 students per hour while the one across the hall gets 0. How do you think the latter will feel? Now imagine if neither teacher get any students. This is akin to the girl at the dance that does not get asked to dance. Of course, this may have something to do with the girl, but what if the guys are shy and they let a great girl go? This is what happens in school. Professors are wells of information that often go untapped.

Professors are always on the lookout for protégés. They want to take students under their wing. This may mean more work but you will have more opportunities while in school and plenty once you leave. You will get inside stuff that other students do not get in class. Of course, you should relay this to classmates but chances are that not every one will receive this information. This is to your advantage. Professors tend to drop subconscious hints when they feel that students are straying away from the important material.