For no particular reason, a thread on Office Hours and why undergraduates should not fear them
First, in three and a half years as an undergraduate, I went to scheduled office hours zero (0) times. I made one appointment to see a prof when I needed a letter for grad school. He said, “who are you?”
It’s not even that I was scared. I probably would have been, but I didn’t get to that stage because it never occurred to me that I should make an effort to contact profs outside the classroom in the first place. I guess I thought that was for their grad students? Idk, it’s hazy.
Now I didn’t have academic parents but nor was I a first-generation college student or particularly poorly prepared, by my own lights at least. So I didn’t even know what I didn’t know. I assumed office hours were for people who had problems with work or complaints about grades.
I didn’t figure out until well into *grad school* that these were an important way to find a path to follow and to get people interested in helping you along. And, on the other hand, that no one was going to seek me out if I never knocked on their door.
My own students come to me, of course, with all sorts of concerns and challenges and problems that we try to sort out to manage the work and get through the term. But they also come with questions about the subject and questions about what they might do with it beyond the course.
As a prof I enjoy this because it’s part of teaching. I also kick myself because I wish I had bothered to take advantage of it when I was in their shoes. I could have used a *lot* of advice that I now know would have been right there, instead of leaving things to trial and error.
And I still have students who come only when they’ve exhausted what they think are better options than simply asking for advice or help. Some are genuinely scared or embarrassed and others, like me, just don’t know what they don’t know. And, like me, they make avoidable mistakes.
So, a piece of unsolicited advice for undergraduates: ask for advice. Check what you think you know (especially about things like getting letters, applying to grad schools, etc.) Use the time you have, and use your profs’ time when it’s available.
For profs: make it available.
For profs: make it available.
