How many of you are nervous about attending faculty office hours? Is it because you’re not sure what to say or ask? Is it because you’re introverted or feeling a bit shy? Did you have a previous faculty interaction that left you feeling embarrassed or discouraged? These are all valid reasons to question stopping by your professors’ offices. And here is why we still want you to consider being brave and taking the leap to just stop by or to make that appointment.
Using the Pathway’s Model as a guide, here’s what your faculty members have identified as the academic, experiential, and career development benefits to coming to see them during their office hours.
Academic Benefits
- Office hours are your time. You don’t have to have a reason to attend.
- They aren’t just for academic support or when there is a problem.
- Receive the fullest academic experience
- Ask clarifying questions about course content and assignments
- Get a free round of feedback on a assignment, paper, thesis, or outline
- Help faculty understand how you think about a topic or an assignment
- Let faculty know what you are interested in learning about in the class
- Feel empowered to ask for clarification or guidance on an assignment
- Receive reassurances and directions to campus resources when you are feeling challenged
- Humanize your professor
- Safe space to connect with your faculty member and get to know them.
- Learn about the academic interests of faculty; what they are researching and publishing
Experiential Benefits
- More personal than in the classroom. Faculty can focus the conversation on your interests
- Feel resilient and move past any feelings of apprehension that you might feel when speaking with a professor
- Think of them as a skill building opportunity. It’s a non-threatening way to start up a conversation with someone in your field of interest
- Professors will remember you when they are deciding on awards and departmental leadership opportunities
- Less formal than the classroom
- Discuss internship and research opportunities that faculty are aware of
- Faculty get to know you on a personal level
- Understand how your faculty member might be thinking about an assignment, which you can take into consideration when writing your paper
- More opportunity to dig deeper into a topic that is of interest to you
- Explore specific skills sets that you might have with your professors, like language skills
Career Benefits
- Build your professional confidence
- Widen your professional network
- Replicate professional dynamics – professional norms, “cold call” someone in your field, practice talking to a senior leader, 1:1 feedback
- Learn about the career path of your faculty member. It’s often times not a straight line. It’s an opportunity to gather information about your field
- Your faculty have a large network and are aware of potential jobs and internships
- Learn about problem solve the professional challenges in your field
- Break down myths about your areas of interest
- Give professors the opportunity to get to know you so they can write you exceptional letters of recommendations for your future job
- Learn to navigate uncomfortable professional situations. You may not have things in common with future colleagues, but you still have to learn to talk to them
There are many reason to attend office hours and we hope you’ll take advantage of the opportunity to build relationships with your professors. Stay tuned for future blog posts featuring some of our SBS professors and their insights on attending office hours.
