Professor Office Hours Forum

[HarrisonK]

I was wondering what the etiquette of professor office hours is. I wasn't that great of a student in underground but I'm hoping to change that in law school. In underground I never spoke in class (or very rarely spoke) because I didn't want to waste anyone's time so I would go to office hours a lot and ask for clarification on the readings to make sure that I understood what I was supposed to. Would checking in with professors during office hours every other week or so (maybe more during the very beginning of the semester) be inappropriate/gunnerish in any way?

[sandwhich]

First off, don't worry about being gunnerish in office ours, maybe worry about it in class. My professor put it a good way that made it easier to go to office hours: at the beginning of the semester there is no dumb question (and you WILL have objectively dumb questions). Then, as it gets closer to the end, your questions ought to be more specific. As for how often you go, professors typically only hold office hours once per week, and if you went every time that wouldn't be too much. Law school exams do not test how well you know the law. They test whether you can figure out exactly what a professor wants to hear and apply that to a set of complicated facts. Office hours are an invaluable way to get inside a professors head. I didn't go to office hours in undergrad either, but went regularly during law school. Also, more incentive to go is that you want to start early building relationships for potential LoRs and maybe TA/RA gigs. If you happen to like a particular professor, find an excuse to go to their office when you can even if you don't have questions related to their class. If you're annoying the professor (which I've never had happen) you'll be able to tell. And eff what your classmates think, really. The ones you'll want as references in the future will be at office hours also.

[mister logical]

Think of it this way: You're investing a lot of money (unless you're on scholarships) and time in law school, so getting a job afterwards is paramount. The way you'll get this job is with stellar 1L grades.

If you don't understand something, you should be in your professors office hours. If for even an instant you begin to give two shits about how "wanting to do well in law school" will be perceived, then you're going to have to kick that thought, this isn't high school anymore (mostly). Most everyone else will be gunning, whether they show it outwardly or not.

I was in my professors offices for every office hours they had asking questions and throwing hypotheticals around, and not many other people ever showed up so it was like an extra 2 hours a week of getting inside the prof's head - beyond getting the material down, and every conceivable hypo, I also got to know them as people, and they're really, really cool. This led to getting a LOR from every professors in order to transfer, and they were all more than happy to write one for me because they knew me well and that I tried incredibly hard to do well in their class.

So stop caring what other people will think, do you, and do the best you can, because 1L is your only shot.

The only type of "gunning" that people don't like is that one person who speaks up every class and goes on a 20 minute tangent about something because they love hearing themselves talk, that's the only version of "gunning" that no one likes. Beyond that, study, go to office hours, do practice problems, go back to offices hours to clarify where you got things wrong, and keep going until you book all your classes (or just make As, that's fine too )

[maile]

Agree with previous answers. Just want to add that if there are a lot of people going, don't "hog" office hours. But you can always email the professor for a private meeting outside office hours (maybe once or twice a semester) if you have something you want to discuss in depth.