How often do students go to office hours? Forum
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grandedestroyer
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Wed Oct 16, 2019 8:14 am
How often do students go to office hours?
As in don't most students go to office hours to speak to professors regarding material in class and/or to get to know the professor for later recommendation purposes? Is it really just a minority of people who are at the very least using the professors as a resource in this way? Or is it that there are a myriad of resources to try and learn the material outside of class time that people just drift to use those resources accordingly? I ask because if it's a lot of students constantly trying to go to office hours, how do people develop those relationships with professors without being crowded out over just a semester or two of working with them?
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talons2250
- Posts: 200
- Joined: Wed Mar 16, 2022 11:15 pm
Re: How often do students go to office hours?
Most people don’t go to office hours and office hours mostly don’t matter. If you want a professor to write you a recommendation, then take at least one class with that professor (and do very well) and also ask to be a research and/or teaching assistant for that professor.
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industrialstylebest
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Fri Jun 17, 2022 12:39 pm
Re: How often do students go to office hours?
Agreed with "If you want a professor to write you a recommendation, then take at least one class with that professor (and do very well) and also ask to be a research and/or teaching assistant for that professor."talons2250 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 23, 2023 4:52 pmMost people don’t go to office hours and office hours mostly don’t matter. If you want a professor to write you a recommendation, then take at least one class with that professor (and do very well) and also ask to be a research and/or teaching assistant for that professor.
But many people do go to office hours, and they can matter. In my experience, they can help you get to know the professor as a person, and expand your knowledge of the material. Now -- if you discuss topics that aren't on the syllabus, that's not going to help your performance on the exam. But it will deepen your knowledge and expand your horizons. And isn't that a wonderful thing? If you want to be careerist about it, there are certain advantages that can arise from that -- a wider knowledge base for when you pick your law journal note topic, for example.
