7 Habits That Confuse Your College Professors
What do college freshmen regularly do that confuses their college professors? College freshman behave pretty bizarrely at times, but from a student’s perspective their behavior is entirely normal. They have no idea how their behavior comes across to their professors.
To a certain extent, your professors expect some behavioral adjustments when you first arrived at college. However, now that have adjusted to college life, your professor may be confused and maybe even frustrated by these 7 student habits.
1. When freshmen fail to follow instructions
In high school, you may have been able to get away with skimming instructions or half-heartedly listening to your professor explain an assignment. Now that you’re in college, your professor expects you to be more responsible.
So, when a you turn in a project or paper, most teachers anticipate you not only read but also understood the instructions. Many students, however, fail to read the guidelines, instructions, or rubrics fully.
If you do not read the instructions, you are not likely to follow them well. Your professors wrote or explained that assignment for a reason—they thought it was necessary.
Believe it or not, most of your freshman year, your professors are mainly working on you following their directions. Most freshmen who learn to follow and adhere to their teachers’ expectations earn As.
Failing to follow instructions will not result in you earning a good grade, so how can you be sure you’re following instructions well? First, listen up. If your professor takes the time to explain a test, presentation, or project in class, you need to be completely tuned in. No checking Instagram, Snapchat, or your email. Be fully engaged. You don’t want to miss important information. Second, ask questions (more on this later). If you don’t understand what is expected of you, talk to your teacher.
2. When freshmen refuse to pick a good topic
Whether you are in an English composition class, a communication class, or one of your major classes, you will have to write a paper or give a speech at some point. Even if you’re comfortable with writing or public speaking, picking a good topic can be challenging.
When picking a topic, students can become defensive and sometimes aggressive about their topic choice. If your teacher is looking out for your grade, he or she may ask you about your topic. If your professor is concerned, he or she will ask you to pick a different topic.
Your teachers may give you a chance to convince them that your topic will work, but generally they will still ask you to change topics. Some students, however, want to “stick it to the man” and still choose to write on the unapproved or disliked topic. This choice is foolish and will most definitely result in a low grade.
Remember, your professor is probably the one grading your paper, speech, or presentation. You want that teacher to be happy with you and your topic choice, because he or she controls your grade. Instead of arguing, protesting, or complaining about how unfair your teacher is, adjust your topic and be grateful your teacher gave you a heads up.
In general, running your topic by your professor is a good idea. Your professors will not do the work for you, but they are more than happy to provide you with some direction and guidance.
3. When freshmen turn in incomplete work
When professors assign work, they expect you to complete it in its entirety. Sometimes because of a time crunch a student may forget to complete an assignment. While this is perfectly understandable (and will happen sometimes), their professors are confused when those same students want to contest their grades.
If you don’t do all of the work, you should not expect to earn a good grade. Turning in something (even if it’s incomplete) is certainly better than turning in nothing, but your professor probably will not “take it easy” on you.
Everyone has rough days or makes an occasional mistake. However, your professor can’t make exceptions because you slept through your alarm or because your roommate by accident threw away your homework.
After middle and high schools, some students come to the conclusion that they are usually an exception. If they were not not responsible for their unusual circumstances, they should not be blamed or penalized. In college, sometimes you will be the exception (e.g. close relatives passes away), but most of the time this is not the case. Your professors expect you to take responsibility even if something unexpected occurs.
Do not presume your professor will be gracious, even if the situation was not your fault. Explain your situation, take responsibility, and accept the resulting consequences. Who knows, maybe your professor will be merciful, this one time.
4. When freshmen do not read emails from their teachers
Your professors are extremely busy. They teach multiple classes and sections with many other students. Between grading, lecturing, and meeting with students, they have little time left over.
Your teachers only email you when necessary. Sometimes they need to rearrange the class schedule or notify you of a changed test date. When students show up on the new test day looking clueless, your professors will probably be frustrated. If they sent you an email, they expected you to read it (just like you would expect them to read your emails).
If your professors make the effort to send you an email personally, please be sure to read it. They took time out of their busy schedule to send you a reminder or a word of encouragement, so take the 2 minutes necessary to read their emails.
5. When freshmen leave answers blank
When you’re stumped by a question on a quiz or test, what do you do? If the question is multiple choice or true/false, you have a higher likelihood of getting it correct. However if the question is short answer or an essay, “winging it” is far more difficult.
Many college students, not just freshmen, leave tricky answers blank. Maybe they would rather not guess at all, then guess and get a point deducted. Maybe their mind went blank. Maybe they rushed through the test too quickly to notice the essays on the last page.
Leaving answers blank kills your professors, Don’t do this! They want you to succeed, but if you refuse or forget to make a guess they cannot help you. Unless you forgot to study or didn’t realize certain material would be on the test, you probably can come up with some sort of answer.
Even if you don’t know the answer, please guess. You are 100% likely to get the question incorrect if you leave it blank, so try to come up with something. Give it your best guess. You might be surprised by some partial credit.
6. When freshmen ask for their grades directly after class
When I taught freshmen a communications course, I was surprised by this behavior. A student would give a speech and at the end of the class period would approach me for their grade: “can you tell me what my grade is?” There is no possible way I could could hand the speech rubric back, because I spent the entire class period listening to and quickly assessing 4 other speeches.
Your professors put much time into grading your assignments, papers, projects, etc. They make thorough notes, corrections, and suggestions. This detailed work takes time, so you don’t want them to hand back your assignment in the same class period. The corrections would be fairly unhelpful if they were hurriedly scribbled down on a paper.
Don’t expect your professors to give back your graded assignment right away. Give them at least one week to return your assignment, and if you are in a larger class with 50+ students realize that your teacher will need much more time.
7. When freshmen refuse to get help from professors
How do professors know when students are confused or lost? Sometimes your professors will notice a student earning lower grades than normal or confused facial expressions during a lecture, but most of the time your professors will be in the dark.
Unless students ask questions, set up appointments, or come to professors’ office hours, teachers are unaware that certain students need and want help. Many students, however, feel embarrassed, shy, or uncertain about approaching a teacher for help.
Asking questions in class can be a good way to vocalize your need for help. After your professors outline the guidelines for a project, speak up if something is confusing. If you’re misunderstanding something, other students are likely misunderstanding too.
If you have a personal question (e.g. why your grade is so low), approach professors after class. Sometimes your teachers leave quickly for another class or a meeting, but they often will linger after class to answer students’ questions.
If you feel uncomfortable asking in class and cannot seem to catch your teacher after class, email your professor and set up an appointment. Knowing when and how to email your professor is important, but actually doing it is key. Don’t let your fears about email etiquette stop you from getting the help you need.
You now better understand why your professors scratch their heads in confusion. They want to help you succeed but struggle due to these confusing behaviors. Help your professors help you by avoiding these 7 student habits.
