Do Professors Like When Students Come to Office Hours?
I was surprised during my first year as a teaching assistant in graduate school. I expected that students would often stop by my office during my office hours. What I came to learn was that students rarely came to my office during these set hours. In fact, students rarely came to my office. I had to be the one to set appointments and pursue helping students.
Now as a college instructor, this doesn’t shock me. In fact, I purposely make my office hours “by appointment only.” Instead of stopping by during set hours, I ask them to send me an email to set up an appointment. I’m careful to tell my students at the start of the semester that this doesn’t mean I don’t want to see them. (I do want to see and help them, but it is rare that their free hours will correspond with my office hours.)
I remember as an undergraduate student feeling like I rarely had the time to stop by a professor’s office. I also remember feeling like I didn’t want to inconvenience or annoy a professor by stopping by to ask for help. Your college pays your teachers money to sit in their offices (aka to be available to students), but it’s rare that students take advantage of this opportunity.
So do your professors like it when you stop in during their office hours? Honestly it depends. It depends on what you came to ask or say. Keep reading to discover the dos and don’ts of professor office hours.
Professors like when you come to office hours, to…
Ask for life advice
Academics can often feel very disconnected from real life. Many professors feel pressed to fit in extensive content during their lectures, and as a result they don’t often get the chance for real-world application during their lectures.
Chatting with students about their lives, then, is something your professors wish they had more time to do. So if you find yourself feeling stuck, unsure, and even a little lost—don’t hesitate to reach out to a professor.
Although your professor may seem intimidating or too busy to talk, this isn’t the case. They want to mentor their students. They want to help you succeed. They just usually don’t have as many one-on-one opportunities, because students don’t reach out.
Professors have to be respectful of student boundaries. They’re not likely to initiate mentorship relationships with students (unless you’re an advisee). In other words, you might have to be the one to reach out and set up a meeting. They don’t want to push a mentorship on a student who doesn’t want to be mentored.
Ask for advice on coursework
Running your idea by the expert (aka your professor) is a good reason to meet with a teacher. If you come in with specific questions and show a desire to put in the work needed, your professor appreciates you “picking their brain.”
Asking about topic choice, the direction of your paper, etc. shows your professor you are interested in learning, improving, and developing a project that has value. Professors love to see students learning and working towards learning goals.
Asking for advice is a good idea with this caution: don’t use this meeting to get out of work. Your professor sees through flattery. They can tell when you’re trying to lessen your work or eliminate work. If you come for advice, be specific (e.g. “I’m thinking of focusing my paper on ________, but my research is showing this is a highly debatable topic. Should I consider redirecting my focus to ________?) General advice like, “Can you look over my paper and tell me what you think?” comes across as lazy.
Discuss class content
Your professor loves their area of study. They’ve spent years researching, writing, and speaking on this topic. If you have interest in exploring lecture topics on a deeper level, you need to contact your professor.
They can point you to TEDTalks, papers, and other resources that will help you learn much more than they have time to discuss in class. They can also be a great resource to you, sharing with you the years upon years of knowledge they have gained.
I will add this one disclaimer to coming to office hours to chat about content: Professors are usually very good about making time for students, but they have time limitations just like you do. As you are nearing stressful parts of the semester like midterms or finals, consider meeting after the stressful part is over or consider keeping your meetings to a minimum. Your professor is likely in the midst of lots of grading, meetings, and more, so they’re not likely to have as much time to chat.
Professors dislike when you come to office hours to…
Ask for higher grades
Students who are consistently asking for higher grades or continually contesting grades send a bad message to professors: “I’m here for the grade and that’s it.” While this may not be the student’s intention or their desire, this is what their behavior communicates.
Professors dislike this. In fact, they may actually be a little harder on you than other students if this is a consistent pattern. They might view you as someone who needs to toughen up or someone who needs to learn how to fail (not literally fail a project but rather experience doing worse than they thought).
“When I began teaching at Berkeley, quite a few students would come to office hours to complain that their grade was undeservedly low. This was a surprise because I’d never done such a thing as a student and I’d never heard of anyone doing it. I eventually adopted a policy whereby I would re-read the paper on the understanding that I might lower the grade further as well as raising it or keeping it the same, if on reconsideration I thought the paper called for it.”
Be cautious about contesting grades or requesting points back unless there is a legitimate error. A few points are not worth damaging a relationship with someone who can be your ally and even a potential recommendation for an employer or graduate school program.
Pre-grade coursework
This request can also make you look lazy in your professor’s eyes. How so? By asking a professor to “check” work or points out “any big problems” they see, you are making it look like you haven’t really put in the time to edit and revise your work.
Your professor doesn’t really want to grade your project twice. (They already put in hours grading your final project.) Instead, they would like you to put in the work to predict problemed areas and resolve these issues on your own time.
Rather than asking your professor to check your work for problems, ask specific questions about specific content. For example, “I’m not sure my thesis statement is specific enough to the topic. This is the general topic area around which I want to develop my speech. Would you suggest narrowing my thesis to __________ or __________?” This kind of a request is much easier for your professor to answer and will likely make you come across as being proactive rather than lazy.
Repeat information already stated in class
“Did I miss anything important in class?” is probably one of my least favorite things for a student to ask. Why? This implies that a professor’s lectures don’t always include important topics or discussions.
If you missed class, rather than asking for a word-for-word repeat of class information. Ask a classmate to send you notes, review those notes, and then share with your professor what steps you’ve taken to catch up and ask if they would suggest you do any additional make-up work. These actions are more likely to help you appear proactive.
“Can you explain this project/paper again?” is a close second for least favorite student questions. Your teachers don’t waste valuable class time. They don’t create instruction sheets or study guides because they are bored. If you missed something in class, review instructions, check your notes, and talk to classmates before approaching a professor. This will help you make a better impression on your professor.
Complain about their class, other classes, or other professors
Complaining doesn’t help you win friends and influence professors. It’s more likely to make you look like an unreasonable or disgruntled freshman. If you’re talking about another class or another teacher in a negative way, your professor knows it’s likely you’re talking about them or their classes in that way too.
Rather than complaining, if you are genuinely looking for advice on how to handle a difficult teacher or class, ask questions about how you can respond well. Show that you are looking for ways to grow despite your difficult experience. Your professor has navigated the academic sphere for a while and may be able to offer some helpful insight.
Professors generally like talking to students, but they aren’t going to track you down to get to know you typically. In college your professors expect you to take more initiative, which means going to their office hours. If you want to learn, grow, and discover a possible mentor, you need to venture on the road less traveled to your professor’s office.
