Asking a professor to tutor?

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Does anyone know if it is illegal to ask your professor to tutor you? My organic chemistry professor and lab TA are very good at teaching and I was wondering if I could ask them to help me with the organic portion on the mcat. But I'm not sure if this is possible...

 

[1badmamajama]

If they grade you.. you cannot pay them to tutor you while you're in the class. Most schools have this policy. But afterwards maybe ask the TA (but grad students tend to be really busy). I would never ask a professor to tutor though lol. I'd ask them for a LOR and keep it moving.

 

[DokterMom]

But you could certainly ask you for recommendations for a tutor -- if they know of anyone good, etc. Absolutely nothing wrong with that.

 

[masaraksh]

I wound't ask either.

Ask classmates, upperclassmen, and look to see if your school has a tutoring program.

 

[Lucca]

Transfer to Oxford.

The tutorial system at Oxford consists largely of 1-on-1 sessions with professors instead of lectures and seminars, etc.

On a serious note, it would be highly irregular. Use Office Hours prodigiously and rely on upperclassmen

 

[Narmerguy]

Most professors probably don't want to tutor for something like the MCAT. Their teaching obligations are enough work, and a couple extra bucks every week just to do some shady tutoring with a student aren't worth the extra effort. Now if you were one of their research students and you needed help with content related to your research...that's another matter.

Just go for grad students and upperclassmen. They'll appreciate the money, you may find some that do it already for free (or are paid by the university), and it won't feel awkward.

 

[sakata8242]

It's not "illegal" in that you're not going to end up in the pokey....but I doubt any professor is going to personally tutor a student for MCAT prep. Your lab TA, on the other hand, might be willing to work something out with you. They need the ramen money.