Strategies to get hold with professors in college

[tennisball80]

I have been with good with teachers in my whole life.

Here are my strategies so far

General Strategies
-Office Hours
-Sit in front of class straight.
-Demonstrate your best attitude.
-Go ask intelligent questions
-Show genuine interest in his/her course if you are truly interested.
-Eye contact with smiles

Male teachers
-Politics, sports.
-Talk big future goals
-Thank you cards
-Behave politely, showing him he is the boss

For female teachers
-Small talks about other stuff. Perfume, Husband, family.....
-Share secret sign languages
-Call them by first name, tease them
-Buy some chokoletes
-Thank you cards


Any other strategies to get hold with professors in college ?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[KempDrumsalot]

I have been with good with teachers in my whole life.

Here are my strategies so far

General Strategies
-Sit in front of class straight.
-Demonstrate your best attitude.
-Go ask intelligent questions
-Show genuine interest in his/her course
-Eye contact with smiles

Male teachers
-Politics, sports.
-Talk big future goals
-Thank you cards
-Behave politely, showing him he is the boss

For female teachers
-Small talks about other stuff. Perfume, Husband, family.....
-Share secret sign languages
-Call them by first name, tease them
-Buy some chokoletes
-Thank you cards


Any other strategies to get hold with professors in college ?

Haha, I don't think you would use these techniques ever. Seriously, that is definatly a bad idea to do in college. Just pay attention and chat with them after class.

 

[broken tibula]

Oh dear God, do not discuss a a female prof's husband. Please. For the love of all that is holy.

Other than that, you might try... being yourself? If you're not really interested in the class, you shouldn't have to suck up to get a good grade. A lot of professors are used to having students who are in the class to fulfill a requirement, not because they're diehard fans of Plato (or whatever). They won't hate you or form a bias. At least, most of them won't, and then ones that will probably can't be brown-nosed anyway.

 

[tennisball80]

Thanks guys.

Any other comments ?

 

[Thrombomodulin]

.

 

[RySerr21]

haha...ooo tennisball. You are funny.

Youll be amazed how much people (professors) will like you if you work hard and put in an effort to learn the material. You dont even have to pretend to like the subject (ive flat out told a professor i have no interest in what he is teaching, but still had a good relationship with him and he still liked me). Its that simple.

 

[MilkmanAl]

This is all very confusing. Why would you vary your treatment of your professors based on their sexes? Were some of those supposed to be jokes? Go to office hours if you have a question or want to inquire about research or something, but don't waste their time. Always be yourself. Don't insult your professors by putting on airs and feigning interest in their subjects, for your "efforts" will be transparent and thus counterproductive.

 

[tennisball80]

This is all very confusing. Why would you vary your treatment of your professors based on their sexes? Were some of those supposed to be jokes? Go to office hours if you have a question or want to inquire about research or something, but don't waste their time. Always be yourself. Don't insult your professors by putting on airs and feigning interest in their subjects, for your "efforts" will be transparent and thus counterproductive.

I agree with this.

Some tricks worked for male teachers so far. And some tricks worked for female teachers for far. Just my experiences.

 

[RemiJP]

I have been with good with teachers in my whole life.

Here are my strategies so far

General Strategies
-Office Hours
-Sit in front of class straight.
-Demonstrate your best attitude.
-Go ask intelligent questions
-Show genuine interest in his/her course if you are truly interested.
-Eye contact with smiles

Male teachers
-Politics, sports.
-Talk big future goals
-Thank you cards
-Behave politely, showing him he is the boss

For female teachers
-Small talks about other stuff. Perfume, Husband, family.....
-Share secret sign languages
-Call them by first name, tease them
-Buy some chokoletes
-Thank you cards


Any other strategies to get hold with professors in college ?

At the very least, I think you'd be over-doing it with most of these strategies and the worst case scenario is that you may offend a professor. (Especially if you try to talk about her personal life or tease her.) Also, if you are going to treat a male professor like the boss, you need to treat a female professor like the boss, too!

A big difference between high school teachers and college professors is that professors don't want you to waste their time. Going to office hours with questions about the material is really all you need to do. Let your relationships evolve naturally - no need to strategize!

 

[Crazyday]

Just be personable and human, from my experience. I'm just a junior in HS so maybe it's different in college, but I'm actually friends with most of my teachers. I notice a lot of other students just ask questions related to homework and academia and feign interest, and I think the teachers can tell that they're just another arrogant kid who makes good grades and that's all they care about.

But if you're personable and go out of your way to actually try to connect with the person on a personal level and not always just academics, I think you stick out a lot more in their mind. I think it'd definitely give an edge on LORs or anything like that, because you're not just another kid making good grades. You're a human, a person, making good grades.

It can be hard to find someone with both qualities, in my experience.

In college though, I think being more subdued but showing a lot of interest would do you best. Don't ask dumb questions that just waste time in class or overanalyze the professor, just answer questions when you know them and do it promptly.

 

[Maygyver]

Think of how many students a professor has. Now think of how many come to them and say "OMG I love this class, when I go to bed all I think about is [your subject]. I have hot dreams about it. Can you bump my grade up?" Chances are, they will see right through it and probably won't like you. The only key to success for talking to professors is to be yourself. I went to O-chem office hours almost every day. A lot of people came in and talked about football, basketball, etc but you could tell the ones that were just trying to get brownie points. It isn't hard to spot someone who is just sucking up. Go to your professor, and ask questions after reading material that you didn't understand, or a concept in lecture. I would suggest not asking questions in lecture unless the professor specifically says "Any questions?" and even then, to be honest, most questions can be quite annoying. Just write down what you are confused about and ask your questions in office hours. Doing that makes you not piss off everyone in lecture, and two, gives you the ability to talk one on one with the professor and get a probably more indepth answer.

 

[tennisball80]

Thanks guys !

Any comments are appreciated !

 

[pressmom]

I have been with good with teachers in my whole life.

Here are my strategies so far

General Strategies
-Office Hours
-Sit in front of class straight.
-Demonstrate your best attitude.
-Go ask intelligent questions
-Show genuine interest in his/her course if you are truly interested.
-Eye contact with smiles

Male teachers
-Politics, sports.
-Talk big future goals
-Thank you cards
-Behave politely, showing him he is the boss

For female teachers
-Small talks about other stuff. Perfume, Husband, family.....
-Share secret sign languages
-Call them by first name, tease them
-Buy some chokoletes
-Thank you cards


Any other strategies to get hold with professors in college ?

Like everyone else has said, just be real. Go to their office hours and just BE NORMAL!!!

I'm a woman, I am not married and don't wear perfume. And I wouldn't want to talk about it with a student. And NEVER EVER tease a professor or call them by their first name unless they ask you to! My dad is a man and doesn't follow sports. Some professors are more apt to share their personal life than others. One of my closest relationships was actually a male professor. He and I would sit for hours and debate minutia. (He was also not into sports!) It was really fun and I got a great LOR. But it just evolved naturally from being really interested in the class. Another professor that I loved would actually interject funny personal stories into the lecture. Apparently in his younger days (he was at least late 60s), he was a pro wrestler. I also had a close relationship with my advisor for post-bac classes. She was an invaluable resource when it came to applying for vet schools, but she and I rarely had personal conversations. (Basically I knew she had several horses at home, and that's it.) I also had a professor give me her home phone number when I was going through rough times. So it really varies. You can have a close relationship without it being personal, or you can have both a personal and professional relationship. Just let the professor guide it.

And it isn't always necessary to sit straight in front of the class. People notice when you're doing well. I made a 99 in both semesters of Orgo and I sat way, way in the back. The professor noticed and suggested I help some of the struggling students even though I had never been to her office hours.

Also, thank you cards are not necessary unless they write you an LOR.

Just be relaxed and let relationships evolve naturally. You'll at some point have a close professor who you either work with (in a lab or something) or just enjoy talking about common interests.

 

[gabeybaby]

I have been with good with teachers in my whole life.

Here are my strategies so far

General Strategies
-Office Hours
-Sit in front of class straight.
-Demonstrate your best attitude.
-Go ask intelligent questions
-Show genuine interest in his/her course if you are truly interested.
-Eye contact with smiles

Male teachers
-Politics, sports.
-Talk big future goals
-Thank you cards
-Behave politely, showing him he is the boss (dude this isn't prison)

For female teachers
-Small talks about other stuff. Perfume, Husband, family.....
-Share secret sign languages (wtf?)
-Call them by first name, tease them (wtf? again)
-Buy some chokoletes
-Thank you cards


Any other strategies to get hold with professors in college ?

this list is insulting & sterotypical.

tennis, just be yourself. because in the end, when they write a recommendation for you, they want to know who you truly are-- not some stuck-up wanna-bee's teacher pet.

 

[tennisball80]

this list is insulting & sterotypical.

tennis, just be yourself. because in the end, when they write a recommendation for you, they want to know who you truly are-- not some stuck-up wanna-bee's teacher pet.

Yup.

 

[Fedekz]

I have been with good with teachers in my whole life.

Here are my strategies so far

General Strategies
-Office Hours
-Sit in front of class straight.
-Demonstrate your best attitude.
-Go ask intelligent questions
-Show genuine interest in his/her course if you are truly interested.
-Eye contact with smiles

Male teachers
-Politics, sports.
-Talk big future goals
-Thank you cards
-Behave politely, showing him he is the boss

For female teachers
-Small talks about other stuff. Perfume, Husband, family.....
-Share secret sign languages
-Call them by first name, tease them
-Buy some chokoletes
-Thank you cards


Any other strategies to get hold with professors in college ?

I wouldn't try to share "secret sign languages" or talk about their personal life unless they approach you (in which they probably wont). lol.

 

[Maygyver]

I wouldn't try to share "secret sign languages" or talk about their personal life unless they approach you (in which they probably wont). lol.

Yeah, some of these things could be really awkward. Especially if you asked a female about her husband and her response was, "well, she's..." I would lol, but it would be awkward haha

 

[xnfs93hy]

Haha, I don't think you would use these techniques ever. Seriously, that is definatly a bad idea to do in college. Just pay attention and chat with them after class.

.