As you enter college and the workforce, you realize your relationships with adults have started to change, and you can most likely sense this change through your relationship with your professors.
In high school and in the movies, it seemed like everyone painted professors as big bad people who graded excessively hard and didn’t really care about you as a person, because they have dozens of other students to tend to. Or at least, that’s what my misconception was coming into college.
I was pleasantly surprised when I found that professors could be some of the most influential, helpful, and understanding people I have ever met.
This is due to the fact that ever since I have been in college, every adult I have ever encountered treats students as something more than students, and ultimately, as equals. There’s just a higher level of mutual respect that I didn’t find in my younger years. It seems like every adult has abandoned the “you’re young, you don’t know what you’re talking about yet” idea and has moved on to the “you’re young, but you’ve had your experiences too”. I’m even allowed to call some of my professors by their first name.
Now, just because I have suddenly started being treated like an adult, it doesn’t mean that I know how to properly use this power. I’m generally a nervous person and have a tough time talking with people I don’t know. Translate this situation to professors and other adults, who posses more intelligence (well, some of them…) and experience than I have, and I’m a complete train wreck. I fumble over my words, my ideas get confused, and nothing seems to come out right.
Luckily, I have learned a few tricks and tips to conversing with my professors, and hopefully they will be helpful if you’re going through the same thing. Once you start talking with your professors regularly, you’ll be able to apply the same skills to adults you meet in the workplace, at your first internships and jobs.
1) Have a game plan on what you plan to discuss with them. If you need help on something, make sure you know exactly what areas you need help in before going to speak with them.
2) Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Professors are there to help you, and you should not be afraid to ask something when that’s their job.
3) Usually, professors are quite interested in your ideas, opinions, likes and dislikes, what obscure music you listen to, what football teams you support, etc. I’ve found that most of the times, they what to know more about what you’re talking about. So don’t be fearful of impressing them or not, just be you. And usually, the generational differences make for some interesting conversation.
4) Don’t get discouraged if you don’t hit it off with them right off the bat. Relationships take time and they must happen naturally! So don’t be sad when you see an older student that has a great relationship with their professor, it’s just because they’ve known them for a longer period of time. You’ll get to that point soon.
5) Above all, professors and adults are people, just like you. As much as you’re trying to figure out what you’re trying to do at this point in your life, they probably are too. And if they’re not, then they’ve definitely been there before.
I’m not saying that every professor is a ray of sunshine. You can’t have the good without the bad. Of course there are going to be those professors that are big bad people, who grade excessively hard, and don’t really care about you as a person. However, that should not dictate how you view other professors, and it should definitely not stop you from chatting and joking with them when you get the chance. We all need a little laughter in our lives, and age and credentials shouldn’t be a barrier for that. Build relationships, because you never know just how far these connections will take you.
Just… don’t build them too much, because that’s kind of illegal. If you know what I mean.