OFFICE HOURS: A CHRONICALLY UNDERUSED RESOURCE

Upon arriving at UC Berkeley, the first piece of advice I received from my orientation leaders was to attend my professors’ office hours. They told our entire group that this was the absolute best and easiest way to ensure we succeeded in our classes — a fantastic opportunity to connect personally with professors, get questions answered in detail, and receive assistance with challenging assignments, practically handed to all of us on a silver platter.  

Every upperclassman and adult advisor I talked to in my first weeks had almost the exact same advice. Office hours, it seemed, were the clear key to academic success. You can imagine, then, why I was a bit shocked to find that despite all the hype, they remain an exceptionally underused resource. 

The first time I attended the office hours of my GSI (Graduate Student Instructor) for my Earth and Planetary Science course, I walked into a virtually empty room; the only person in attendance was the GSI himself. Confused, I thought I had come at the wrong time. After assuring me that I was in the right place, he disclosed that I was the first student — out of a lecture class of 200 — to attend his office hours since the school year had started nearly three weeks ago. 

I was extremely confused. Why, since everyone swore by them, were office hours not in the calendars of any of my classmates? 

My experience attending my GSI’s office hours definitely lived up to my expectations. I was able to ask specific questions and fill in the holes of information I had missed during lectures. He even drew out a detailed chart to help me visualize the process of nucleosynthesis. 

Initially, I considered that perhaps my classmates thought it would be more productive to attend our professor’s office hours, rather than our GSI’s. But, after attending our professor’s office hours myself and walking into yet another empty classroom, I found that that wasn’t the case either. 

Now, I haven’t been the sole attendee of every office hour I’ve gone to. Occasionally there have been a few other students, but only when an assignment is imminently due or an exam is just around the corner. It’s crazy to think that most of the time professors just sit by themselves for an hour, awaiting students that usually aren’t coming. 

Based on my experience, I think office hours should be used by everyone. There’s really no reason not to attend them when your schedule allows. Even just completing homework (that you have to do anyway) next to the professor that’s going to grade it offers obvious benefits. Attending office hours and asking questions also shows an eagerness to learn that professors often reward with career-shaping research opportunities/letters of recommendation. 

So, it’s my advice to you to at least put your professors’ office hours in your calendar. Don’t wait until finals week to clear your schedule; walk into that empty room and let free, personalized mentorship completely transform your academic experience.

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