If someone had told me freshman year that I would be interviewing a professor, I would not have believed them. But I am here to tell you that I did interview a professor, and it definitely was not scary!
I think there might be a lot of people who share similar thoughts with me when it comes to interviewing faculty members. It’s one thing to interview students, but it’s a whole other ball game when your interviewee is a professor. It’s just not the same; there’s more of a colloquial style with students and with professors it’s professional. Or at least that’s how I saw it.
So, imagine how I felt when I was given an interview assignment in class and it had a faculty section. I felt nervous and had a million thoughts running through my head. I racked my brain trying to figure out how I would ask my professors to speak with me. But I forced myself to push my fears aside and went for it because remember, we can’t let fear stop us from shining. All three of my professors who I reached out to ended up saying yes to my interview requests, and I interviewed my Sociology professor, who got back to me the quickest.
I expected the interview to last about 15-20 minutes. I thought, “I only have four questions to ask, that shouldn’t take long.” Wow, was I wrong! It took 30 minutes because somehow time flew by even though to me it only felt like 10 minutes had passed. The reason why time passed quickly was that I enjoyed talking to my professor. For a moment I stopped seeing her as a professor but as another person. Someone who was sharing a little bit about themselves. I think it’s easy to forget that professors are people like us, who have their own lives outside of school. Every time I hear a professor talk about their outside life I find it odd because it’s not something I hear every day.
I ended up confessing to my professor that I was intimidated and nervous about the interview because I was afraid of messing up. She then told me that most of us are used to hearing praise in high school, so when we come to college and hear a “you’re wrong” we freak out. We don’t want to let our professors down, but we need to normalize that we aren’t letting them down. Rather we are learning as we go through our academic journeys. Our professors are here to support us and offer us the best resources out there. We are meant to fail in order to succeed.
If there is anything I want you to know from my experience it is to not let your fear get the best of you. It can be hard, I’ve been there many times, and how I wish I could go back in time and just be an extrovert. Many of us miss opportunities because of this fear or timidness. My high school math teacher once told me that you could be the smartest quiet person out there, but if they were to compare you to a “B” average outgoing student, then the “B” average student would most likely be chosen because of their communication skills. I will forever remember this because it motivates me to push myself to do things out of my comfort zone. I know this can be hard for many of us, but starting off small can help. Thanks to this assignment, I challenged myself and realized how wrong I had been to think that professors were all cold and intimidating. You never know! You might be surprised by what you learn about others and yourself.