It goes without saying that the professors you have can shape your experience in a class entirely.
Here are the 5 types you’re likely to encounter and how to deal with them:
1. The Intellectual
This professor is crazy smart in his or her field, whether it’s mastering a ridiculous number of languages or their enthusiasm and devotion toward their subject. Gushing through every lecture they give, The Intellectual has the amazing ability to make you excited about what they’re teaching each and every class. Although they may not be the most approachable of your professors, they’re definitely the most connected, so hit up those office hours!
2. The Goofball
The Goofball is probably one of the few professors you’ll have that’ll put in an effort to make each class entertaining. They somehow manage to throw in random pop-culture references that’ll be funny and keep you awake in class, but they do tend to go off-topic on a regular basis during their lecture. Make sure to keep up with your reading so that you stay ahead of the curve and know all of the material in time for the exam.
3. The “Read It On Your Own”
This professor somehow manages to assign you more bookwork than any of your other classes combined. Convinced that as “independent college students,” his or her students should be able to cope and review the material on their own, this professor definitely expects you to put a lot of the effort on your own time. Although the amount of work can be frustrating, this professor is a good gauge as to how much the subject interests you. If reading the material isn’t interesting to you, then this field of study probably isn’t the best one to pursue. As with The Intellectual, office hours will be your best friend!
4. The Parent Figure
Your high school teachers cautioned you countless times about how college professors have no time to give attentive care to each of their students, but this professor proves them wrong. You’ll usually find this professor in smaller discussion-based classes. They’ll somehow manage, despite their insanely busy schedule, to give you personalized feedback, advice, and individualized attention. Make sure to take advantage of this one-on-one interaction to get some genuine feedback on your progress in the class as well as some killer recommendation letters from a professor that actually knows you!
5. Your Idol
What can I say? This one is definitely one that’s difficult to come by. This professor is perfect in personality and the difficulty level of the class. Even if they’re not the teacher of a topic that’s your favorite, they somehow make you want to like it. Their workload will not be a ton of busy work but definitely a reasonable level of challenging, and their passion manages to shine through in every class. If you look up to this professor and their field of study, you’ll definitely want to meet with them to find out how they became so awesome. What did they focus on when they were in undergrad? What did they do when they were in your position?
Picture source: http://www.natcom.org/