Written by Payton McPhee

Thumbnail Photo by Dylan Ferreira on Unsplash

When it comes to your education, it seems as though your relationships with instructors decrease with each passing year. In elementary school teachers were such an important figure in students’ lives and by high school, students seemed to be checking the clock during each class waiting for the dismissal bell to ring. When you arrive at university, it almost seems like a relief that professors don't know who you are. You can get through the day without being called on and even skip class without being noticed (in most cases, anyway). Because of this, it’s almost too easy to slide through university without ever talking to, or getting to know, your professors.

However, as easy as it may be to move along through your degree without having a conversation with a professor, you might be missing many lucrative opportunities. As intimidating as it may feel, university students should take advantage of these opportunities - venture out of their comfort zone to open more doors instead of potentially closing them.

University can often feel as though you are a small fish in a big pond. In university, you are labelled by a number and your face is just one of the thousands of faces that walk through the halls each day. However, if you start getting to know your professors and develop a professional relationship with them, you are more likely to be known by name and recognized. No more going unnoticed.

Connecting with your professors can also make the class more enjoyable. When you know more about your professor and their research or background, you may feel as though you are getting more out of class time because the lecturer is more than just a stranger who is throwing information at you. It might entice you to participate more in class, ask questions, stay engaged, and feel more comfortable speaking up. It has also been found that professional student-faculty relationships positively impact grades and student confidence in challenging university courses!

Additionally, It is important to get to know people beyond their title. Professors are humans too, and they have more to offer than what they teach each semester. Many professors also work or have previously worked in professional environments. They have experiences that are not outlined in a course syllabus but might be educational in other ways.

Professors are great resources for just about anything and everything. Most of them are happy to offer career advice, school-related advice, and can also just act as a person to talk to. Most professors are also eager to connect with their students and are quite welcoming when it comes to talking about their experiences. It has also been shown that interactions with professors in regard to future career concerns is strongly associated with self-perceived personal growth.

Professors are in the position to mentor students. Oftentimes, as students move through a degree, they likely have an interest in the courses and topics that they are studying. The professors who teach these courses tend to have insight into more than just the information that they teach and sharing this with students can have a great impact. For example, your professor might have experience with a job that you are interested in, or maybe they have an interesting story about how they arrived at their current career. Learning about their previous experiences can help you to understand what you are interested in pursuing as a career. By hearing a professor speak about their experiences within a certain field you may realize that that field is not for you, or perhaps the opposite.

Importantly, professors often have information on volunteer and career/job opportunities that can be beneficial to students to be able to get involved. Most professors are also researchers. They may be looking for volunteers for their research labs, or have grants to hire research and teaching assistants. Generally, they are more likely to hire a student who they know and have connected with compared to someone with who they have never really spoken.

Lastly, engaging and connecting with your professors can also provide advantages after graduation. The majority of all graduate programs require letters of recommendation and those letters are heavily weighted during admissions. Generally, 2-3 recommendation letters are required by graduate programs. Typically, reference letters should be written by academic faculty with whom the applicant has had a relationship, and can speak to their strengths and abilities. Although there are some graduate programs where it is not specified who should write the letters, having a professor be able to speak on your strengths can be a significant and enticing factor when it comes to admission. In addition to reference letters, professors can help students by allowing networking with their colleagues or acquaintances which can help to better your chances of finding a job after graduation. Being able to have a professor put in a good word for you to someone within your intended career field can be a great advantage when you enter the workforce.

How do you start?

In theory, it may sound like a simple task that reaps countless rewards, but oftentimes students are unaware of how and where to begin when reaching out to professors. Approaching a busy and professional adult can make students feel as though they are just being a bother to the professor, when in fact, most professors are highly interested in connecting with their students. Additionally, with online school being in effect, it seems even more difficult to connect with your professors than it ever was before. Professors are also feeling these effects and might be extra receptive to your reaching out.

Connecting with professors can begin with a simple email. Introducing yourself and allowing for a conversation to develop is a great starting point for creating a fruitful professional relationship. Asking questions, being engaged, and participating during class are also ways in which your professor will get to know who you are and recognize your initiative and interest. Beyond this, attending office hours and asking questions outside of class that goes beyond course material can help to showcase a student’s resourcefulness and curiosity which can set you apart from other classmates who only speak to their professors during class (if at all). Most students don’t attend office hours - but professors actually love it when they do! It makes for an easy way to stand out.

Once a solid foundation has been built, it can be beneficial to speak to your professors in a way that can allow you to learn more about their professional lives outside of the classroom, such as inquiring about the research they are involved in, their educational pathways or even for advice on your own career or educational plans. In short, conversing with your professors regularly and inquisitively can allow for a promising professional relationship to grow.

It is never too late to start connecting with your professors. Whether you are a first-year student or a student who is about to graduate, building a relationship with your professor can provide you with a safe place to ask questions and learn more than just the course syllabus. Learning about who your professors are outside of class can be a way for you to learn more about yourself and your goals in a way that you never thought you could. There is much more to a professor than their syllabus and students should take advantage of this during their undergraduate career.

Going Beyond The Syllabus: How and Why to Create Relationships with Professors

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