Getting to Know Your Professors

Hello Future Illini,

As a prospective student, you may be wondering how to get to know your professors, especially at such a large school. This is an easy task, if you are interested in developing a connection with your professors.  Professors hold weekly office hours, when where they are required to set aside a couple hours to make themselves available for students. Professors literally sit in their office waiting for students to come and say hi, ask a question, or talk about life.

Over the past four years, I have been fortunate enough to have formed great relationships with my professors by simply going to office hours, asking questions and participating in independent research projects with them. In these ways, you gain more from the professor and your professor gets to know you better. If you make the effort to get to know your professors, you will be pleasantly welcomed and, in the long run, benefit a great deal.

If you are worried about making that first trip to an office hour, you can start by just going up after class and introducing yourself. I have learned that professors are not scary people, and you should not be intimidated by them, even if you may be studying from a book they wrote. Professors are people too, and they love getting to know their students and helping you to develop as a student and as an individual.

-Anjali