Making the Most of Office Hours: A Practical Guide for Students
Demystifying office hours and offering clear strategies to help you connect with professors, ask better questions, and support your academic success.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how I approach office hours as a professor. Today, I’m going to share what I think is some practical and helpful advice for students.
The most important thing I can say is: do not be afraid or nervous to make time to meet with your professors.
Whether meeting in-person or virtually, the important thing is to meet! Office hours are designed to support students and professors are delighted for you to use the time we set aside for you to connect, ask questions, and further your skills. (Of course, there are grumps in every profession and organization, but truly, I know of no one at my own university who wants anything other than students to learn, grow, and ask questions!) It’s normal to feel a little nervous, but your professor’s job includes meeting with students and guiding them. Most students find it much easier to meet with professors the more you do it!
Here are a few more tips to help you prepare well.
You Don’t Have to be Struggling to Show Up for Office Hours
You don’t need to be struggling in the class or have been told by the professor to attend (although if those things are true, you should be making an effort to get to office hours!). You might use office hours for a variety of purposes, like:
seeking clarity on upcoming work,
asking questions about feedback and grading,
general advice on improving your writing ,
support for strategies in succeeding in a course or program,
encouragement that you’re able to do _____ (fill in the blank!),
or building a relationship with professors - especially vital when you’re an online student and don’t get the same in-person chance to do that as residential students might.
You Don’t Have to Have a Perfect Plan to Show Up
Trust me - showing up and having a vague idea of what you want to ask is better than not showing up! With a few follow up questions I can nearly always sort out what a student needs to walk through together. Try to have an idea of what you want to discuss, but don’t worry about having a full agenda or list of 10 questions! Being prepared helps you to respect the time limit set for your meeting, as well - many professors have back-to-back meetings with students in a single block of office hours.
You Shouldn’t Expect Advance Review of your Draft
You should not expect professors to show you an example paper from a successful student or review your full work in advance. Show up with specific questions where you feel stuck, but generally professors cannot review your work in advance as that potentially provides an unfair advantage to you over your peers. It also is very time-consuming (in most terms to offer to pre-grade papers in advance in would be untenable for me with 60-90 grad students!). Use your professors time wisely and respectfully - asking specific questions about a piece of an assignment or how to structure an assignment is ideal. Asking how to format APA section headers is less of a good use of your time and your professors (those answers are easily found and followed online or university writing labs).
You Should Schedule via Provided Guidance
Many professors use scheduling tools to help automate the process and provide clarity around what to expect in an office hours appointment. Follow the process provided first, read the instructions, and then if you cannot make a time work, know that it’s okay to ask for scheduling accommodations.
Professors are under no illusion that our timing on office hours works for every student every week. Sometimes those set hours won’t work for us either…we’re all humans with lots going on! If you can’t find a time that works for you to meet based on your professor’s set hours, simply reach out via email and proactively suggest a few times that work for you (including your time zone when relevant, too).
I always encourage my students to schedule as far out in advance as feels helpful for them. In an 8-week term, if they want to schedule time to chat in week 6 to help finalize the final project, that’s great! Some students like to meet once/week - that’s okay with me, too. Your professor will help guide you and clarify if questions are more appropriate for a writing lab, etc. But in 15+ years I’ve never though a student was asking to meet too much.
You Should Take Advantage of Group Opportunities
In my courses, I try to offer 2-3 live sessions per term for students to join in, ask questions, hear my general advice on the course project, and meet each other (since all my students are online, it’s nice to connect as humans a bit!). These are not required sessions, but it’s wise for students to take advantage where they can - especially if they are having a hard time scheduling one-on-one office hours time. You might not have a question when attending a group session, but showing up and hearing from others is really helpful in shaping your thinking on your work (and remembering you’re not alone!).
You Should Use Office Hours to Build Rapport
Meeting with your professor regularly accomplishes several things, beyond just advice on assignments, including: (a) demonstrating professionalism, (b) showcasing initiative, (c) indicating your concern with feedback and follow through, and (d) building a relationship. Your goal is - of course - not to become best friends with your professor, but remember that professors often have connections on internships, jobs, and mentoring. We are also pretty good at writing recommendation letters!
Bottom line? You Should Show Up
Despite my urging, every term, I have students who do not take advantage of meeting with me and then ask “what can I do to get an A?” when it’s far too late to move the gradebook points that far! Showing up at office hours doesn’t earn an A, but it often helps build skills and answer questions that point you in the direction of a higher score. Schedule, show up, and ask away - as professors, we are excited when students take initiative and demonstrate a desire for self-improvement!