Establishing a Relationship with Your Professor

One of the most important lessons that I learned during my first year at Penn State was the importance of establishing a relationship with my professors. Adjusting to a new class, a teachers' style of teaching, and the rigor of the course can be extremely difficult if you don't put yourself in the best position to succeed.

My first day of Calc class, first semester was stressful. My professor threw so much information at us on the first day that it became overwhelming and difficult to take on all of that information all at once. The class became so intimidating that I never spoke in class, never asked a question, or asked for help. When it was time to study for the first exam, I prepared like I did any other exam in high school. I did practice problems, did all of the practice exams that were available to us, and reviewed all of my notes. The results from that first exam was a wake up call! I had not preformed as well as I had hoped.

After this exam I had realized that I needed to make a change in the way that I had gone about learning this course. I had realized that during class, the professor won't come to you if you need help, like teachers did in high school, you need to go to them! From this, I immediately emailed my professor to talk about what went wrong on my exam and made multiple appointments with her in order to master the concepts that I had difficulty with.

After becoming a regular in my professors office hours (3 times a week) asking at least one question each session, I had noticed that she began to pay attention more to me in class. She would often look towards my direction and interact with me more. She also began looking after me more when we were doing example problems on our own. She would walk around the classroom and then stop at my desk and ask me how I felt about this lesson and if I had any questions. When it came time to prepare for the next exam, I felt more confident than ever! I still studied the same way, but over the past few weeks I had been preparing for this exam with my professor, working through many problems and asking hundreds of questions!

The results from this exam were great! I had made a huge change in my position in this class, and the relationship I had with my professor. From this experience I had learned that professors won't take a personal interest in your success in their class unless you show them that you are dedicated, hardworking, and care about what you're learning. I had also learned that taking advantage of your resources, such as frequently going to your professor's office hours, study groups (especially the groups that WEPO offers), as well as participating and actually speaking in class, will make your experience in that class so much better!

When the semester ended, my professor took me aside after the last class and told me that she would be available to help me in the future with things like a recommendation, tutoring, and advice in general! She was so appreciative of the work and dedication that I put into learning that she did in fact write me a letter of recommendation! But, the best part is, I have gained a new source of support that I did not expect to have in the first place!

So here is a summary of the helpful tips to consider when starting a new class at Penn State:

1) Frequently go to your professors office hours

2) Participate during class

3) Take advantage of resources (study groups, practice exams, OFFICE HOURS)

4) Ask questions!

Olivia Tilles is a sophomore majoring in Mechanical Engineering and is an Envoy for WEPO'16!