Office Hours

As a freshman I remember not wanting to go to office hours because I thought that I would embarrass myself and ask dumb questions all in front of my professor who would now be able to put a name to my face. But then, after being told by a million people that office hours would be very helpful, I finally went. And guess what? It wasn’t that bad!

Today I find myself going to office hours quite a bit. They can be helpful for many different reasons such as figuring out a tricky homework problem or preparing for an upcoming exam. But the best part about office hours is the fact that they are completely FREE. There is plenty of off campus tutoring available to students but unfortunately they can be extremely expensive and a lot of the time, they don’t know exactly what material is going to be on your test. That’s why I believe going to office hours and talking directly to your professors and/or TAs is one of the best ways to take advantage of the resources that Penn State provides to its students. Especially because they are the ones writing your test!

Another thing about office hours that makes them worth going to is that a lot of your classes as an underclassman will be in large lecture halls and office hours can eliminate this overwhelming factor. This is because a lot of students unfortunately don’t put in the effort to go to office hours. However, this is something that you can take advantage of because it means that office hours are much less crowded and usually you’re able to get a decent amount of one-on-one time with your professors that would be impossible to receive by solely going to lecture.

Overall, I think that attending office hours as often as you can (hopefully on a weekly basis) is one of the best pieces of advice that you could receive going into college. I would pick a day that works best for each of your classes and go. It will help you review the material you learned in class that week and even catch you up if you feel like you’re falling a bit behind. Don’t worry about not being able to make office hours because of a schedule conflict either. A lot of professors will work with their students and try to figure out a time that will be more convenient for you! Please don’t be afraid to take advantage of this amazing resource that your professors have to offer! Good luck J

Madison Burhans is a junior majoring in Chemical Engineering and is a Mentor for WEPO'16!