Roz Wills and Eli Cohen

So, I’m going to be even more of a posterboy for Goucher. I’m already on orientation committee, I already write this blog, and I’m captain of the Goucher Pyrate Alliance (which practically makes me the president of the world, really). Plus I have crazy hair. Well, in addition to all that, Communications asked me last week if I would be willing to be interviewed for their Student Profiles feature on the front page of the website. Y’know, the thing near the top that says “Education without boundaries,” and you click it, and there’s information about the kid and what they like about Goucher. Yeah, I’m doing that.

On one hand, it’s a bit weird for me because when I was applying for schools, I didn’t see the kids on the website and in the brochure as real people. They seemed like talking heads. On the other hand, now I’m one of them, and I’m hoping some people will recognize me (from the website, or this blog, or whatever) and strike up a conversation with me. I like being approachable, and I like answering people’s questions. If I can help someone out, I’m glad to do it.

But enough about that. The point of this blog is to talk about stuff that a freshman might run into. How about… professors?

Most people (and I recognize there are exceptions here) do not develop close relationships with their high school teachers. There may have been that one “cool teacher” who students felt they could talk to outside of class about everyday life, but in my experience, there’s usually only a few of those at any high school, unless it’s a very small school.

At Goucher, things are different. Professors are expected to engage the students. You’ve probably heard this all over the place, but you can e-mail your professors whenever you want, and most of them will get back to you quickly. Professors all have open office hours, when they’re in their offices just waiting for questions. To be honest, if you show up when it’s not their official open office hours, they’ll still talk to you, as long as they’re not mid-meeting. There are a handful of professors who haven’t nailed down this attitude yet, but I’d say about 2/3 of my professors would just stick around and chat with me after class for a half hour, as long as they didn’t have somewhere to be right away.

This takes some getting used to for most students. I know that when I had a problem with an assignment, especially one that was my own fault, I just waited until the next class to get it sorted out (at which point I would have been behind on something). But I saw no alternative. I thought the professor would disapprove (or get frustrated, or think I was dumb, etc.) if I sent an e-mail saying “Hey, I procrastinated and now I have a basic question two days before a two-week project is due.” In reality, they want those e-mails, and as soon as you have a concern, you should send one out. They might end up saying something like “you might want to talk to the Academic Center for Excellence about time management,” but they will still help you in any way they can. Talking to them about academic issues tells them “I handed in this paper late because I procrastinated, but I’m working on time management” which is way better than “I just handed in a paper a week late, ’cause I felt like it, bye.”

It is embarrassing, especially if you thought of yourself as a “smart kid” in high school, to admit your imperfections, or to go to a place for academic support. You’ll be better off in the long run, though, if you at least stop by and talk to them the first time you recognize a problem.