It’s early in the semester and you might still be unfamiliar with your new professors. Not to fear, I’m here to help! Here are some tried and true tips to make a memorable first impression.
- Ask to see their driver’s license and their PhD. Ensure that you’re being taught by someone qualified.
- Bring them a ham sandwich. Apples are out, ham is in.
- Ask ChatGPT to write an introductory email, then share a screenshot of that email. Professors are very interested in ChatGPT and would love to know if you are using it!
- Go to their office hours and introduce yourself and strike up a friendly conversation. It’s best to get them to associate you with a conversation where you showed genuine interest in their life instead of you breaking down during finals week.
- Try to friend them on LinkedIn. It’s always good to have connections! Find them on LinkedIn. Unless they’re in the humanities, then you should try Facebook.
- Tell each new professor that your name is pronounced differently. That way they can’t gossip about you.
- Do the reading and come to class with questions. Ideally questions on the reading but in theory these people have degrees. They should be able to tell us how to jumpstart a car.
- Don’t do your homework. If you don’t do your homework, they won’t have to grade it and it’s less stressful. So just don’t do it!
- Don’t use your laptop during lectures. Take actual notes and pay attention instead of texting your friends! Your professors have worked hard to prepare their slides and you should try to respect that, at least early in the semester. Unless it’s an 8 a.m. class, in which case you have free leave to sleep through everything.
- Tip them $5.72. Any less and you’re a cheapskate, any more and it could be considered a bribe.
Teague Peterson-Maguire is from Oconomowoc, Wis.
His major is film and media studies.
