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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I do think that a poll of college students would show that the large majority never or virtually never have any contact with the large majority of professors outside of the classroom.  Why do folks on this board think that extensive contact with professors outside of the classroom is so critically important when the evidence is to the contrary?  Not trying to be snarky; I am genuinely curious.

What might be going on, I think, is that that was the experience of more DCUM parents than the average college graduate because this is such a "Type A" area.  It might also be that too many years have passed since DCUM parents went to college and they're misremembering.

I remember going to college, working hard and partying hard, having friends who did the same, then all of us going on to successful careers and lives.  And I don't remember any of us ever having anything to do with professors outside of the classroom except in rare instances.  While it's true that none of us got PhD's, virtually all of us went to grad school, med school, or law school.  [/quote]

DH and I have never been accused of being Type A, though I'll admit we've lived in DC for so long that maybe we just take the Type A stuff for granted.  In any case. we went to very different undergrad institutions -- a New England SLAC and a big rah-rah midwestern school, then met at law school.  We did a fair amount of partying at all these institutions of higher learning (though I'm happy to give DH the summa honors in this field).  And maybe you're right that we're misremembering our own bright college days, but over the past 10 years, we've seen our three kids go off to college and grad school.  Among them, they've been to two SLACs, one big private research university, one law school and one med school.  So, while I don't have a big data set here, I do have some recent and current anecdotal examples.  (See -- I'm not even calling it evidence, so don't get your back up).

And, here's what I can tell you.  All of us got to know a few profs at all of these schools.  I mean -- why not?  They're smart people and a lot of them are nice, interesting people who want to help their students.  Did this help us academically and professionally?  In some cases, yeah, absolutely.  Has it led to nice friendships, some of which have lasted decades?  Again, yes.  Doing this never seemed odd to us or like we were sucking up.  I will note, though, that DH might have been more open to finding mentors and making friends with profs because his dad was a prof (at the same big rah-rah midwestern university that he attended).  And, one of  my BILs is a prof, so that might have made our own kids more comfortable with approaching profs.

So, while I can't say conclusively that all students can improve their chances of academic and professional success by getting to know profs, I don't see what the down side is either.  And I can't for the life of me figure out why people who didn't get to know profs are so fixed on the idea that it's some kind of con to suggest to kids that they can ask a prof for help or advice if they need it.

Finally, in my own experience, one of the best opportunities I got out of getting to know a prof was living rent-free in a fabulous San Francisco apartment for three months.  Yes, I had to take care of the prof's very needy basset hound, but as she (prof, not hound) hopped into the cab taking her to the airport, she yelled, "There's a bottle of vodka in the crisper drawer of the 'frig and it's all yours."  (She was my Russian history, prof, BTW, and was totally awesome and cool.)  [/quote]

Let’s see.  You and your husband are both lawyers.   And you just wrote an exegesis on the value of contact with professors on a college discussion board.  And your kids are already out of college and in med and law school.

But, no, you’re not Type A.  No, not at all. [/quote]

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