Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I can definitely see how personal invitations to a select few, or certainly one-on-one, can lead to abuses of power, harassment, etc. But I think the "favoritism" charge and fear of unfair grading sort of has things backward. As someone who socialized quite a bit with professors in undergrad (rarely one-on-one) and yes, at YLS, most often the students who developed closer relationships with professors were the ones who ALREADY had excelled. I.e. they had already gotten a great grade(s), written a brilliant paper, were an honors student... that is how they got the research assistant or TA position in the first place. The instances of dim kids somehow finagling preferential treatment from professors were basically... nil.
I disagree with this. I was by far the best student in classes but an immigrant and just not interested in socializing with the faculty. There was a lot of small talk which I hate anyway but especially when I can’t a handle on it.