If you are like millions of young adults everywhere, you are preparing to go to college sometime in the future.  You might even be making a “to-do” list to get you ready before you head off to college.  Here is one important step that you may not have thought to have included in your list.  It’s something that will produce benefits that you might overlook.  It is simply this:  during your first semester get to know a couple of your professors personally. 

College students need these relationships to help them further down the road when they are ready to graduate.  Many companies or graduate school programs look for good recommendation letters for prospective employees or students.  Without any well-tied relationships with professors, you’ll have a difficult time getting good letters of recommendation.  Many graduating seniors ask their instructors for letters and the instructors have a hard time writing the letters, because to them, the student is just a name or a grade on a three-year-old class list.  Yes, they can make a recommendation based on the limited information from an interview with the student, but people who receive letters based on such basic information don’t give them much weight.

You may get lucky enough to have a professor that has an “open-door” policy – meaning that whenever a student has a question, issue, or sometimes just wants to say hello, he or she is able to stop by the instructor’s office and have a quick conversation.  These professors may one day become a mentor for you.  These mentors will help you achieve success and they can set you on a path that helps direct you for the rest of your life. 

Besides visiting your professors, there is another way to make close faculty contact.  Find a part-time job in an academic department that is of interest to you, particularly with the department’s office manager.  This practice usually has many advantages:  You have informal contact with both faculty and staff members; you become part of a network that give a lot of influence in the departments and divisions of your school; and you can get reliable information on how best to approach particular faculty members.  However, whether or not you are employed, get to know the staff. 

How do you choose which instructors you wish to know better?  The first step is to treat faculty the way you treat others in authority positions.  Think twice about a relationship with a particular person who has a reputation for being a gossip, for using people, for being unfair, or for being dishonest.  Stay away from faculty members who seem to be unable to get along with colleagues, or who seem to be biased against one or more groups of people.  The benefits of having people in your life who take a special interest in your progress are well worth the effort.  College staff that get to know you can provide encouragement, referrals, career information, and important networking connections.  Don’t miss out on this opportunity!

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