7 ways to impress your college professor (2024)
About the author
Hi there. I am the prolific professor with 15 years of experience teaching online and in-person. I have a graduate degree. I have a passion for education. But I’ve also worked in the professional world (outside of education) too. Thanks for visiting.
How to make a good impression on your college professor
You may not know it now but impressing your college professor can pay off in the future. Sometimes your college professor is contacted by employers for a potential candidate (this happens often). And they want some recommendations for a few good students.
I got an amazing internship when I was in college because a professor was contacted by an agency to recommend students. He recommended me because of my academic abilities and because I developed a good relationship with him during the semester. These internships can easily lead to long-term careers.
Or one day (very likely) you’ll need letters of recommendation or an academic reference for a job and your professor can write a strong letter of recommendation for you if you’ve impressed them.
And obviously if you’re impressing your professor, you’re probably doing things that are going to make you more successful in college.
So, what are you waiting for? I am going to explain the best way to impress your professor. These tips go beyond telling you to get a good grade, put in the hard work or doing extra credit. These 7 ways to impress your professor will take you to the next level.
Let’s get started with these 7 best ways to impress your college professor in 2022.
How do you stand out to your professor?
3.) Pay attention during lectures
4.) Come to class and be on time
How to get your professor to like you?
1.) Demonstrate leadership
If your professor assigns group work, make sure you step up to be a leader. This might mean you start coordinating or delegating tasks in the group. Another way you can do this is during lectures or online class discussions where you go beyond another student’s response.
If a student is having a difficult time understanding a concept or failed to discuss a critical component of the topic, you might demonstrate leadership by explaining it or providing additional information.
Students may learn better from other students too.
Your professor will see you being a leader, and it will really impress them.
2.) Go by during office hours
First thing, take advantage of office hours or schedule an appointment to discuss your professional goals. Just stop by and introduce yourself, or continue talking about your personal career and educational goals. You might even check in to review or clarify any material.
Anything to show them you’re really interested in improving. After an exam, stop by and see if they have suggestions on how to improve. Be genuine though.
If they don’t have office hours, email them instead.
Don’t overdo it, unless necessary. But let them know you actually care about their class and your academic career.
3.) Pay attention during lectures
Don’t get on your phone and look distracted. Make sure they know you’re paying attention.
Make eye contact.
Nod your head occasionally.
Ask a good question to follow-up on their material or answer their questions when prompted.
Take notes so that they know you think what they’re saying is important enough to write down.
Don’t slouch and act bored. They’ll notice and think that you’re not focused on the material or their lecture.
And don’t chat with other students during their lectures. It’s disrespectful to the whole class and your professor's time.
4.) Come to every class and be on time
As a professor, seeing someone get perfect attendance is rarer than seeing students who miss frequently. Come to every class, and if you must miss, email them and let them know why you’re going to miss class. You don’t have to give details, but let them know you are sorry you’ll miss their class, and you will see them the following class.
You’ll stand out amongst the crowd, and they’ll notice your dedication in spite of having to miss class. When you do come to class, I would suggest coming to class a few minutes early and checking in with your professor every so often.
And sit in the front row, or close to the front row.
Also, make small talk before class. Ask them how their weekend went. Don’t be afraid to talk to your professor. Most students don’t talk to their professors at all, so you’ll be sure to impress them when you ask how they’re doing.
5.) Talk to them about their research
A great way to flatter your professor is check their curriculum vitae (fancy word for resume). Or you can check their faculty bio on your college’s website. See what research they’ve done, have they published a book, or do they have certain research interests or career experience that you can talk about.
Come knowing that information and bring something up to discuss. You should focus on something that interests you. This just helps start a discussion and professors will be impressed that you took the time to learn about them. Check your professor's office hours and stop by and talk to them about these topics.
This is an excellent way to impress your professor with words.
6.) Go to events
Most professors are on committees that plan special events for the college.
Find out what committees your professor is on or ask them if they have any college events they can recommend. It’s likely that they’ll attend one of these events that they advertise, and you should go. Let them know you attended. If you see them there, say hi.
If not, email them and let them know something you enjoyed about the event and thank them for that recommendation. This shows interests in improving your knowledge and experiences.
7.) Use scholarly sources
If you have assignments that are required, use scholarly sources in your assignments. Do you have a research paper due or a homework assignment?
You can go beyond textbooks, a news article, or online sources and use peer-reviewed scholarly sources from academic journals.
Show your professor that you are finding legitimate sources and supporting your opinions.
During class, find a way to incorporate the sources into your discussions. You will really impress your professors with this knowledge. It’s one thing to have an opinion, it’s another thing to have research to support your opinion.
How do you get your professor’s attention?
If you want to get your professor’s attention, you should talk to them about your professional and educational goals, stop by during office hours, and impress them during class with your knowledge. Go above and beyond for their class to show them that you care about their subject. Finally, talk about their research or experience and share common interests.
It isn’t too hard to get your professor’s attention, you just have to help them remember who you are because they will likely have hundreds of students each semester and you need to stand out. Don’t go overboard though because it might become overwhelming for your professor.
How do you get your professor to know you?
If you want to help your professor get to know you, you should plan on meeting them during office hours and sharing your career and educational goals with them. After this, catch up with them occasionally. Most of my college students would email me questions about their career goals or their degree requirements to chat. Some students chose to stop by and ask me questions about their assignments or clarify material from the course.
These are great ways to break the ice and talk to your professor and let your professor get to know you. I find that most professors will take the opportunity to ask more questions about you and your goals and will continue the conversations.
I know these 7 easy ways to impress your professor will pay off big time and go a long way. Maybe it won’t matter right away, but eventually you will need to ask your professor for something professional, and they’ll be able to help. Even more importantly, your professor may think of you if an employer reaches out for a good student and recommendation for candidates.
If you do these things and go the extra mile, make sure you are genuine. I am not giving these tips so that you can manipulate your professor and have evil intentions, but so that you can have a successful college career. All these tips will also help you be a good college student. And hopefully increase your success. These first impressions will make you stand out against the average student and your college professors will notice.
You got this.
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