[nabs-l] Office Hours

[Lizzy]

Hmm, I don't know if I necessarily agree with everyone else on 
this topic.  If I'm going to schedule an appointment, I would do 
it for a time that is not the professor's scheduled office hours.  
You might have to wait a little while, but if the professor is 
popular then they will keep all appointments fairly short (keep 
in mind that this includes your appointment as well).  If they're 
not very popular, they'll just be happy to see someone show up 
and in that case, you might want to send them an email letting 
them know that you'll be stopping by, especially if they like to 
talk.  But honestly, if you get there early to make sure you're 
first in line, then you're probably fine.  I always bring 
homework with me during scheduled office hours and I just show 
up, but also we have a culture of not really talking about grades 
at my college so they wouldn't need to pull up a transcript or 
anything before I get there.  I usually just have a question 
about a concept or discussion point from class, or maybe I just 
want to talk about something that both the professor and I are 
interested in.  Keep in mind that office hours are not just for 
talking about things from that class especially as you get into 
the upper class years because you may want them as a thesis or 
major advisor, and you really need to work on building 
relationships with professors who have professional experience in 
your areas of interest (or who know you on a personal level).
	They really should be in their offices during office hours, 
and if they are not they should send an email canceling 
them...  It's really not okay for them to just have office 
hours scheduled and have something else to do because they 
don't think anyone will come.  When this happens, I just 
send a very polite email saying that I stopped by and asking 
if we can schedule an appointment.  If they know that people 
are actually coming to their office, then they will make it 
a priority to be there, or let you know when they're not.

HTH,
Lizzy