10 Tips for How to Become Friends With Your Professor

Discover tips and tricks on how to become friends with your professors.

College isn’t just about making friends with people your age; it’s also the time to begin forging those wacky Marty-and-Doc friendships with your professors! While you may not need these relationships to figure out how to get back to the future, finding a college mentor in your professors is still very important. You have access to some of the wisest people in your industry and they want to see you succeed! 

Sometimes, reaching out to professors can seem overwhelming. Fortunately, we outline 10 tips about how to become friends with your professor below.

1. Go to Class 

You can’t win if you don’t play, and you can’t build a relationship with someone when you’re avoiding your biggest opportunity to see them.  

It’s important to actually go to class, especially if the class is taught by a professor you want as a mentor figure, because it shows that you’re interested in learning from them. This is also how to introduce yourself to a professor. Once you’re in the room and they know you, endless possibilities emerge. 

2. Ask Questions and Engage 

Wondering how to impress your professors in class? Do more than just be physically present. It's always great to engage with the class every day because it shows your commitment to the material, and it makes you stand out. Asking questions is also a great way to hear more about the professor’s thoughts and interests to see if they align with what you’d like to learn from them.

3. Join Clubs They Lead 

Student organizations need faculty advisers, and faculty members don’t like to lead organizations they don’t care at all about. Universities have organizations around identity, interests, professional goals, academics and more! Even if none of your professors are leading interesting groups, you’ve at least found another group of students to get to know a bit better. 

4. Use Office Hours 

Just like classes, office hours exist for a reason. Professors want to talk to you, and office hours can give you a way to connect with them outside of class.  

There are many benefits of professor office hours: you can use that time to ask about homework or other school questions, but you can also go in and ask for broader advice or just go chat. Professors are great mentors for college students, and office hours are a great time to check in and build up that mentor relationship. 

5. Take Part in Their Research 

If you’re in a STEM major like Belmont’s College of Science & Mathematics or College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, see if your professors are doing any research you can help with. If you study business, ask if their colleagues or industry connections need volunteers/interns. If you’re in the arts, humanities or social sciences, both of these options are available to you! It’s always great to ask if there are special projects you can help with to connect more with your professors and future career.  

6. Take Lots of Their Classes 

Another way to impress your professors is taking different classes of theirs throughout your college career. Check out what classes they teach and see if you can take them, especially if they’re topics that interest you. You want to connect with professors who like the same things you do so you have more to talk about with them and they’ll be a more helpful resource to you.

7. Connect with Professors on LinkedIn 

LinkedIn is a networking site, so connecting with professors there gets your name out to them and the rest of their network, opening yourself up to even more opportunities. The worst thing that can happen is that they don’t connect with you, but LinkedIn etiquette and Instagram etiquette are very different so it’s totally acceptable to go for it. 

8. Ask About Their Work 

People love talking about their interests, including professors! It’s especially fun for them to talk to students because students tend to actually care about the topic and understand more than the average person about what they’re talking about.  

 Ask your professors about their favorite parts of teaching, what they did before entering the classroom (many have really cool stories), where their academic interests lie and anything else you think would make for good conversation. 

9. Attend Your Professor’s Events  

Professors are often asked to be guest speakers for events like symposiums and conferences, which you can attend  to learn more about them and their interests. If they’re part of a group or panel, you may also get introduced to other leaders you can make friends with and learn even more from.  

10. Ask to Grab Coffee 

This is an advanced step that becomes less scary the more you get to know a professor. Asking a professor to meet for coffee, even if it’s on or nearby campus, can be daunting but thoroughly rewarding. Treat this like office hours but out of the office. Once you become friends with a professor, grabbing coffee is the same as meeting up with any other friend or mentor. 

Don’t Be Afraid to Reach Out! 

Finding a college mentor is an essential part of the college experience, especially looking to life after graduation. Professors, especially those at smaller institutions like Belmont, genuinely want to serve as a resource and mentor figure to you. If you make the effort, they will reciprocate. You may not have a Marty-and-Doc adventure, but you’ll learn a lot and have a couple more connections by the end.