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How to make my lecturers like me?

I'm a first year maths student and I was wondering how I could get on more with my lecturers. I'm very polite, I don't talk(to friends) during lectures, I ask questions and try to contribute. I'ver met two of my lecturers in their office, shook their hand, said my name and asked for a bit of help for revision. Is there anything else I can do?

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Reply 1

the bear

tell them you've read their book & thought it was awesome ?

Reply 2

NotGodofWorld

Original post by the bear

tell them you've read their book & thought it was awesome ?

Lol tbf most of the stuff we do comes from their book, Is it worth saying?

Reply 3

the bear

Original post by NotGodofWorld

Lol tbf most of the stuff we do comes from their book, Is it worth saying?

absolutely. tell them it is the most exciting maths book since Newton's Principia :h:

Reply 4

Sorcerer

Always be on time and never be late or miss a lecture.

Reply 5

Klix88

Original post by NotGodofWorld

As a first year, you're unlikely to be on anything other than polite acquaintance terms with lecturers. What would you be looking for beyond that? If you're looking to establish some sort of working relationship, see if you can do some voluntary work on one of their research projects. The bottom line is that they're unlikely to be more friendly towards you than they are to other undergrads. Staff are very aware that perceived favouritism can cause all sorts of issues and certainly at my uni, they tend to steer clear of becoming over-familiar with particular individuals.

By the time you get to the third year you might have established yourself as a reliable student and useful volunteer researcher, collaborator etc, so things could ease up a little at that stage.

Reply 6

doodle_333

Yeah my experience is that you aren't going to be someone's favourite as a first year. In fact you may struggle in general if you have a large cohort as it's hard to remember individual students. You are doing the right things though, if you show you are reliable, polite and hard working the lecturers will probably remember you. As you go through the degree and do more electives and have a supervisor for your diss and so on you're likely to get to know your lecturers a lot better.

Reply 7

999tigger

Original post by NotGodofWorld

Why do you feel the need for them to like you so much? Some good advice from Klix, but just do good work and be interested in their subject.

Reply 8

NotGodofWorld

Original post by 999tigger

Why do you feel the need for them to like you so much? Some good advice from Klix, but just do good work and be interested in their subject.

Loi what's wrong with wanting to get on good with your lecturers?

Reply 9

lilGem

Original post by NotGodofWorld

Loi what's wrong with wanting to get on good with your lecturers?

I ended up having a really good relationship with several lecturers: my academic advisor, a module organiser, module lecturer, project supervisor and such.

The only reason it came about was through working with them on open days by assisting in the taster lab initially. with my project supervisor I spoke to him in first year as I had an interest in pharmacology- his area about the application process, possible projects and the third year project- come third year he was my project supervisor. My academic advisor and I talked on a regular basis.

The lecturer and I had a much closer relationship in third year due to ECs and she provided me with a lot of support- she also lectured in my favourite module where I actively posted in the group.

The module organiser had a similar kind of thing but he's guided me a lot with postgraduate applications and with 2 modules!

There's no harm in trying to form a rapport in first year :smile:

Reply 10

NotGodofWorld

Original post by lilGem

Thanks for some good dvice

Reply 11

lilGem

Original post by NotGodofWorld

Thanks for some good dvice

its okay

I had several lecturers and members of staff asking to write my references rather than the other way round!

Reply 12

999tigger

Original post by NotGodofWorld

Loi what's wrong with wanting to get on good with your lecturers?

You can get on well with your lecturers just by being a normal student who submuts work, is active in tutorials and is interested in their studies. My impression was that you wanted more than that and I found all this handshaking and need to be liked a bit cringeworthy and crawly.

Reply 13

Emma:-)

Entertainment Forum Helper

Original post by Sorcerer

Always be on time and never be late or miss a lecture.

I agree

Reply 14

NotGodofWorld

Original post by 999tigger

Lol do I really care about your opinion? My lecturers remember my name and ar very nice towards me.

Reply 15

PremAjudication

You don't need to be a good student to make Lecturers' 'like' you. Show interest in them as a person (although don't be superficial) and they will at least remember you which is a decent achievement when most people aren't.

Reply 16

Claire461

Original post by NotGodofWorld

Loi what's wrong with wanting to get on good with your lecturers?

Maybe you are trying too hard. Yes, it's nice to get on with lecturers, but it's not the be all and end all of your life at uni. Some lecturers like some students and vice versa. It's called real life. First year goes by very quickly, so just get stuck in to your course. Before you know where you are, you will be in 2nd year- bigger workload, more stress. Why waste time and energy worrying about it? You may not even have the same ones next year. X

Reply 17

Claire461

Original post by NotGodofWorld

Lol do I really care about your opinion? My lecturers remember my name and ar very nice towards me.

Well, you did ask! You can take or leave advice, but there's no need to be rude.

Reply 18

fallen_acorns

3 steps:

1 - Show passion for your/there subject
2 - Dont be annoying..
3 - Treat them as a person..

= job done.

What I mean by that is academic professionals like people who share their love for their subject. But many students try and prove this by being a pain in the arse.. all teachers like myself have had students who are so desperate to prove they love X, that they will ask a million questions, pester the teacher and constantly want to prove their knowledge. Its great that they are passionate, but it wont make a lecturer like you, it will make them think your a pain the arse.

Treat them like a person means that remember that they have a life outside of your course. once you get to know them a bit, and start to build a connection, dont just talk 100% about your course, but venture out onto other subjects.. the university in general is a good subject to talk about in my experiance, and then wider onwards.

I am not a lecturer, but I have guest lectured quite a few times, and one of my favourite students loves the same football club as me. He is a really nice lad, and often comes to speak to me after lectures. He gets the ballance just right between talking about the lecture/course and showing that clearly he is interested in what I had to say.. but also having a bit of light hearted chat about football on the side. Lecturers are people with a diverse range of interests and if you really want a propper connection beyond just professional, then engaging external interests is a good way to start.

So yeah: be a good student.. dont be a pain in the arse.. show passion.. engage with them as people, not just lectuers..

If all of that does not work, then just give up - some people do not connect, and are not meant to be good friends. Maybe the two of you just do not fit well together..