Why attend office hours? Well, for one thing, attending office hours is positively correlated with better performance in courses. Yet office hours remain an overlooked and underutilized aspect of undergraduate education for many students. The vast majority of students simply never invest the time to show up and discuss the course, assignments, or broader questions about degree options, career paths, and so on.

There are plenty of reasons (or excuses, depending on whom you ask) for skipping out on office hours. After all, it is very rarely a graded part of any course, and could only feasibly be mandatory in cases where the student to instructor ratio is low. Beyond that, office hours may overlap with other classes, work shifts, or familial or organizational responsibilities, especially if there are no teaching assistants (TAs, although the formal title can vary by institution). There may also be transportation difficulties, or the simple inconvenience of making an extra trip to campus. However, most professors, if they care about the pedagogical side of their duties, are willing to arrange to meet virtually or in-person outside of scheduled office hours if you cannot make it during the normal times. Professors are busy individuals, but, like most people, they enjoy talking about their interests when someone seems invested in hearing more about the topic. Outside of first-year-level courses with high enrollment caps, instructors generally choose the content of the courses they are teaching. If you find a course interesting, talk to the professor or the TAs! Even if it’s just for a few minutes after class, you can learn something new or get advice on how to succeed in the course and beyond.

Some students are nervous about seeming uninformed, and I have witnessed some odd cases where students feel almost unworthy of talking to the “expert” leading the class. That is not to say there aren’t some professors who are megalomaniacs and incredibly condescending toward the people they are supposed to be serving. But those individuals are the rare exception rather than the rule.

The not-so-secret secret in college is that discussing an assignment with the person or people grading it before you turn anything in is generally going to help you avoid mistakes that would otherwise cost you points. Now, if you write a paper riddled with too many grammatical errors to be understandable, no amount of office hour visits is going to help. Some courses allow for pre-reads of rough drafts before you turn in a final draft, but there is no guarantee of this. Instead, most universities have some sort of Writing Center to help improve your writing, but that is a topic for a different post. In terms of what office hours can provide, though, if the professor gives out a study guide and there’s a concept you don’t fully understand, ask! Part of the professor’s and TAs’ job description is to answer your questions (but NOT to give you the answers to assignments or do the work for you, just to be clear on that point). If there’s a required essay or term paper, it never hurts to attend office hours and make sure you understand the expectations for the assignment before submitting your work. If there’s a rubric, bring it along and clarify anything that seems confusing to you. Office hours help take out a lot of the guesswork involved in course assignments.

More than that, though, office hours are a chance to get useful input beyond the course. TAs are usually graduate students who have been in your shoes before, perhaps not all that long ago, even, depending on where they are in their own studies. If you feel comfortable bringing up personal problems that you need an impartial observer to comment on, professors and graduate students are generally willing to lend an ear, although they are not licensed mental health professionals.* If there are things outside the classroom that are impacting your ability to complete or do well on course assignments, let your instructor(s) know as early as possible! Even if they cannot help resolve the issue, they likely know of resources on campus that can help. Do not wait until the end of the semester to explain your situation. Fair or not, from the perspective of a professor, bringing personal obstacles up after the fact sounds suspiciously like making excuses and fishing for a grade boost.

Outside of personal crises, the people teaching or otherwise facilitating courses generally have more life experience than the people they are instructing. For example, if you’re considering graduate school, talk to the TAs about lessons they’ve learned, application advice, and so on. They’ve been through the process of applying (except in the rare case of undergraduate TAs), and also have a good picture of the pros and cons of pursuing an advanced degree. Or maybe you’re interested in an internship or particular career related to your field of study. Reach out to your professor and ask if they have any suggested opportunities or people they could put you in contact with. The point is, there is a lot of value, in different ways, to be gained from attending office hours, even if only once or twice throughout the semester. So don’t hesitate to make use of the time that is reserved specifically for helping students succeed!

As a final note, attend the class itself! For one thing, like going to office hours, attending class sessions also boosts grade results. However, attending office hours after skipping every class session to date is not going to make the instructor feel inclined to be particularly helpful. That said, going to class is the best way to actually get something out of a college course. Think about it this way, if all you are doing is reading just enough snippets of the textbook to prepare for the exams, why even enroll in the course at all? You could read the textbook in your free time and gain the same amount of knowledge without any associated tuition fees (and, for some, the added student loan debt that comes with it). As discussed in the course selection post, you can usually acquire copies of a syllabus without needing to formally enroll in the course. Some courses may be required that you are not particularly enthused about, but, assuming you are happy with your choice of major despite those courses, wouldn’t you rather make the effort once for one semester, quarter, etc. rather than risk having to retake the same tedious (or even dreadful) course a second time?

*Disclaimer: Keep in mind that university employees are usually so-called “mandatory reporters.” In other words, they are legally obligated to report any incidences of sexual misconduct to the appropriate office upon becoming aware of them. That is by no means meant to dissuade students from discussing such matters, but be aware that academic personnel are not in a position to maintain complete confidentiality in these specific cases. See page 51 of this document from the Department of Education outlining Title IX requirements for an explanation of what happens after a report is made to the appropriate office.