When freshman Kim Boehler needed help in some of her classes at the beginning of the semester, she opted to seek help from her peers rather than from her professors.
"I didn't know about office hours when I came to school and didn't know how helpful they were," Boehler said. "If I had gone to office hours, it would have helped."
Then, when she figured out how to get assistance from her professors, scheduling and communication problems thwarted her attempts.
According to Boehler, competition among students in larger classes for a professor's time can be fierce. Some large classes do not use TA's, and students end up waiting for hours to get assistance. For Boehler and other students, it's a discouraging experience.
Sophomore Alana Harrison said she had difficulty getting individual attention from the professors of some of her large lecture classes. "For huge classes, especially the intro to science classes, the demand is too high," Harrison said. "Too many students are competing for the professor's individual attention."
Despite more than five scheduled office hours each week, chemistry lecturer Christopher Morse finds the system inadequate.
"This semester has been much less successful. I am teaching Chem 1, which started with 320 students. The five-and-a-half hours are only partially enough, because every week about 50 people want to meet with me one-on-one and that's no longer possible," Morse said.
Like many professors, Morse has tried to make himself accessible to his students in any way he can. "However, some days, my office hours are empty for a full hour, just me by myself, and other days there are 25 people clamoring to get into my office," he said.
While some students have had negative experiences working through and around the system, others seem pleased. Senior Nate Perlis has never had any difficulty with getting assistance from his professors, and said the system is fine as is.
"Teachers are pretty accommodating," Perlis said. "It's a pretty good system. I don't know how else they would do it."
Those students who do receive help at office hours usually find the experience worthwhile. "[Professors] are glad to have office hours. They like helping us out," freshman Osa Odigie said.
And more than getting class-oriented help, some students use office hours time to get to know their professors out of the classroom.
"I definitely get to know students better who come to my office hours more often. Those are the ones that I generally have more to say about when it comes to recommendation letter time," Morse said.
So how can the benefits be available to more students? Even for students who see flaws in the current office hours system, it's unclear what to do or where to lay the blame. While extended hours could be part of a solution, in the end it's often up to the students to help themselves.
"Of course there are going to be other people trying to use [office hours]," freshman Andrew Lannaman said. "It's up to you to get there first."
Not everyone can make the time, though. Many students point to scheduling conflicts as their reason for not making use of office hours. They complain that their professors' scheduled times are not of sufficient length or frequency.
Sophomore Tito Pena says he does not visit his professors because their office hours typically conflict with his other classes. "[All professors] should definitely have office hours at least three times a week," he said.
Although he feels he seldom needs to go to office hours for help, sophomore Elliot Freeman regrets not using those times to get better acquainted with his professors. "Office hours are just at odd hours or at times when I have classes," he said.
Awkward schedules can also pose a problem during crunch times, when students have no time to waste when it comes to getting advice on that paper or problem set.
"Sometimes it takes weeks before you can find a time to meet when often you don't have weeks before a test or a paper is due," Freeman said.
The system seems to work best for those who are on top of their work to the extent that they can schedule meetings well in advance. But timing is not the only challenge to those seeking extra attention.
Iris Higgins, a sophomore, dislikes the one-on-one setting and admits that she is "generally not that comfortable talking to my professors."
"It would be my last resort," freshman Lauren Saft said. "Professors are kind of scary."
Still others see limited access to office hours as cause for tension. Some students who are unavailable during a professor's scheduled hours are frustrated when they see other students meeting with professors on a very frequent basis.
"A few students go and schmooze with the teacher with the intention to get their grades boosted," sophomore Justin Korval said. "It's unfair to the other students who achieve legitimate grades."
