Building Relationships with Faculty

One of my favorite parts of law school has been the professors. In addition to being knowledgeable and engaging in lectures, I have found many of them are sincerely interested in connecting with their students beyond the classroom. For example, one of our professors extended invitations to weekly brown-bag lunches to our class. For me that kind of openness was very important because approaching a professor can be intimidating and having that invitation to come and talk about our interests beyond the classroom, helped me get over my initial fear. Coming from a large undergraduate institution with faculty that had many students asking questions, I was used to quick and to the point interactions. As an undergraduate, I understood most of my professors appreciated me asking my question and moving on. Once I came to Loyola, I was happy to find that as a whole the faculty make a point to be available to students.

In general, I have managed to build relationships with a couple faculty members. During my first semester I made a point to go to office hours when I was confused about a topic. Oftentimes, I was so confused I did not even have specific questions and would just join other people who were also there for office hours. Once I started going to office hours, I felt more confident to strike up conversations with faculty in other places, such as the cafeteria, or while studying in campus. For some of my classes this became a positive feedback loop because in addition to getting my questions answered, I felt more invested in the material, and I developed a better connection with the faculty member. While I appreciate many things about our faculty, what I most appreciate is that they treat us with collegial respect, and they have a genuine interest in our success, and for me that fosters a great learning environment.