Working with Faculty

The Student-Faculty Relationship

A hallmark of undergraduate education at Stanford is the opportunity to work closely with faculty (renowned scholars in their fields) who are actively engaged in research. Faculty provide the following invaluable support to undergraduates:

  • Giving advice on your academic plans
  • Mentoring you in a research project
  • Introducing you to colleagues
  • Writing letters of recommendation
  • Serving as guides and models for your intellectual pursuits

The relationships you form with your professors, advisors and mentors will shape your undergraduate experience and influence you in ways that will last a lifetime.

Getting to Know Faculty

As you get to know your instructors at Stanford, keep in mind one fundamental piece of etiquette. In email or in person, address a faculty member as Professor and use appropriate tone and language, until you are invited to do otherwise.

As freshmen and sophomores, take advantage of the Introductory Seminars. You’ll see faculty share the excitement that motivates their scholarship in these small classes.

Invite your professors to join you for dinner in your residence. In freshman dorms, “Faculty Nights” are organized by student staff. Take the opportunity to ask professors whose teaching you admire to talk over dinner with your friends about what inspires them and how they chose their particular paths.

Don’t hesitate to contact the professor of a course in which you’re interested to get more explicit information about it. Professors always enjoy discussing their fields of interest, especially with intellectually curious students.

Once you’ve declared your major, get to know your faculty advisor. Take the initiative and stop by during office hours so that you have an opportunity for a real conversation.

Have realistic expectations about the advisor’s role. Don’t expect a faculty member to be able (or willing) to rate every course in the curriculum. Do expect your advisor to question you about your short-term and long-term academic goals. They can help you plan a strategy for taking the greatest possible advantage of your undergraduate education. These conversations follow naturally once you’ve made the initial effort to talk to your advisor about your interests and aspirations.

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Faculty Research Mentors

If you are interested in research and are seeking out a particular faculty member to advise you, plan ahead. Ensure that you appreciate the professor’s area of scholarship, and be prepared to guide the discussion in your first meeting with questions or topics.

You may choose to pursue an Honors thesis and need to identify a faculty member to advise you who shares your intellectual interests. Ask faculty members and graduate students whom you already know in your department or field for names of faculty with whom you might consider working.  See also:

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Letters of Recommendation

It is very likely that you will need to request a letter of recommendation from one of your professors. Graduate schools, professional schools, scholarship / fellowship selection committees and prospective employers depend heavily on recommendation letters to gain insight into applicants’ personal strengths, limitations and accomplishments.

This kind of information cannot be readily gleaned from transcripts and test scores. So it is in your best interest to cultivate close working relationships with faculty early in your undergraduate career. When the time comes, you need not feel shy about requesting a recommendation. All faculty members had the same service done for them in the past and they regard this as a familiar process. See the following:

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