University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Top Questions

All of the professors I have are younger to middle-aged, mostly relaxed, and very understanding people. I use the word people rather than professors because they are so personable that they seem less intimidating than the typical professor. Even in my 200 person lecture, I got to know my professor by just one office drop-in to say hello and introduce myself. He remembers my name, which makes me feel great to know that my professors care about me as a person, not just as a name. The professors are mostly flexible, willing to help you in any way that you need to help you to succeed. I am so happy with the professors that I have had and I cannot imagine being taught by a different group.

You'll be happy and sad at the same time: That sums it up, really. We love our professors here, but we also hate them. Here's why: Love: They put so much effort into preparing us for the future and treat course with utmost of care. The professors and TAs desperately want for us to succeed, and you can tell this is true in how they make themselves available to us on a weekly basis. Many will give out their cell phone numbers just so you feel comfortable coming to them with a problem. It's also not uncommon for them to stay behind after class to speak one-on-one with you. They really have a high standard of excellence, and you'll appreciate that as you grow closer to them through the years. Hate: They challenge the heck out of you. It's great that they want you to be successful, land that dream job and pass their course, but why do they have to make it so hard?! In all honesty, they make the course difficult for a reason, and we typically don't like that. GPAs are important to us, and when a teacher is too tough to get an A in, it's hurts our self-esteem some. A lot of students drop courses or go to rate my professor to avoid the tough ones because they want the number on a resume to remain hight. In the end, what you learned from the course is more important... and students really don't want to hear that, but it's true. Look forward to a friendly, yet harsh and challenging curriculum fueled by great instructors.

Due to the nature of a large school, professors' styles differ from college to college and class to class. However, in my experience professors tend to take a traditional role. This means they teach the material and are available during their office hours, but will not necessarily go out of their way to check up on your progress.

I feel like this is an impossibly vague question, much like the one about stereotyping Illinois students. How can you just make lump statements about a group of people who are from so many different departments, backgrounds, and age groups? I've had good professors, bad professors, crazy professors, nice ones, mean ones, and everything in between, but if I had to give one overall impression, I would say "Just fine." Professors teach almost all of the classes here at the U of I, with the exception being some foreign language classes and other random cases here and there. But, in a few classes, the professor may be the teacher in name only, with the bulk of the instruction being done by a teaching assistant. Now, before you get all huffy on me about TAs, let me tell you, many times, it is a GOOD thing that the professor is not actually doing all the teaching. I don't like to make blanket statements and I don't mean to offend anyone, but not all professors are good teachers. People become professors because of a desire to enrich the learning of young people, true, but also because they love research and academia, not necessarily giving lectures and grading papers. Likewise, not all TAs want to be teachers for life either, but chances are that someone who is closer to your own age will be able to relate to you better. They work closely with the professor to ensure the accuracy of what they are teaching, and they are often much more understanding of the difficulties you are facing as a busy student. Again, this is also not to say that you can't relate to professors or that TAs are better, but I'm just pointing out that many people (parents especially) automatically vilify any school that even whispers the phrase "teaching assistant" (I won't even start on the dreaded subject of "non-native English-speaking TAs, of which so many of you are terrified!). The majority of my experiences with both professors and TAs here at Illinois have been positive, so I just wanted to get a little word out about the subject. Have an open mind.

There is a wide variety in professors. Some are young, old, men, women, white, black, latino, gay, straight, liberal, conservative, etc... If you like your classes you'll probably like your professor. Professors are pretty easy to get in contact with if you have questions or are having trouble. Professors are very passionate about their work and will love to talk to you if you have any questions about their field. Most are fair graders and will listen to you if you have any grading issues.

There is a wide variety in professors. Some are young, old, men, woman, white, black, latino, gay straight, liberal conservative, etc... If you like your classes you'll probably like your professor. Professors are pretty easy to get in contact with if you have questions or are having trouble. Professors are very passionate about their work and will love to talk to you if you have any questions about their field. Most are very fair graders and will listen to you if you have any grading issues.

My professors are eager to see me succeed. Taking the time to go to office hours and chat with a teacher out of class is one of the best things you can do for yourself academically and professionally. Speaking with your professors outside of class gives you the ability to stand out in their minds. They will recognize you as a student who is willing to try and doesn't mind taking a few steps outside of her comfort zone. One time when I spoke to a professor outside of class she asked me how I intended to put my major to use after graduation. I told her I was interested in trying out public relations. A few weeks later I got an email from that professor letting me know an internship was available on campus in public relations and I should apply. I used her as a reference in my application and interned for a year for class credit. This is just one of many examples of my professors' desire to be more than a classroom leader.

My professors are eager to see me succeed. Taking the time to go to office hours and chat with a teacher out of class is one of the best things you can do for yourself academically and professionally. Speaking with your professors outside of class gives you the ability to stand out in their minds. They will recognize you as a student who is willing to try and doesn't mind taking a few steps outside of her comfort zone. One time when I spoke to a professor outside of class she asked me how I intended to put my major to use after graduation. I told her I was interested in trying out public relations. A few weeks later I got an email from that professor letting me know an internship was available on campus in public relations and I should apply. I used her as a reference in my application and interned for a year for class credit. This is just one of many examples of my professors' desire to be more than a classroom leader.

...bright and innovative. As I believe I've mentioned in some of my previous posts, Illinois is an institution that highly values research. This means that most professors are making great discoveries in addition to teaching you in the classroom everyday (be sure to see if you can get involved in their research while you're here!). Their excellent work brings prestige to the university and puts Illinois in the spotlight. Illinois professors are also approachable. All of them hold office hours a few times throughout the week to give students a chance to come in and speak about course material, get confusions cleared up, or even just to say hello. And my advice is to get to know your professors. Illinois is unquestionably a large institution, but there are plenty of ways to make it smaller, and this is one of them. So take the chance to get to know your professors, some of the most brilliant and gifted people you'll ever meet.

I asked my creative writing professor what makes a paper stand out from the rest, and what makes a paper just plain bad and boring. Here is what I found out . . .