Why it pays to befriend your professor at the university

• Student - professor relationships are common in campuses and colleges, usually for different reasons.
• Your relationship with your professor or lecturer usually determines how you perform in courses

If you’re one student in a class of hundreds or only have a professor once during all of your college years, the chances are your only interactions with your teachers will be brief and impersonal. But if instead you’re in a small class or have the same professor for multiple classes, like ones in your major, you might have the opportunity to get to know them on a deeper level.

This could be through classroom interactions, office hour meetings or maybe even just while running into each other on campus.

It’s understandable that students would want to get to know their professors and benefit from the vast knowledge they could share. Many students attend a particular school because of the credentials of its faculty, and by getting to know professors better, students can learn from them even outside of the classroom.

Feeling more personally connected to your professors could also help you feel more engaged in class material. When you’re in a class where it feels like the professor is talking at you instead of talking to you, it can be hard to get really excited about the topics being covered. But if you develop a friendship with the professor you might care more about what they have to say and might even end up feeling increasingly comfortable contributing in class and asking questions.

Making the effort to befriend your professor could also provide you with an invaluable resource even after you’ve completed the course. He or she could act as a mentor for you, giving you useful advice to help you succeed in college and beyond.

Beware of conflict of interest

While there are certainly benefits to be had from professor-student friendships, they can have their downsides too. Washington University in St. Louis states that some of the potential risks associated with these relationships are 'conflict of interest, breach of trust, abuse of power and breach of professional ethics.'

First of all, it could be difficult for professors to separate their personal friendships from their professional duties. For instance, if a student does poorly on a paper and the professor knows a bad grade will hurt him or her, the professor could be tempted to give a higher grade than is deserved because of their friendship. On the flip side, students might not give an assignment their all because they figure being friends with the person grading it means they're entitled to a better grade.

Of course, student-professor friendships could also cause conflicts in the classroom. This could happen because other students feel that there is favoritism going on, which might lead to an unwillingness to participate in class discussions or even a lack of motivation to do well. Learning environments could also feel uncomfortable if a problem within the friendship makes its way into the classroom.